This took place in Panama last year when we were at our place on the island : Enjoy !Its one of my favorite happy stories!
My wife has always wanted to put out Humming bird feeders and we were not able to locate any in Panama , so we bought a couple down from the states on our last trip . The effect was amazing and within days she was filling the 2- 32oz feeders twice a day and we were seeing hundreds of humming birds each day . The caretakers we have working on the place had never seen anything like it and would just stare as the humming birds surrounding the feeders . Sooner or later it was bound to happen and a couple birds got inside the house when the screen doors were open . It took quite a while to catch them as our cieling in the main room are 19 feet high at the peak . The poor little birds would fly until they were exhausted and then fall to the floor or furniture where my wife would gently catch them , give them some water , let them rest and release them back outside .
My one caretaker had told me that their "Bugle" Indian belief was that if you touched a wild bird the Boa snake would come and eat it that night and it would die . He was serious .
He told me the only way to save the bird was to spit on it before releasing it .
Again he was serious . Being a honorary "Bugle chief" of the tribe I wanted to desperately honor their beliefs .
So the next day this little Humming bird gets in the house and falls right into the damn sink full of soap water . My wife grabs it , cleans it all up and blows air on it to get its feathers to dry .
Yea ... you know whats comming......
So she hands me the bird without knowing anything about the Indian belief . I gently hold the bird while Genaro , my caretaker, looks on and I hock up a big wad of spit and let it fly , right on the bird .Genaro nodding in agreement .
My wife went ballistic and yelled "what the hell was I doing"!!! . I am trying to explain and Genaro is backing up looking for a quick exit . The little bird now has a wad of spit hanging off his beak and he don't look any to happy . It took 10 minutes to get her calmed down and the bird cleaned up for his return to the wild .We still laugh about it every time we see hummingbirds .
Just in case you thought I made the whole story up :
My wife has always wanted to put out Humming bird feeders and we were not able to locate any in Panama , so we bought a couple down from the states on our last trip . The effect was amazing and within days she was filling the 2- 32oz feeders twice a day and we were seeing hundreds of humming birds each day . The caretakers we have working on the place had never seen anything like it and would just stare as the humming birds surrounding the feeders . Sooner or later it was bound to happen and a couple birds got inside the house when the screen doors were open . It took quite a while to catch them as our cieling in the main room are 19 feet high at the peak . The poor little birds would fly until they were exhausted and then fall to the floor or furniture where my wife would gently catch them , give them some water , let them rest and release them back outside .
My one caretaker had told me that their "Bugle" Indian belief was that if you touched a wild bird the Boa snake would come and eat it that night and it would die . He was serious .
He told me the only way to save the bird was to spit on it before releasing it .
Again he was serious . Being a honorary "Bugle chief" of the tribe I wanted to desperately honor their beliefs .
So the next day this little Humming bird gets in the house and falls right into the damn sink full of soap water . My wife grabs it , cleans it all up and blows air on it to get its feathers to dry .
Yea ... you know whats comming......
So she hands me the bird without knowing anything about the Indian belief . I gently hold the bird while Genaro , my caretaker, looks on and I hock up a big wad of spit and let it fly , right on the bird .Genaro nodding in agreement .
My wife went ballistic and yelled "what the hell was I doing"!!! . I am trying to explain and Genaro is backing up looking for a quick exit . The little bird now has a wad of spit hanging off his beak and he don't look any to happy . It took 10 minutes to get her calmed down and the bird cleaned up for his return to the wild .We still laugh about it every time we see hummingbirds .
Just in case you thought I made the whole story up :