MOM is back!  Yep, the Humming Bird Chronicles is turning into an annual affair.  I was checking out the back yard yesterday and I purposelly looked in my potted Ficus tree for signs of a Humming Bird.  Naughta!  Today, January 30, 2005 a nest perched out on the tip of my potted Ficus tree limb on my covered patio.  I never knew they could build a domicile so quickly.

Picture taken 01/30/05
 
Notice how much she has fortified her nest in the last week.  02/07/05
02/10/05   Probably 5-7 days before they hatch.  Any bets on which egg pops first?

Did you guess which hatched first?  The one at the left of the nest was hatching on Sunday, the other one today (2/15/05)

Opp's, one baby still hatched.  (Sound of taps in background 2/19/05)

5 days growth!  Unbelievable.  2/23/2005

You can see the primary flight feathers developing already!  I observed the feeding today.  It was amazing.  The baby bird actually took in the mothers beak until there was no beak left showing.  Now, considering how long the feeding beak is and how long the baby is, you would have to imagine that it would qualify, at the very least, as a sword swallowing circus act.(2/28/05)


Still, not even one month since the eggs were laid.  Just something to mull over.  Since the baby is primarily being feed bugs, just how busy do you think that Mom is?  She sits on the nest a great deal of the time.  (My own observation as I look to see if she is gone so that I can photograph the hatching  and growth progress.)   Any scientist or engineer knows that for every gram of bugs fed to the baby, that the baby is going to grow a fraction of a gram.  Now consider also, the Mom has to feed herself as well.  Everybody knows that hummingbirds have a voracious appetite.  You just have to sit back and say, "Good going, Mom.  Your the best!"  This is a marvelous show of nature at work.

If you look closely, you can see the beak is developing.  Almost twice the size as the previous  picture.  (March 4, 2005)

So On March 6, I intended to take a picture and didn't.  On March 7, camera in hand, all that was left was an empty nest.  It is now March 22 and there has been no sign of any hummingbird.  No nest rebuilding or anything.  I guess I was overbearing on my tenant and she decided to lease a more private nesting area.  Darn those camera toting humans.

Here is a quality link with more information about Hummingbirds.