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?
