{"id":877545,"date":"2026-06-19T05:32:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/877545\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T05:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:32:28","slug":"firefighters-put-basketball-games-on-hold-to-help-tiny-animal-living-in-hoop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/877545\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefighters Put Basketball Games On Hold To Help Tiny Animal Living In Hoop"},"content":{"rendered":"

During their downtime, firefighters at Arizona\u2019s Northwest Fire District Station 338<\/a> might normally unwind by shooting hoops in the station house\u2019s rec area. But the sound of bouncing basketballs and squeaking sneakers has recently fallen silent.<\/p>\n

And for the sweetest reason.<\/p>\n

A few weeks back, firefighters arrived to find an unexpected new addition to their basketball hoop \u2014 a tiny nest perched at the base of the net. There, too, was the little hummingbird who built it.<\/p>\n

The placement of the nest makes it impossible to play basketball without disturbing it, but the crew at the station doesn\u2019t mind ceding it to the bird and her future family.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur firefighters find this new addition exciting to observe,\u201d Anne-Marie Braswell, spokesperson for the fire district, told The Dodo. \u201cIt\u2019s an easy decision to take a break from basketball, one they all can agree on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Northwest Fire District<\/a><\/p>\n

Though the hummingbird may not have realized her choice of nesting spots would draw the attention of so many fawning onlookers, it hasn\u2019t stopped her from putting the nest to use.<\/p>\n

Not long after noticing the nest, firefighters found a tiny egg<\/a> inside it.<\/p>\n

Northwest Fire District<\/a><\/p>\n

Fortunately, the stationhouse also has a gym, which has not (yet) been made a hummingbird nursery.<\/p>\n

But in their downtime at the station, firefighters are happy that bird-watching is now an option, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a source of enjoyment,\u201d Braswell said.<\/p>\n

Northwest Fire District<\/a><\/p>\n

One day, the hummingbird and her chicks will leave the station behind. Until then, firefighters are happy to give them the space they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes protecting life looks a little different,\u201d the fire station wrote<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ll get back to the game later!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Clever<\/a>Clever Little Hummingbird Builds A Home With A Roof”Ingenious” \u2764<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During their downtime, firefighters at Arizona\u2019s Northwest Fire District Station 338 might normally unwind by shooting hoops in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":877546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[19258,103384,159,10235,19257,19256,67,132,68,837],"class_list":["post-877545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-daily-dodo","tag-hummingbirds","tag-science","tag-standard","tag-stephen-messenger","tag-the-dodo","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116775141498470998","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}