Hummingbird Nest Construction

Last summer a hummingbird built a nest in the pear tree behind our house and raised two chicks, documented in three posts starting here.

Now she's back, in the same tree but a different location. Joan and I pass under that nest when we use the walk in back! From an upstairs room we can look down and watch her progress. This series of photos documents her progress so far. Click on an image to see the enlarged version.

June 24 -- spider silk

June 25

June 26 -- adding lichen

June 27

June 28

June 30 -- on watch

July 1

July 2

July 3 -- looking tall

July 4

I also have a video clip of mama flying out to harvest lichen and add it to her nest, afterwards squirming about to keep the nest expanded.
 

Further posts following her progress will be forthcoming.

Baby Hummingbirds

Joan and I have been watching a pair of baby hummingbirds as they rapidly grow. At first they were just hypothetical eggs being kept warm by mama, tucked into a lichen-clad nest she'd carefully built in a pear tree barely a dozen feet from our house.

We checked every day, waiting for signs of hatching. We would wonder, "Is that the tip of a beak peeking over the edge?" One day we were certain it was.

There were two chicks, one larger than the other, likely having broken out of its shell a day or two earlier. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

My, how you've grown!

Mama was very busy feeding the hungry ones, even when she was harassing a juvenile owl hanging around our yard one day. Begging is mandatory.

Me! Me! Me!

Bigger sib seems to get fed first.

Mom knows how to fix 'em.

But Mama doesn't ignore the smaller one.

Smaller sibling's turn.

Every day the nest is more crowded. It's a good thing they don't weigh much, or the one in the lower bunk might get crushed.

When one gets restless or needs to exercise those untested wings, well, it's awkward, isn't it?

It's getting close to their departure date. Some morning at least one will have flown.

July Sightings

This post collects some interesting photos from our outdoor rambles of the last several weeks.

At Christmas Rocks State Nature Preserve...

The blooming buttonbush has its tiny flower petals down on the surface of the sphere, and at the end of 100 to 200 stemens are the reproductive parts.

A look through the eyes of the DeepDreamGenerator:

A different sort of bloom, as it were, the sporophytes or spore-producing bodies of these mosses.

Sporophytes in the sunlight.

Multiple environments atop, on the sides of, and below the rocks.

An arc of illuminated spiderweb; click to enlarge.

A pretty but deadly mushroom of the aminita family.

At the Franklin Park Conservatory ...

Dale Chilhuly glass in the Pacific Islands Water Garden.

Carnivorous plants in the 2-acre Childrens Garden (wetland area).

I've documented the Paul Busse Garden railway here.

At Home ...

We have discovered that catbirds are enthusiastic bathers.

Joan planted several native plant species in front beds this spring, including milkweed, the sole support of monarch butterflies for egg-laying and feeding the caterpillars. (In particular, she planted rose milkweed, a cultivar of swamp milkweed).

We hadn't anticipated such early success as we've received; soon there were monarch visitors and tiny egg dots under the milkweed leaves. Here are photos of some monarch caterpillars, which go through five instars, or skin-sheddings, as they grow. A first instar is tiny, a centimeter or less long and skinny as a sharp pencil lead. This is likely a second instar; note that the two sets of "horns" are about the same size front and back.

Third instar? The front horns are larger.

A hummingbird has established a nest in the pear tree a dozen feet or so behind the house.

Photo through double-pane glass with small spotting scope.

There are two babies in the nest, growing rapidly. For the next update on the hummers, go here.

 
At Clear Creek Metro Park ...

A blooming green adder's mouth orchid, with its single leaf, and an in-focus closeup of the blooms.

A surprise atop a bolus growing out of a tree ... click on the image to enlarge.

A spicebush swallowtail butterfly.

The beginnings of a dam just above Lake Ramona?

The spider webs stood out on an astonishingly humid early morning. Easy for the flying insects to avoid until the silks dried and ceased to glisten.

Hello, venusta orchard spider!

This one is all curled up, and so harder to identify. Just about everything building webs in the air is an orb-weaver of one sort or another.

This one is surely in the genus of spiny orb weavers. Click on the image to enlarge and note the projections.

Rattlesnake plantain, an orchid. We've seen many this summer.

Here we have Indian pipe, which lacks chlorophyll. Instead of generating energy from sunlight, it is parasitic on certain fungi that are in a symbiotic relationship with trees, so ultimately its energy comes photosynthesis, but two steps removed!

Shrubby St. John's wort. These blooms are smallish, between half an inch and an inch across. This bee favorite known for, among other things, its deer-resistance.

Joan and I recommend observing nature at least once a week for your mental health!

Hummingbird Alert!

"You've got to come down to the dining room!" Joan called up to me. "I can see a hummingbird building a nest!"

Indeed, in the lower branches of an ornamental pear tree, perhaps 12 feet off the ground and 15 feet from our dining room window, construction was in progress.

The construction zone.

All photos were taken through glass.

The nest builder, with a thin strand of spider silk, barely visible, attached to the tip of her tail (click on the image to enlarge).

She appears to be sitting calmly on the nest in this photo, but she's constantly squiggling, smoothing the interior contours of the new home.

Sometimes flapping is required.

A nearby squirrel was not impressed,

but Joan and I are enamored with our new neighbor, and with the prospect of observing a hummingbird family over the next month. Our binoculars will not gather dust, and the next hummingbird post is here.

Hummingbird Nest, Two Babies

This summer a hummingbird nest appeared at the edge of the woods in back of our house. Here is a photo from June 16th.

And from another angle. The lichen cladding the side of the nest gives it a well-tended, camouflaged, and almost armored look.

Mom would visit from time to time on 6/16. The nest is about 15 feet above the ground, so I needed both a stepladder, to get a picture of anything except the bottom of the nest, and the full zoom (300mm equivalent) of my point-and-shoot camera.

Now fast forward to July 13th. The two babies in the nest have been visible for the last couple of weeks (click to enlarge). The yellow leaves are due to the heat and drought we've had for several weeks. Joan is bracing the stepladder, which is on uneven ground, so I'm willing to climb a rung or two higher than before.

Then one turned around, and the picture is of two baby hummingbird butts.

Time to move the ladder. In this picture, if you enlarge and look closely, you'll see that the closer bird has his or her eyes closed.

One more repositioning of the ladder, for a last shot.

These chicks barely have room to breathe; they'll be fledging soon.