First of all, what happened to the hummingbird? Second, as a physician who has been practicing ophthalmology for 50 years, I have never seen or heard of such an accident, nor has abrief internet search revealed any similar events. However, there may well be some truth in the story. What might have happened is that the bird could have penetrated the skin of the eyelid, which would not cause any permanent damage to the eye. More likely is that the bird's beak may have penetrated the conjunctiva,which is the loose white tissue covering the sides of the eye. This would likely not result in a significant injury or loss of sight.The eyeball itself, both cornea and sclera, are very tough, and it is unlikely that something as blunt as the birds beak could penetrate it. Also, if indeed a beak had perforated this eye it would have caused severe damage, and even though some sight might be retained itwould be seriously impaired. One other possibility is that the beak may have only penetrated the eye superficially - there is a difference between penetration and perforation. This would likely cause only a temporary injury which would heal in a few days, perhaps with a small scar.

Wm Mulligan
wmmulligan at msn.com
8423 California Av SW
Seattle WA 98136
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From: notcalm at comcast.net
CC:
To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 08:44:28 +0000
Subject: [Tweeters] Hummingbird injury





Well, I hear many stories and enjoy most. The following was the most startling of 2011.
I recently met an adult couple who had recently returned from a birding trip in Texas. They told me the following story: as their son and his friends were on the last part of a backpacking trip last Summer, a hummingbird pieced the eye of one of the hikers. Of course this is very unusual- in fact, I have never heard of another occurrence. What stuck with me was that the hiker had the presence of mind to hold the bird in hand and beak in eye all the way to the emergency room! They reported that he did not lose his sight.
Frankly, I was so surprised by this story- as I enjoy hummingbirds and am often near them- that I asked no additional questions, which is unusual for me. Has anyone heard of a human eye injury by a hummingbird? I can only speculate that the bird was curious, came close and the hiker was moving downhill at a rate that resulted in a rare contact. It would seem that there would have to be great speed during impact for the beak to pierce a person's eye. Any Opthamologist on the Tweeters list serve? Could there have been a release of aqueous or vitreous humor? What injury would happen to the eye and what should the person do?