How to Get a Hummingbird Out of a Garage
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A simple trick on how to get a hummingbird out of a garage. It really works! (See the comments for proof!)
Guest post and photography by Curt Casteel (Rachel’s Dad)
Every summer a strange phenomenon takes place in many American garages: Hummingbirds fly in, but they don’t fly out. They will stay in there, with the door wide open, until they keel over dead. Weird, right?
Here’s why it happens, and how to get a hummingbird out of a garage. Time to convince your family you are a “hummingbird whisperer.”
Why Hummingbirds Fly Into Garages
A hummingbird has the metabolism of, well, a hummingbird. Since their next meal is usually found inside something colored bright red, yellow, orange, or purple, their tiny brains are programmed to seek these hues.
Enter the Law of Unintended Consequences. The government requires every electric garage door opener to have a release handle so if it becomes stuck, you can pull this handle to manually raise and lower the door.
If you step out into your garage and look up, you’ll see that this dangling little handle is, that’s right, RED, and shaped roughly like a trumpet vine flower. You’re already ahead of me, aren’t you?
The unintended consequence of that red handle is that a hummingbird flies by an open garage, sees a little red “flower” inside, and zips in to investigate. Upon finding they can’t stick their tongues inside that plastic handle for some nectar, most turn around and leave. But a surprising number make a fatal error—they fly up.
Regardless of the reason, once they get it in their heads that “up” is the only way out, they refuse to fly through the open door.
This ends badly. The confused hummingbird will hover near the ceiling, searching every high corner of the room, until it has to rest, usually on the garage door track or a light fixture. It will repeat this cycle until it is completely exhausted and dies, which can take only a few of hours.
How to Get a Hummingbird Out of a Garage
Some of you this summer will head out into the garage with the kids to go somewhere and find one of our little feathered buddies in exactly the situation I’ve described.
Stay cool.
Load the family up in the minivan, back out into the driveway, and tell them, “Watch this.” Trot back into the garage and grab your leaf rake. Slowly, slowly move the business end of the rake up to within just a few of inches of the hovering or resting hummingbird.
Be patient. It will, depending on its level of exhaustion, land on the tines of the rake within just a few seconds.
Then very slowly lower the rake a couple of feet and move toward the open door. Once it sees more blue sky than garage ceiling the hummingbird will probably take off, but it might be so tired it needs to rest a minute even when you are all the way outside.
All the more time for you to look awesome for little onlookers.
Congratulations! You just saved a hummingbird’s life!
I just used a fruit picker instead of a rake. Same idea and it also worked! Took a while – about 8 minutes, because I have a lot of struts in my garage ceiling and maneuvering the bird caused it to freak out and fly back up. Eventually though the bird stayed on until I got outside the garage!
From Madrone Audubon: Help save thousands of hummingbirds by making sure your bright red emergency pull cord on your garage is painted a different color (green is a good color that will not attract the birds but also is still visible). Every year thousands of hummers are killed when people leave their garage doors open and the hummers go inside thinking the bright red handle is a flower or feeder and then become trapped.
Excellent advice Katy, and something I should have thought to put the original post. Would be a fun and easy project for kids, and one they can talk about at school.
I lured one out of the garage with a feeder (no juice in it) on a pole, but it flew back in to the red handle. Fortunately it came out again. I will wrap the handle with green tape. Also, remove colourful items from garage shelves.
So many rescued hummingbirds here! Lovely!
We had a very panicked girl in our house yesterday for a couple hours. I tried the rake, including tying red flowers to it, but she just fled from it. She was so spastic she was hitting her head and leaving tiny feathers on the ceiling. It was awful.
We finally ran to the pet store and grabbed a hummingbird feeder with some nectar and hung it from the ceiling fan where she kept landing. In less than a minute she was at it feeding forEVER. Then she sat still for at least 10 minutes. I let her feed a few more times to get those electrolytes. Then just moved the feeder to an open window. When she went to feed again, she did a double take and zipped out the window.
I thought I’d post this for others with extra difficult guests who won’t leave. It’s very strange how they just will not fly a bit lower to an open window or garage door to free themselves…
Thanks for this page. 🙂
Thank you for this awesome advise. We freed a Hummingbird from our garage today!!!
Wonderful!
Read your rake trick and worked or at least greatly helped! I taped two handles together so it was long enough got it up close to him but he wouldn’t land on it but the poor little was so tired that he dropped down and landed on a shelf and I was able to walk up and get him in my hands I took it outside the store opened my hands I thought it was to late it’s eyes were closed it was laying on its side I just held it in the sun light it opened its eyes and finally flew off what a great feeling thank you for your Web site!
P.S. I was a hero
Great news! My dad will be so glad to know he’s saved another life. 🙂
Omg! I’ve been trying for the last 5 hours to get a hummingbird out of my garage. I was so afraid that it was going to die in my garage. I found this post and I went out but I didn’t have a rake. I found something that was similar. Actually it was what I used to pick oranges off my tree. Within 2 minutes I had the hummingbird and set him free. Thank you so much for posting this.
Score! Another life saved thanks to my dad. 🙂
Thank you for writing this post! I finally got it out after a few hours, and the addition of a hummingbird feeder as bait! It was extra tricky as it was nighttime so he really didn’t want to go out…thank goodness he finally did! Thanks again!!
Thank you! I did not want to tell my kids mommy killed the hummingbird she promised to save when she dropped them off to school! After reading your blog and other posts,I took my green mop and put a red net on top. It didn’t work. So I let the bird fly until it was tired again and landed on a vertical surface. Then I gently put my net over her and very gently nudged her inside with the mop. She jumped into the inside of the netting and held on. I was able to walk her outside the open garage door. She hesitated a moment but once she saw the blue sky she went straight up and right to the flowers to eat. Thank goodness! I just knew she was a goner! Bless you for your article.
That’s awesome. Way to go Mommy!
Thank you so much for this detailed and descriptive post. I had already found one dead hummingbird last year I October and did not want a repeat this year. So, after trying several times to put out a few feeders closer to the garage door exit and raising up the business end of the rake, the tiny tiny hummingbird was so tired, it did indeed land on the rake tines and came with me to the outside. as soon as he flew off, there was another tiny hummingbird that joined him immediately on a bush outside. I wonder if they were mates and/or had been waiting for the one trapped in the garage for that 1 1/2 – 2 hours? anyway, so happy for the way to help them.
It worked! Thank you for sharing.
Worked for me – Thanks!!!
Thanks for this very helpful post! I had a frantic hummingbird flying around the corners and roof of my porch this morning, and I used a broom to gently move him (I *think* it was a him based on his shiny green feathers) to the open air just a few feet from where he was flitting about!
Thank you so much!! New York, NY–yellow broom and a sprig of Cardinal creeper and red verbena finally did the trick. Took about 5 minutes to get interested, then gently moved in direction of the terrace door to freedom. Such relief for both, but a disappointment to my cat!
Boom! Another life saved.
It just worked in College Station, Texas. Thank you so much. The hummingbird and I will sleep much better tonight.
Yeah!!
i have a hummingbird in the garage, was in there since 6 o’clock pm left garage door open left got home at 10 pm still in there on a cord from the ceiling if I can catch him do I release him at night? Will he find his nest
Yes, he will find his way. Good luck!
Yes, This just happened to me today. We came home from the lake and there was an emerald hummer in the garage trying to get out the ceiling. He finally rested on the garage door opener. I climed up on a 6′ ladder with a hot tub net. I put on a red shirt then extended the net (4′) to the bird. He hopped onto it and I slowly lowered him and the net to below the garage door level then S-LO-W-L-Y stepped down the ladder and towards the from of the garage. half way out he say daylight and flew out. The whole operation took less than 5 minutes. Another save!!
Perfect!!! Thanks for the advice. Just used it to get 3, yes 3 out of our garage (which was only open long enough to drive the car in).