de_I - Saver of Birds

We had our friends Cabinet Lady and Dr. Deb over for dinner last night. As usual we were doing our dining al fresco (out of doors for you non-Eurosnobs). Wife was concerned about our going in and out bothering our resident hummingbird. So we decided to leave the screen door open as Wife feels the noise from opening and closing it is the major problem.

I was grilling and once I had the food out and was going to and from the table, the bird was pretty content and not leaving the nest.

We ate and it got darker. We put the light on over the outdoor table. Wife went to get dessert. About half way through, the bird gets off the nest and starts flying around. Suddenly it is in the house, in the kitchen. Wife and guests are in arms. What will happen to the bird? It's clearly disoriented.

It seems to be blinded by the lights. I went in the kitchen just as it was going to one of the canister lights which are very hot. I shut off the main lights so it heads for the over sink light. Now it's dark in the kitchen but the bird is still disoriented. So I turn on the light by the living room door. It head there. I turn that light off and all there is is the light outside. It heads for that one out of the kitchen.

It's still disoriented. We shut the screen. Shut the light outside. Finished dessert in the dark. and carried everything back in in the dark before we turned on the kitchen lights again.

This morning she was safe back in the nest.