Hi everyone. I've shut down the camera until we have another nest-full of eggs or some other event worth publishing.
Thanks to everyone for their great words of encouragement. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it as much as I. At one point we had almost 1000 concurrent viewers! I never expected it to get that popular.
Have a great summer!
Here is the video of the second hummingbird leaving the nest.
See the comment by one of our viewers that gives a first-hand account as she watched the bird leave. That comment can be seen on the post from Saturday.
As you can tell, both babies flew away today. Kind of sad after watching them intently for weeks.
The older one flew around 7:30 AM PST when I opened the back door. I guess he needed some impetuous to actually fly off. He went so fast that I couldn't tell where he went. I watched for him all day, but didn't see him at all. I did keep the dog and cat in the house, however!
The second one flew off just a few minutes ago (6:50 PM PST). Someone wrote to tell me he was on the edge of the nest looking like he was going to fly. By the time I looked he had already gone.
I did see that I got the second one flying off with the mother bird on video. I will post that in a few minutes.
One other interesting note: The mother bird keeps primping the empty next. She's got to know they are long gone. Is there any reason to keep primping? Is she expecting to lay more?
Several times we've seen the largest baby just about take off. He starts flapping like crazy, but then stops and settles back down.
For those of you who have been asking, yes, we are keeping the cat and dog in the house just in case. It probably takes a lot of bravery to leave the nest in the first place.... let alone with a cat and dog below!
If you have been watching, they are often stretching their wings. You can’t blame them, there isn’t much room left in that nest!
It is hard to believe they have grown enough to be ready to fly. Check this picture out from June 18, just 15 days ago. They have grown so much - probably to three times their size.
There have been several interesting viewer pics coming in. Check these out!
Lunchtime! Please stick that long needle down my throat!
Shep, the cat, shows he could care less about baby birds.
Even Hobie the dog gets into the shot sometimes! Here, she is dutifully watching the sprinklers (One of her dog-jobs that she takes seriously.)
My personal favorite. Can you see mom zooming away from the nest?
Hi All - we had a technical problem yesterday. Sorry about that. We got it fixed just in time for them to fly. -B
Here is a quick video of what the new birds look like up close. Thanks to our hundreds of daily viewers. It makes the extra effort worth it!
The babies are growing. They are about double their size of coming out of the nest. The older one is now six days old and the younger is four.
Can you tell which is the new one?
As several people commented, the second egg hatched yesterday (Sunday) early in the morning. By the time we woke up, it was already out and wanting food.
The mother is very busy as you will see. She tanks up at the feeder every few minutes throughout the day. Then she pokes that long needle of a beak down the kid’s necks for their breakfast. According to our bird book, baby hummingbirds are given regurgitated nectar and lots insects.
Enjoy watching feeding time!
The baby hummingbird hatched! He is as tiny as a raisin. He has a short, stubby beak. His eyes are not open yet, but they will open soon!
We saw the hummingbird feeding the baby. He is so cute. The mom sometimes leaves the nest and the baby picks up his head and moves it all around. The baby is almost helpless, but his mother takes care of him. So, that’s good!
This time its not a false call! The first hatchling is coming out as you read this.
It started at 2pm PST and she is about 1/2 way out at 2:30pm.
The hatchling looks kind of big in the pictures, but when you think about the egg being about the size of a pencil eraser, you realize she is very small. I would guess she is about the size of a peanut.
Several people have asked questions about the nesting habbits of this Anna's Hummingbird. Being I am a tech guy and not a bird guy, I had to hit Google. Here are some interesting things found here.
The Anna's Hummingbird has 2 white eggs with a 14 day incubation period. Fledging occurs 18-23 days after hatching. The nest is a tiny woven cup made from twigs, lichens, spider webs, and dead leaves fastened to well protected tree branch. The male and female only come together to mate. It is the female that builds the nest, incubates the eggs, and cares for the young.
When a fledging leaves the nest it is still dependent on their mother for food for a handful of days.
Here is our thoroughly-tested, much-applauded hummingbird nectar recipe (We actually have not been applauded, but have had no complaints.)
Mix 3 parts of water with 1 part of normal white sugar in a saucepan. Heat and stir until all the sugar dissolves. Let it cool completely and pour into the feeder.
It’s that easy. The white sugar is great for them and is much cheaper than the store-bought nectar that they sell. You can leave it colorless or add a little food coloring.
A few important items:
Have a special recipe to share? Leave it in the comments!
I’ve gotten several comments from people asking where she goes every few minutes. The answer is our hummingbird feeder mostly. She also seems to go down the street (probably to a neighbor’s yard that has lots of flowers.)
I decided to research it a little. Hummingbirds will drink nearly twelve times their body weight in nectar per day. They also like small bugs (which gives us another reason to be happy that she is nesting in our backyard.)
A Hummingbird’s metabolism is so high, that they are actually in a constant state of starvation. This causes them to feed for 15% of their day and sit for the other 85%.
At night they enter a state of hibernation called “Torpor.” According to Wikipedia, during torpor their heart rate goes from 180 bpm down to 50. This allows them to survive the night without dying from dehydration.
There is a great Wikipedia article on all this here.
Several people have commented asking if the nest size is really big. It may look big in the camera, but I think that is a result of the fish-eye lens and the relative closeness of the camera to the nest. The nest is actually dinky!
You can see the whole nest is about 11/2 inches around and only about an inch in diameter inside. The eggs are about 3/8" long and two of them would fit easily in a dime!
PS. These pics were all taken while momma was out getting fueled up at our feeder. She doesn't seem to mind as long as we are gone when she gets back!
It is pretty hard to get a good snapshot of her flying. She is so quick she is out before you can press a key. However, one of our viewers got one. Post or send us your own!
Her nest seems to be built out of real fine grass, spider webs and assorted odds and ends from around the area. It has a smattering of orange peels and paint chips (visible from the video).
The inside of it is about as big as your thumb, thus the camera had to be very close. [In fact, it is a little too close as it seems out of focus.]
The eggs are smaller than a dime and appear to be a Navaho White color.
This picture is a top-down view of the nest with only one egg. This was right after the first was laid. Click on the image to enlarge it.
One thing we often laugh about is how she is intent on always fixing it up whenever she flies back. She will poke at it with her bill. Because the nest is so pliable, it looks like she is kneading dough.
Finally, as you can see from the picture, the nest seems to be held on by some spider web-like strings that are wrapped around it and the branch. I’m not sure if it really is spider web material or if they create their own. Any Ornithologists or Zoologists care to comment?
