Rescued hummingbird released into wild

ROSEBURG, Ore. – An orphaned baby hummingbird rescued outside Roseburg City Hall last week has been nursed back to health and was released back into the wild on Wednesday, May 15.

The tiny bird -- nicknamed “Lotus” -- was rehabilitated by an Umpqua Wildlife Rescue volunteer after a local resident spotted the hummingbird chick sitting motionless in a highly trafficked area outside City Hall doors last Tuesday.

Roseburg hummingbird rehabilitation expert Ann, an Umpqua Wildlife Rescue volunteer, spent a week rehabilitating “Lotus” and then brought the bird back to City Hall, where the tiny feathered creature was set free this morning.

“She has a lot to do today – clean herself, find bugs, orient herself,” said Ann while watching a fledgling that had just begun to fly on Sunday zip up into a conifer and perch on a branch. “She’s home. I think she knows that.”

The youngster was unlikely to try to return to the nearby nest that had been home until recently, said Ann, adding, “Once they leave, they’re usually not going to go back to the nest. She’s on her own now.”

Shortly before the baby bird was first noticed on Tuesday, May 7, a City maintenance employee had come across the body of another hummingbird – most likely the mother – that was suspected to have flown into a glass door and died a few feet from where the youngster was found. When first spotted on the ground, the baby was alive, but not walking or trying to fly, and was in danger of being trampled.

City staff contacted Umpqua Valley Audubon Society and Umpqua Wildlife Rescue, who sent a hummingbird expert to collect and rehabilitate the chick. The bird, whose gender isn’t known, was kept safe and quiet in a box inside City Hall until being collected by Ann, along with a few pink rhododendrons from a nearby bush. The bird was believed to be about two weeks old.

Ann took the chick home and removed the little bird from the box, only to find the baby was cold and wouldn’t eat. Feather colors that had appeared green, ruby pink and white when the bird was first found outside City Hall had faded to brown – an ominous sign that left Ann worried the bird might not survive.

Ann put the chick in an incubator set at 95 degrees. After warming up for two hours, little Lotus perked up and began chirping non-stop for food. The bird only knew how to get food by gaping with mouth wide open. Ann filled a syringe with a liquid containing Nektar-Plus and ground-up fruit flies, then spent a few hours teaching the baby to eat from the syringe. Ann got up at least once an hour all through the night to feed Lotus.

By Wednesday morning, the teeny bird had improved so much, she was chirping loudly for food every 20 to 30 minutes. She also appeared uninjured.

“This is the best news we could hope for right now,” Ann texted then. “I am so blessed to be caring for this tiny bird.”

By Thursday, green coloring had begun to return to the hummingbird’s back, and the baby was perching and flapping her wings. Ann, who has volunteered with Umpqua Wildlife Rescue for about five years, began slowly lowering the incubator’s temperature. A photo taken that day showed the recovery of a teeny bird with a powerful spirit.

On Friday, Lotus was moved into a small plastic basket with mesh covering the top. She could feed herself from a syringe affixed to the side of the basket. To get protein, she was picking tiny bugs off rhododendrons lying in the basket.

“She eats more insects than anything – 90%,” Ann said by phone.

Lotus began flying a little inside the basket on Sunday. Hummingbirds fly at three weeks.

Ann brought the bird in the basket to City Hall this morning. City staff who’d contacted the Audubon Society and Umpqua Wildlife Rescue lifted the mesh lid and Lotus flew from the tiny basket that had been her home for the past week. She was released back into the wild where she was first found outside and flew several feet into the air before buzzing over to the pink rhododendron bush, perching on its leaves and then zipping up into the conifer. The bird is now considered a fledgling.

“Everything she needs is here,” Ann said.

Umpqua Valley Audubon Society board member Diana Wales, who also volunteers with Umpqua Wildlife Rescue, sang the praises of Ann, a “great and skilled rehabber,” as well as everyone in the community who sees a baby or injured bird or animal in distress and reaches out to local experts in an effort to help. Several people helped save this young bird, which is now returned to the wild, Wales said.

“It’s marvelous and it’s always the outcome we hope for when there’s a rescue. It now has a very good chance of a long and full life,” Wales added.

The City would like to thank Ann, Umpqua Wildlife Rescue, Umpqua Valley Audubon Society and the sharp-eyed resident who first spotted the baby hummingbird outside City Hall.

If you see a baby bird or mammal that appears to be in trouble this spring, you can get help from the Umpqua Wildlife Rescue and their licensed, expert wildlife rehabilitators, who can be reached at this hotline: 541-440-6895.

Learn more about Umpqua Wildlife Rescue, including what to do if you find an injured or baby bird or animal and how to help by donating or volunteering: umpquawildliferescue.org.

                    Day 1, Tuesday, May 7, 2024                                                                                              Day 3, Thursday, May 9, 2024