Last night our granddaughter pointed us up to a hummingbird near the ceiling of the dining room.
Now the bird is up in the living room skylight, and won’t leave that area. For a while he was in the transom over the doors, but we couldn’t coax him down to leave through the door.
I’m afraid he won’t make it through the day without food.
We don’t have anything long enough to reach him.

Any ideas?

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Last night our granddaughter pointed us up to a hummingbird near the ceiling of the dining room.
Now the bird is up in the living room skylight, and won’t leave that area. For a while he was in the transom over the doors, but we couldn’t coax him down to leave through the door.
I’m afraid he won’t make it through the day without food.
We don’t have anything long enough to reach him.

Any ideas?

Hummingbird feeder (the food color dyed sugar water dispenser type) tied to a broom and held up for him. I’ve had a heck of a time getting birds, including hummingbirds, to fly down to get out of the garage. Wish I had a good solution for that...

We did try that.
Actually, slosig, I was in process of deleting the post when you replied. We’re not seeing him now.
Anyway, wasn’t that a great class in Mesa?

Can you get on the roof and cover the skylight with a blanket or something dark that will keep the skylight from appearing to be a way out?

If the interior of the house is dark and the only way out is lit, he may fly out on his own.

Covering the skylight was going to be our next move, and will be if he shows himself again there.
There is an electric skylight exterior cover, but it doesn’t really darken the skylight.

You also need to find a way to cover the skylight. As long as it thinks the sky is above it will continue to try to fly up. I would get as tall a ladder as you can to set a feeder on under the skylight or rig up a broom handle to a floor light or something like that. Then I would put a second feeder under/in a doorway or window to further lure him in the right direction. If it gets hungry enough it'll come the the feeders. It will be hard to accomplish if it thinks it has an escape route above.

All excellent advice, thanks again!
My wife got a big red flower and put it by the door. Also put a freshly-filled feeder outside the door.
I played hawk sounds on the iPad.

Last week I hand a hummingbird fly at a window nest to me and get his beak stuck in a cloth mesh window screen. About the time I saw him he flapped his wings and kicked his feet and got loose.

It turns out hawks are hummingbirds’ friends, protecting them against their real foes like jays. We’ve learned quite a bit about our little humming friends from the plight of this one.

Is there a place for it to land up there or has it been flying the whole time?

I had one "stuck" in my garage last year and it eventually got tired and settled to the floor after about an hour. I picked it up gently and brought it out to the yard. It sat for a few minutes on the landscape wall and then flew away. Incredible how light they are. It felt about like a piece of Kleenex in my hand.

It was in the house just overnight AFAIK.
It did slip out.
It’s gone.
No longer pining for the hibiscus.
No longer a jailbird.

Hurray! Always glad to hear about those guys making it out.

Yes, that was a Great class in Mesa. I’m trying to figure out when I can get away for another one.

I have a problem with them flying into my shop to look at the red mower. They immediately fly up and start whizzing around near the top, 22' up. I hang a feeder on the bottom of the roll up door and leave it there as I walk out and eventually they will fly doen to the feeder and then fly out. Good luck,