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!
AWESOME IT WORKS! Just successfully remove poor little guy from garage. First try thank goodness!
Found your tip from a quick Google search, and it worked in less than 5 minutes! Thank you 🙂
Just did it! Took a few tries….definitely have to move slow! But after taking minutes to walk a few feet with it the bird was free!
Amazing! August heat just about did this little guy in. I tried the rake trick and he landed on it very quickly. It was a pleasure watching him fly off into the twilight sky.
Glad this post helped!
This works!!! And works quickly!! Thank you! I was so worried about this little guy and the rake works like a charm!!! Watched him fly off for a while and hopefully he’ll come back later on…. Just not in my garage
Awesome to hear that the rake trick is still saving hummingbird lives. 🙂
Thanks so much for this tip! Worked like a charm. My husband left the door to our screened-in porch open and a hummingbird flew in. It kept hovering back and forth at the ceiling and would not fly low enough to get out the open door. I used the rake and it landed on the tines just like you said. It took several tries, but eventually the bird stayed on the tines long enough for me to slowly move the rake out the open door and then it took off. Yeah!
Wonderful to hear!
thank you! I was about to cry trying to get this baby hummingbird off of my open porch ceiling….took 2 tries before she landed on the rake but she’s free now, and I can sleep tonight…:)
Yay! My dad’s advice comes to the rescue once again.
Thanks so much for this tip. I have had hummers stuck in my garage previously but always able to shop them out. Today a young hummer could not find its way out of my garage and was clearly distressed after an hour+ Of frenzied flying inside. I tried the rake and got it out safely in just a few minutes! So relieved!
I have a hummingbird I been feeding for over a year and he a
Is a ruby red throat I named him copper I can’t go anywhere with out him following me when I am out side I care for a park close to me and he goes every where I go I can’t even go outside he makes sure I notice him i am not allowed to talk to other birds he gets upset I was drinking coffee one morning and sitting on my deck I notice a big black bird with a pink head sitting up in a tree in my neighbors yard and it notice me I was talking to it and my little hummingbird got very jealous I went into the house to grab some binoculars and he charged so close to my face he almost nocked them off my face so I new I couldn’t talk to other birds he gets upset now if a bird fly’s close to me he fly’s fast at me as well I no he is protecting me I love him so much and I figured he loves me to he is a joy to me but he is aggressive and highly protected of me thanks for letting me share you can pass this on if you would like I don’t mind
This is how curious my hummingbird is i was in my garage and their was a different bird flew into my garage and this was the day before it was so odd because he watch this bird do that and the next day he flew into the garage and did the same thing I forgot to add this in my story
We found this worked to help reunite the bird with her nest! Yes, we have a hummingbird nest in our garage. She flew in and out all morning but did not return by dark. Now I’m scared that she’s abandoned her nest. Or will she be back? We put a feeder by the nest so she doesn’t stress out looking for food.
Worked a treat! Thanks for the advice
I hung the feeder on a shepherds hook and she landed on it then I carried her to the door.
The rake trick worked great we were able to rescue a very tired wee hummingbird stuck in our garage for a few hours. Thank you, keep that rake around!!!!
You are a genius. I had tried everything and this worked a charm. Thanks! (from both me and the hummingbird..)
The rack trick worked!
Ours was in the garage. We had too many things up near the ceiling for it to land on so it never got tired enough to land on the rake. It was in there all night and most of the morning. Around noon, I finally set the feeder just inside the garage door on a white piece of paper (about 4 feet off the floor), with a lamp on right next to it(very cloudy outside). It went out! I was trying everything I could for it to see it! The lamp seemed to help.