A rehabilitated baby hummingbird that survived being stored in a fridge, wrapped in an Easter bouquet and carted four hours in a Victoria-bound refrigerated van was set free Friday.
The SPCA’s Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre in Metchosin sent the seven-week old hummingbird, patient No. 15-202, buzzing away after more than a month of care.
“It was a fascinating story and quite a journey for this little bird,” said Wild ARC manager Kari Marks. “He lived through the initial ordeal, coming down here from Courtenay, and has done well since.”
While other Victorians were finding hidden eggs during the Easter holiday last month, Nancy Packard found a live hummingbird in an Easter bouquet of roses, lilies and chrysanthemums from Courtenay Fifth Street Florist.
Packard heard buzzing coming from her bouquet and thought a bee might be trapped inside. She carefully peeled back the cellophane to find the bird with its feet stuck to the tape on the packaging.
Packard’s son untangled the bird’s tiny feet, but it wouldn’t fly away. It just kept peeping and chirping, even more as it warmed up.
When the bird was unable to draw liquid from a feeder, Packard put it in a box and drove it to Wild ARC.
Staff immediately recognized the bird as a fledgling Anna’s hummingbird, common on Vancouver Island.
The bird was not feeding because it was only weeks old, Marks said.
The bird was fed with a small syringe. Three days later, it was feeding itself and soon didn’t want human contact or attention, which is normal, said senior wildlife rehabilitator Christina Carrieres.
The hummingbird flew away Friday, weighing 4.5 grams.
Fifth Street Florist owner Steven Meier said a tiny bird’s nest was discovered underneath the shop’s salal greenery, which is added to the flower arrangements.
Meier said the “miracle” bird could have been in the salal stored in the flower shop’s back cooler for days.
Marks said the cold storage might have helped the hummingbird by slowing down its usually fast metabolism.
Wild ARC treats about 80 hummingbirds a year, most the victims of cats, said Carrieres. But patient No. 15-202 was special.
“He flew straight up and strongly so,” Marks said of releasing the hummingbird. “He was a very spunky little bird.”
