HURRICANE ARTHUR SURVIVOR!!!!!

I'm the hummingbird queen in our area - this summer I probably have 40-50 Rubythroats emptying three 32 oz feeders 2-3 times a day.  They are having babies right about now.... and along comes Hurricane Arthur Thursday night/Friday morning. 

Hurricane Arthur hit the Outer Banks during the night as a Cat 2.... we had decided to stay and ride out the storm only because it was hauling ass NORTH, which SHOULD (and fortunately for us DID) mean it wouldn't dump a bunch of water or cause the water to rise abnormally high.  What it DID mean is we had really high winds.... not something hummingbirds like!

The first thing I did Friday morning was re-hang my hummingbird feeders - the birds were hovering and ready for a shot of sugar at daybreak, which meant that they hadn't been blown away in the night. 

Then the cleanup began (we were blessed that only limbs and pinecones had to be cleaned up) and by late in the day all the local property owners were out working in their yards.

My neighbors were picking up pine cones and limbs in their yard and found a baby hummingbird on the bulkhead chirping like crazy for his mother. He was only inches from falling in the water.  My neighbor's son Max had on a bright blue shirt and this little baby bird flew up and landed on his shoulder and was clinging for dear life.  Max came over to see what he should do so.... I got some of my hummer nectar and tried feeding the baby with a medicine dropper - he was thirsty but that was not mama feeding him.  If you touched him he would flap his tiny wings but he wouldn't let go of Max's shirt.  

Ended up getting a very shallow cardboard box and lining it with tissue paper.... I added a length of bougainvillea vine with a couple of blooms on it, and Max put some nectar in a bottle cap for the baby to drink.  Then he put the box on their deck.... and before long Max and his mother noticed a female hummingbird buzzing all around the box....Mom had found her baby - but what to do?  She wouldn't go to the box so Max took the baby and put him on the deck rail, along with his pink flowers....

And next thing you know - the mom is feeding the baby - and Max was able to take this video of them with his iPad..... before the baby flew away with his mom!

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ANYTHING MORE INCREDIBLE? (Start the video and then click the box in the bottom right corner to enlarge)

The baby is on the pink flower.... looking up at mom!

p.s. - thanks to Jackie and Max for letting me share this amazing video and picture!