Costa's Alert! Hummingbird in the house in Las Vegas NV – when a high speed chase leads to a detour

                Monday at 1 pm I was sitting on the couch working a crossword puzzle with my lab/border collie sitting next to me. I heard the buzz of hummer wings right over my head. Since I was inside the house, the hummer had to be inside too. I looked up, following the sound with my eyes, when I spotted him half way through the house. He then turned around and went back out the open sliding glass door.

                Crisis over? No, I could still hear hummingbird wings buzzing in the house. I went into the kitchen and there was the second hummer, this one trying to get out the Palladian window that is just opposite the sliding glass door. To him it must have made the house look like a tunnel with light at both ends that he could fly through to get away from the hummer that was chasing him away from the feeder. Now I did have a problem. He was determined that window was the way out. He would rest for minute on the valance of the window shades below and then hover around the glass looking for an opening. I got a really close-up and personal look at him. He was an adult Costa’s male. What was I to do? I had a hummingbird in my kitchen at the far end of the house from his escape route, which was at the other end of the living room, a straight shot, but one he wasn’t willing to take.

                At one point I thought he was going out that way, but no, after flying into the living room he turned around and came back to the kitchen window. My dogs were getting really excited, as they knew I was getting flustered, but they didn’t help me. They just jumped all over me instead. My cat was watching from the table enjoying the spectacle, but she, too, was unwilling to help. I was on my own.

                First things first, the most important step was to grab my camera and get a picture. Since he was a captive model, I thought I’d get a close shot. Wrong. At soon as I came near enough he’d take up and flutter around the window. Then as soon I as I gave up, he’d settle back down on the valance.  Finally I just took what I could get. Since my camera knew that I was really trying to get a picture of the foliage just outside the window, that’s what I got— a lovely picture of leaves with an out-of-focus picture of the hummingbird sitting in front of the window. Well, I had a picture – of sorts, but I also still had a hummer in the house.

Costa's hummer inside the house

                I got a chair thinking maybe I could grab him and carry him out. As I gingerly climbed up on it, the dogs really went crazy. Now what was mummy doing? That was definitely not my best course of action. Finally I decided I needed to provide him with another escape hatch. I opened the window next to him, went outside and took off the screen as my cat sat just inside and watched me with great interest. I prayed she wouldn’t decide to use it to leave the house. I came back in the house and closed all the other window shades so that and the back door were the only source of day light. He totally ignored my efforts and, in the meantime my cat had disappeared. I didn’t see her go, so I had to assume she had gone out the window.

                Finally he made one more sally into the living room, realized the door was the way out and flew away. Sigh of relief. Only now I didn’t have a clue where my strictly-indoor cat had gone. I went outside a couple of times, no cat. I decided to look under the bed, but as soon as I pulled up the bed flounce to look, both dogs put their noses under the bed, leaving no room for me. Finally, after 15 minutes or so, the cat came sauntering out of the bedroom. At last, all was well. For awhile.

                Wednesday at 9:45 am, I’m in the computer room. I get up to go into the kitchen and notice that my cat is interested in something in the Palladian window. I look up. There is a hummer trying to get out that window. Déjà vu. This one was an immature male Anna’s just beginning to feather out into his adult plumage. He really was frantic. Unlike the Costa’s in the same position, he didn’t rest on the valance for more than one or two seconds. He was more excitable than the Costa’s, really throwing himself against the glass window pane. Of course I got my camera and from a distance took his picture during the brief moment he was resting on the valance.

Anna's hummer inside the house

                At least this time I had more of an idea of what to do. I went through the house and closed all the blinds, leaving the back door the only other source of light. Still he frantically pounded against the window. He was so fixated on that being his way out, he couldn’t even be bothered looking for a different route. I was trying to think of what I could do to get him to leavet. My dogs were doing their best to help, again by jumping up on me. My cat was totally entertained by watching the fluttering bird.

                To break his fixation I went and got the broom. As he fluttered around in the window, I carefully placed the bristles between him and the glass. With that he quickly turned around, flew through the house and went out the back door.

                I closed the back door and decided two things I need to do: 1. Get a screen for the door. 2. Get a shutter for the Palladian window so it would no longer look like a light at the end of the tunnel.