A hummingbird that showed up in Minnesota, a place far from its usual stomping grounds, was taken to the much warmer state of Texas via private jet.
A hummingbird that showed up in Minnesota, a place far from its usual stomping grounds, was taken to the much warmer state of Texas via private jet.
How the bird ended up getting the royal treatment started with a stroke of sheer luck involving being in the right yard at the right time.
Early in November, bird enthusiast Terri Walls of St. Paul noticed an unusual avian creature hanging around her sugar water feeder.
Concerned that temperatures were quickly plummeting to January-like levels, lows that the hummingbird didn’t seem equipped to deal with, she netted it.
She took photos and posted them on Facebook. Walls also called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota.
It turned out she’d found a rufous hummingbird, a variety that typically hangs out in the Pacific Northwest and heads south of the border when the weather turns.
How it ended up in the frigid skies of Minnesota is a subject of much debate, but it was decided that it needed to be elsewhere.
An unnamed individual who was ready to jet off to Austin volunteered to take the little bird along.
Once in Texas it was checked over by experts and sent on its way, presumably to winter in Mexico.
