Hummingbird Mom Raises Two!

     Joy can surprise us with its simplicity. On July 7, I discovered that a female hummingbird had made her nest on a branch only a short distance from our three story deck. Only about three inches long how could I get a picture of such a petite neighbor? I mounted binoculars on a tripod with rubber bands then held my iPhone up to the lens and took a picture. To my surprise and delight it worked. To make getting photos and video easier I then order a frame that attached to the binoculars to hold the iPhone in place. I was off and running as an amateur wildlife photographer.

    Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are the only hummingbirds found in Wisconsin. Our tiny hummers live off sugar rich flower nectar and insects. Hummers as pollinators serve as they hum along moving from plant to plant sticking curved beak and tongue into flowers. The mother hummer after picking a mate by watching him show off his ruby throat and flying skills builds a nest from plant down like dandelion's fluffy seeds. First she tamps a base down on the chosen branch. She uses spider webs and sometimes tree sap as stick-em. Then she builds the sides by pressing the material between her neck and chest. She gathers lichens to attach to outside for camouflage.  After six days the finished nest is about the diameter of a ping pong ball.  To visualize look at your index finger from the middle knuckle to the tip. Man that's small.

    The Momma hummer then lays two eggs each about the size of a small jelly belly which I hold in my hand for perspective.* Draw an imaginary circle around those eggs to get the size of the nest. The shells white she begins incubating the eggs. They must stay warm to develop. Momma to be must also eat half her body weight each day. She leaves the nest briefly to get the food and energy she needs. She's on the nest keeping her eggs warm all night. After fourteen days or so the eggs hatch. Two completely naked and blind chicks then need to be fed and kept warm. Fortunately I caught what I believe to be a first feeding. Look carefully in the video you can barely see the tiny bills of the chicks inside the nest as the chicks stretch their necks up and open wide to be fed. The mother then sticks her bill into their open mouth to regurgitate some of the insects she has eaten. Her chicks need protein to grow. Insects supply the protein needed. Surprisingly her tongue seems to get pulled so far out she has to reel it back in. 

    One day a ferocious storm brought strong winds, thunder and lightening. From inside I watched as the limb that held nest, mother and babies whipped violently back and forth in the rain. Would the nest hold up? Would they survive? How could such a tiny nest weather such a storm? When the rain subsided I felt great relief to see that mom had stayed on her nest and had ridden out the storm. The babies remained safe under the shelter of their mother's body tucked inside that incredible nest. An Amazing grace.  

      A common start and end to Native American prayer calls on and blesses "All my relatives."  By this phrase they acknowledge that we; including all plants and animals are all related. Dr. James Lovelock just died a short time ago. As Creator of the Gaia theory he put this concept into scientific terms. Gaia theory proposes that living organisms interact with inorganic material on earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating complex system which maintains conditions that perpetrate life on our lovely blue-green planet. Adepts in religions also underline this sentiment by stressing that we are all related and interdependent. Our appreciation of animals such as Hummingbirds fosters an appreciation for our being and all that sustains us: the earth, sky, wind, and rain.  

    This petite mom took six days to build the nest after mating. Laid her eggs then incubated them and protected them until they hatched after fourteen days. Then she fed, warmed and protected her offspring for another twenty days until fully fledged and ready for flight. After the chicks left the nest she fed them for another two days showing them the ropes of how to catch insects and sip nectar. 

    Our petite mom succeeded in rearing her young. Will they live? Will they thrive? Hummingbirds on average live 3 to 4 years. The first year is a giant learning curve. Time will tell. I don't know how she felt after faithfully finishing her labors. Personally I suffer from empty nest syndrome and wondering will our babies make it?

    With over three hours of video I cut it down to about fifteen minutes to show the chicks developing from barely seen mouths reaching up from deep in  the nest to receive their first taste of regurgitated insects, to a crowded nest and vibrating wings getting ready for take off. Enjoy the video below. 

    Please note that you won't see any males in this video. The Ruby throated males do not help in child rearing. But some researchers believe that the males control their territory and allow all the females they mated with to use that food source while rearing the young. Hmm.... seems natural!

* Thank you Darlene for contributing two jelly bellies from your stash of candy for illustrative purposes. To my other friends as long as she doesn't read this fine print she'll never know that I borrowed them briefly. Don't worry I don't eat Jelly Bellies and returned them to the sack. As an evolved being I do not eat insects  Unless you consider shrimp an insect; which some people do. Actually insects evolved from crustaceans. Hmm.... getting dicey here. Let's leave it with that.

Anthony G. Hendricks, author, poet, nature lover -- naturally;  Buddha Blues, just published with a great cover created by his Sister Judith; available at Amazon as print on demand or as an e book at Amazon or Kobo. With formatting help on cover and interior by Woven Red. Other books The Wasteland Revisited, a book length poem about the dystopia causing global warming; available as an e book at Amazon; A Journey In The Human Dilemma, collected poetry and prose; trade paper back.