A Hummingbird's Nest at BPL - North Branch, March 2008
You know that Spring is here when the sun is shining, the weather is warm (60-70 degree Fahrenheit), the sky is deep blue and clear- sometimes with fluffy white clouds, and birds' songs fill the empty, cool and quiet morning space.
This is the back of the building of Berkeley Public Library - North Branch. And at this very back door steps that I usually take my noon lunch break. In early March of this year, I noticed a pretty little humming bird, who came quite often and was hovering around the lowest branch of the tree, and I thought that she came to drink nectar from the flowers. But then one afternoon, she had a tiny fuzzy white thing in her beak, and that she was putting it down on a branch. I came closer to investigate and saw her teeny-tiny, green nest. It was about one and a half inches across. I got very excited about my discovery and showed everyone at work this remarkable bird and her beautiful nest.
The nest is well camouflaged and from afar it is very hard to see.
The nest wrapped around a small branch about the thickness of your pinky-finger. The bird also used a dried leaf and secured it tightly to the branch like a foundation for her nest. She must had been building the nest for about two weeks or more.
She's still not quite finished covering the whole nest with this white, fluffy "cotton" here.
I regularly checked on the nest - before work, during my break and after work. On March 10th, the humming bird laid her first tiny white egg. It looks like and about the size of a jelly bean candy. The mother bird is about three to four inches long from the tip of her beak to the tip of her tail. The inside of the nest is now all covered with the fluffy "cotton" to cushion and keep her egg warm. The weight of the egg makes the nest sink deeper than before.
The next day, she laid her second egg. This one at first looked smaller than the first.
A few days later they were both about the same size and the shells were less transparent and thin.
The eggs looked pretty cozy and safe inside the tiny nest.
The mother bird usually flies away for about one minute, but I don't know how often she leaves her nest. This is a perfect opportunity for me to take pictures of her eggs. I can tell when she is coming back when I hear the sharp "chip! chip!" sound that she makes, and I of course get out of her way.
She changes her position from left to right, and front to back from time to time. I think she is also turning the eggs by wiggling, shaking and quivering her body before she settles down very still throughout her sitting.
On March twelve's night and early morning of the next day it rained pretty hard. I thought of the little humming bird and her eggs, and felt sorry for her sitting in the rain all night and morning. When I came to work that morning, I checked on the bird and there she was patiently sitting on her eggs.
Here as you can see the branches and her nest are all wet. And at the end of the leaf below her nest still has a drop of water in it. Poor baby!
I will continue to watch, take pictures and video taping of the humming bird and her eggs. Stay tuned!
This is the back of the building of Berkeley Public Library - North Branch. And at this very back door steps that I usually take my noon lunch break. In early March of this year, I noticed a pretty little humming bird, who came quite often and was hovering around the lowest branch of the tree, and I thought that she came to drink nectar from the flowers. But then one afternoon, she had a tiny fuzzy white thing in her beak, and that she was putting it down on a branch. I came closer to investigate and saw her teeny-tiny, green nest. It was about one and a half inches across. I got very excited about my discovery and showed everyone at work this remarkable bird and her beautiful nest.
The nest is well camouflaged and from afar it is very hard to see.
The nest wrapped around a small branch about the thickness of your pinky-finger. The bird also used a dried leaf and secured it tightly to the branch like a foundation for her nest. She must had been building the nest for about two weeks or more.
She's still not quite finished covering the whole nest with this white, fluffy "cotton" here.
I regularly checked on the nest - before work, during my break and after work. On March 10th, the humming bird laid her first tiny white egg. It looks like and about the size of a jelly bean candy. The mother bird is about three to four inches long from the tip of her beak to the tip of her tail. The inside of the nest is now all covered with the fluffy "cotton" to cushion and keep her egg warm. The weight of the egg makes the nest sink deeper than before.
The next day, she laid her second egg. This one at first looked smaller than the first.
A few days later they were both about the same size and the shells were less transparent and thin.
The eggs looked pretty cozy and safe inside the tiny nest.
The mother bird usually flies away for about one minute, but I don't know how often she leaves her nest. This is a perfect opportunity for me to take pictures of her eggs. I can tell when she is coming back when I hear the sharp "chip! chip!" sound that she makes, and I of course get out of her way.
She changes her position from left to right, and front to back from time to time. I think she is also turning the eggs by wiggling, shaking and quivering her body before she settles down very still throughout her sitting.
On March twelve's night and early morning of the next day it rained pretty hard. I thought of the little humming bird and her eggs, and felt sorry for her sitting in the rain all night and morning. When I came to work that morning, I checked on the bird and there she was patiently sitting on her eggs.
Here as you can see the branches and her nest are all wet. And at the end of the leaf below her nest still has a drop of water in it. Poor baby!
I will continue to watch, take pictures and video taping of the humming bird and her eggs. Stay tuned!
posted by Nga at 1:42 PM
3 Comments:
Cute :)
April 10, 2008
Hoi em o ben Chicago mua ve chau cay treo lo lung truoc nha vi chau cay la ra ram rap va tron giong to chim nen co con robin den lam to ngay giua chau, no de duoc 5,6 turquoise eggs, very neat, sau do vai tuan thi no con, moi lan em den gan de tuoi cay la bi chim me attack, em phai doi luc no khong co o do moi dam tuoi cay, chung thang sau may con chim lon roi bay mat.
Khai T.
Sau cai trung chim Robin, dep va hay qua nhi? Khai co chup hinh khong?
Co tin buon, thu Hai vua qua, chi vao so thi thay cai to chim dau mat. Kiem of trong bui cay thi thay hai co chim con chet kho. Thay toi qua chung.
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