Hi everybody,
I need to share this, although some might be a bit jealous :
A female Anna's hummingbird has built a nest _just_ in front of our bedroom window :'D :'D ! I discovered that last saturday, when the nest was still just a small patch about the size of my thumbnail on a little twig. But she was really hard working, and by monday it was ready, and tuesday evening we discovered the first egg! And yesterday the second arrived. Now she is mainly sitting on the nest and brooding, at least this morning, which was a bit chilly. We went so mad about the nest that we purchased a digital camcorder on sunday to monitor the nest building, the hatching and rising of the chicks... wooooooo, I get all excited when I think of that! Can you imagine how hard it is to sleep if you know there is a small brave little hummingbird just a few feet away from you sleeping on her eggs?
O.k., I will try to cool down a bit. Does anyone know when we might expect the chicks to hatch? And is there anything we con do to help the little mother to rise her chicks? We have a feeder on our balcony on the other side of the appartment we are almost sure she visits, together with some plants (the ones those #$%$#&**%#$-sqirrels did let survive!), but as far as I know what she will mainly need are insects. Will it be helpful to put some fruit near the feeder to attract fruit flies? Any other ways? I think it would not be a good idea to put any source of food near the nest, because it might attract other (humming)birds and this would give the mother a lot of stress, do you agree?
Any suggestions how we can help our little mother will be greatly appreciated. I will post pictures when we have them (we only have a 35mm camera, so it will take some time) and maybe even put some of the movies in the internet, if I can figure out how. But in any case I will keep you updated about the little family!
Happy and excited greetings, MBP
I need to share this, although some might be a bit jealous :
A female Anna's hummingbird has built a nest _just_ in front of our bedroom window :'D :'D ! I discovered that last saturday, when the nest was still just a small patch about the size of my thumbnail on a little twig. But she was really hard working, and by monday it was ready, and tuesday evening we discovered the first egg! And yesterday the second arrived. Now she is mainly sitting on the nest and brooding, at least this morning, which was a bit chilly. We went so mad about the nest that we purchased a digital camcorder on sunday to monitor the nest building, the hatching and rising of the chicks... wooooooo, I get all excited when I think of that! Can you imagine how hard it is to sleep if you know there is a small brave little hummingbird just a few feet away from you sleeping on her eggs?
O.k., I will try to cool down a bit. Does anyone know when we might expect the chicks to hatch? And is there anything we con do to help the little mother to rise her chicks? We have a feeder on our balcony on the other side of the appartment we are almost sure she visits, together with some plants (the ones those #$%$#&**%#$-sqirrels did let survive!), but as far as I know what she will mainly need are insects. Will it be helpful to put some fruit near the feeder to attract fruit flies? Any other ways? I think it would not be a good idea to put any source of food near the nest, because it might attract other (humming)birds and this would give the mother a lot of stress, do you agree?
Any suggestions how we can help our little mother will be greatly appreciated. I will post pictures when we have them (we only have a 35mm camera, so it will take some time) and maybe even put some of the movies in the internet, if I can figure out how. But in any case I will keep you updated about the little family!
Happy and excited greetings, MBP
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