Dear all,
during the last couple of years, I have seen an Antillean Crested Hummingbird nest with young. At the end of the endeavor, I have been left with questions, probably because I was not able to watch the nest 24/7 (in part due to other commitments and in part not to disturb to much. So instead of wondering about what happened I want to ask a question.
This species is very small, so about two weeks for eggs to hatch and another two weeks for the young to fledge is the rule. However how does one recognize a bird ready to fledge? how big a percentage of the final bill size does it have, etc? the last day I have a photo of it, it looks like a bill 60% of the width of the head where adults are more like 160%. This was about 4 weeks after the first image of a bird incubating (so may be behind relative to first laying of eggs). Is this young ready to leave the nest?
I was not able to keep better watch over the nest as it was not visible from inside the house and I did not want to point predators to it.
Niels
during the last couple of years, I have seen an Antillean Crested Hummingbird nest with young. At the end of the endeavor, I have been left with questions, probably because I was not able to watch the nest 24/7 (in part due to other commitments and in part not to disturb to much. So instead of wondering about what happened I want to ask a question.
This species is very small, so about two weeks for eggs to hatch and another two weeks for the young to fledge is the rule. However how does one recognize a bird ready to fledge? how big a percentage of the final bill size does it have, etc? the last day I have a photo of it, it looks like a bill 60% of the width of the head where adults are more like 160%. This was about 4 weeks after the first image of a bird incubating (so may be behind relative to first laying of eggs). Is this young ready to leave the nest?
I was not able to keep better watch over the nest as it was not visible from inside the house and I did not want to point predators to it.
Niels
