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EXTENDED FAMILY

This is a stock photo because Mama Mia built her nest in a VERY inconvenient place to see inside.

My Hummingbird Family continues to grow…meet Mama Mia and Olive.

Mama Mia builds her nest
Mama sits on her egg
Olive has hatched!
Mama Mia feeds
Olive strong enough to fledge. She sits outside her nest preparing.
Ready, Set, Go.
Olive flies across the patio…
…across the patio to test her wings
and finally into the wild blue yonder

Mama Mia decided to build her nest on top of one of the light bulbs I have strung across the roof of my back patio. I found the whole process of nest building remarkable works of nature. Mama Mia wasn’t the attentive mother that Charlotte was with Fern and Wilbur, but attentive enough that one egg hatched and Olive grew strong enough in two & a half weeks to fledge on September 1.

It has been a treat and new learning curve to watch the birds in my backyard. Between my nesting hummingbirds, the many birds who drink and bathe from my fountain and my hummingbird feeder (which also feeds ‘my’ gila woodpecker), a new passion has been born.

Here are a few hummingbird facts I have learned along the way:

  1. It takes about 5 weeks from the time an egg is hatched until the little one fledges.
  2. Mama sits on the egg(s) about 2 weeks
  3. Most often two eggs are laided
  4. Mama feeds her nestling(s) a slurry of nectar that she regurgitates for them
  5. After a couple weeks she will bring small insects
  6. The nest is about the size of a thimble
  7. The egg is the size of a small jelly bean
  8. The baby is born featherless
  9. Mama uses stretchy spiderwebs to build the next because it will expand to accommodate the babies as they grow. 
  10. Baby hummingbirds start to grow feathers after hatching. Within about two weeks, they sit on the edge of the nest and begin stretching their wings, preening, practicing balance. 
  11. There are about 330 species
  12. Once the little one fledges…. bye baby bye

My last experience was easier to follow as the nest was across the yard in an Oleander bush and Doug brought his telescope over so we could watch through the window. This time wasn’t so simple, but it was equally thrilling.