A possible explanation for getting struck in the eye by a humming bird -

When I worked a summer for the US Forest Service in the early 70's, I
worked for the engineers. We surveyed for new proposed logging roads. One
of the things I did was to hold the "pole" with numbers on it so the
engineer could measure the slope and angle with his theodolite by
triangulation. When we were in the open meadows high in the Cascades, it
was common to be "buzzed" by hummers. We had to hold the pole very still
and vertical. It was best to stand with your legs wide apart for balance.
On many occasions, I had hummers fly within inches of my head and even
between my legs. It appeared that they started high on the meadow and fly
as fast as they could down slope at me, trying to see how close they could
come. They'd buzz by and you couldn't help but jump. They were traveling
so fast you couldn't even see them. I was just a split second "BUZZ" going
your ear.

This was before my interest in birds began (thanks, Drs. Paulson and
Lapen!). I often thought they were trying to make us jump. Looking back
on it, it is probable that we were near their nesting sights. - - - And as
Dr. Paulson once said in class, maybe they *were* having fun!

SO - - - After a long prolog, I suggest that maybe a hummer was "dive
bombing" to "scare" a person from a nesting area and just misjudged the
angle, or the person moved and the small hummer couldn't adjust his
flight???

Sound reasonable???



Will & Willie Markey
East of Auburn on Soos Creek

On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 3:06 AM, <notcalm at comcast.net> wrote:

> Or Ophthalmologist?
>
> ------------------------------
> *From: *notcalm at comcast.net
> *To: *"Tweeters" <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> *Sent: *Tuesday, March 6, 2012 12:44:28 AM
> *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 Ophthalmologist 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?
>
> Dan Reiff
>
>
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>


--
Will Markey
General Adjuster
Cell - 253-569-8455
Fax -253-444-3606
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