It's migratory season for hummingbirds which means that about twice as many of the critters as normal are flitting about our feeders. They tend to be fairly possessive and uncooperative--often with one bird trying to stake out a solitary claim to a particular feeder. This leads to lots of little "dogfights" with lots of swooping, chittering, and ruffled feathers.
This morning one poor hummingbird darted right into a large spider web draped over one of our living room windows and was trapped, splayed out with wings quivering and extended like a tiny crucified Christ. I happened to see this almost as it occurred and dashed to the hummer's rescue before it could become prey either to our salivating feline, Dot, or to the gigantic spider hiding timorously in its silken lair.
The bird-in-hand was remarkably difficult to cleanse of the sticky strands of web and it was some time before I was able to get it back in a condition to fly. It did indeed zoom off, seemingly unharmed, but I had to wonder if its tiny feet had been fully freed of the sticky web. Would it be able to perch on some safe twig or would its feet remain bound to its abdomen so that it must fly on until eventually falling from the sky. Or if it could land, would the remnants of stickum attach it so firmly to a branch that it could never lift off again?
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