For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 04, 2024

That would be a miracle.

Simply catching it is the real miracle. :D

That happened to me once.

I’ve never held a hummingbird (don’t get them in the UK) but I have held a small songbird (can’t give its actual name as it is on the banned list, G*d help us) which had flown into our patio door and stunned itself. I kept it warm and safe until it had recovered. Rewarded us by raising a brood.

I have seen a video or photos of a woman hand feeding hummingbirds. I think they were really hungry after doing long flights on a migration route.

First of all, I am surprised that anyone in Ontario would leave a window open without a screen during the black fly season. However, putting a hummingbird feeder right by an open window is just asking for trouble. Frankly, it’s miracle Michael is not inundated with black flies and hummingbirds.

Not a funny strip today, but it does depict how Michael has evolved from an obnoxious brat to a sensitive, caring human being with the soul of a true artist. He (and we) have Rhetta to thank for that miracle.

From Lynn’s Comments: This is another true story. After this ran, I received a letter from a reader who told me a story: She had been sitting with a friend who was dying and didn’t have much more time to live. Her friend told her that when she died, she would come back as a humming bird and let everyone know she was OK. A few days after the friend passed away, the reader was outside filling her feeder when a humming bird came and hovered right next to her for an extended period of time. Her husband was able to take a photograph. She said it was the most comforting thing imaginable. I still have the photo she sent me.

I think I once touched a bird whose wings are injured or a bird who is not old enough to fly, it felt little like touching a chick.

Hummingbirds are adorable. They’re so small you have to handle them with care.

My daughter has patted a bee…twice.

This is the best strip in the world. I save it for last every day so I finish on a high note. I’ve read it beginning to end at least twice.

What an inspiration for a young writer. With a forward like that he can work up to having a dog named Farley.

I rescued a humming bird from a spider web that was too close to the feeder. Holding it for a second did feel like a miracle! Then I moved the spider to the other end of the porch.

I had a humming bird feeder on my deck when I lived in NC. I had never even seen one before, but was told there were many in the area. I was sitting on the deck reading a book when the very first humming bird I ever saw flew in and hovered by the feeder. A few things greatly surprised me about them:

How very loud they were while hovering. Of course, when I thought about it, bees certainly produced a noise as they buzzed around flowers, but for some reason I was not expecting this with the humming bird.

How very fast they can fly when they want to. Again, any bird that can flap their wings fast enough to hover should be able to fly quickly, but I was surprised at just how quickly they can really move from point A to point B.

They aren’t very nice to one another. Many, many times as one humming bird was hovering at the feeder, another humming bird would be dive bombing it trying to claim the feeder for itself.

Yes… Hummingbirds are the real world’s actual fairies…

Oddly enough. I was visited by a hummingbird in my garden yesterday.

The average hummingbird heartbeat is around 700 beats per minute. Wonder what his was after getting captured. MAY BE it would have been better to open the window, I don’t know.

Back in the 90’s when I still smoked, I was on the deck of the 2nd story apartment, a hummingbird descended from the cloud of smoke I just puffed and hovered in front of my face before flying off.

I think it gave me the bird

Magnificent!

Hummingbirds are wonderful little creatures.

A marvelous feat of evolution that is

Face to face with a male ruby throated while handing up the feeder, one of the most beautiful moments of my life. Thank you, Lord.

Video may still be available online: rescuingahummingbird. If still there well worth the watching.

That’s a good way to give a hummingbird a heart attack (according to an expert who tags them).

This is literally one of my fears, I have 3 cats it would be chaos. I do keep my feeder right near my slider so it would be my fault

Farley :)

Did the window close as soon as the bird was inside? It doesn’t seem like Michael would have closed it, so did it just slide shut on its own at that very moment? Because that’s bad timing.

Great art

I was once out watering my garden and while trying to move the hose had the water going nearly straight up for a moment. A hummingbird appeared and danced in back and forth in the falling water right in front of my face as I stood there transfixed. Such an amazing experience.

I love hummingbirds. Beautiful, interesting little creatures.

We had one on our screen in back porch. My brother went out in his lacrosse gear to catch it and it flew towards him once and he was banging on the door begging to be let in.

For some reason, today’s unexpectedly tender strip brought a tear to my eye.

A few weeks ago I noticed what I thought was a cicada lying on the sidewalk. Turns out it was a hummingbird that had been killed smacking into a window. I gently scooped it up in a tissue, took it home, and buried it in my garden. I couldn’t leave a jewel of nature to be eaten by a scavenger…even though that’s as nature intended, it didn’t feel right. Little miracles deserve better.

My husband worked in a lumberyard when he was about Michael’s age and a hummer got in the store and up into the lights. he took his t-shirt and caught it and took it outside. He opened the shirt and there was this tiny jewel in the shirt and, as he watched, it suddenly vanished as it flew off. That was something he treasured all his life. And my friend volunteers at a hummer sanctuary and makes hats with feeders on. Look up Dave Katz.

That’s beautiful, Michael. See? You definitely have the talent!!!

Do they not have screens on their windows in Canada? Is it so cold there that they have no insects?

Nice !

Mike gets hummingbirds. I get mosquitos and spiders

Good catch. Hummingbirds are quick!

Look at you writing Mike :-) <3