Subject: [Tweeters] hummingbird rehabbers in Seattle?
Date: Mar 20 09:37:24 2012
From: Christine Southwick - clsouth at u.washington.edu


First of all, I don't know any hummer rehabbers in the area. It's
possible that PAWS would know of someone who could handle it.

My tendency though is to do nothing and let nature take its course on
things like bill and tongue injuries. My impression is that there
isn't a whole lot that a rehabber could do other than supportive care
for those types of things anyway. And the fact that Chuck says that
the bird is feisty and appears healthy probably means that it's
feeding well and may not need our help. I've seen a few of these kinds
of things (especially with tongue problems) where the bird was seen
later with no sign of an injury (these were banded and marked birds so
ID wasn't a problem) so, as long as the bird is feeding adequately, I'd
be hesitant to get involved.

I've also had one or two cases over the years of birds with
significant bill injuries or deformities that were able to feed
without a problem including one missing 2/3 of its maxilla. These
birds are tough and, at least from my point of view, are generally
better off without our attempt at helping them.

Dan Harville
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