A few days ago a friend of mine showed me who was visiting my favorite Julie mango tree. Seems I'm not the only one who loves Julie mangoes!



Then this morning I saw a very small hummingbird land in the Lignum Vitae tree in my backyard. I snuck up slowly and this is what I found.



The entire nest is only about 1 1/2 inches wide. I took a leaf from the tree and took a photo of it with a pen to give you perspective on how small this bird and nest is.



Then I saw the hummingbird fly away so I snuck back and saw the tiniest Easter egg ever!

That's cool! Thanks for sharing.

Wow rebecca what a brilliant find! Thankyou for sharing...and its soooo tiny! :-)

Thats so cute... Love the pics Becca.

Irie Rebecca !
You take some really good photos !!
Thanks for sharing.
ONE LOVE !!
Mike

Look what I saw this morning!!

love it. nature at its best .

Mama and babies look to be doing fine. Here is the morning update.

Omg wow! ;-)

Look at how big they are getting!

They are literally stretching the nest as they grow. I went to look at them last night and one baby started to wiggle around and lift his/her behind out of the nest and proceeded to urinate a strong stream out. I was startled as it happened so fast and I couldn't believe the power in the stream and how much. Maybe too much information for you, but trust me, it really was something coming from this extremely tiny being. I had a good laugh as I've been ". . ." on before, but never quite in that fashion!

Folks might enjoy a webcam in San Diego that has continuing live computercast of a hummingbird nest. As of the moment she hatched one egg; the baby is growing (so it seems, with such a tiny nest) enormously. Periodically mama comes back to the next to regurgitate a meal for the child -- pokes that long bill unbelievably deep! Have a look:
http://www.ustream.tv/hummingbirdnestcam

How cool is that!

Thanks Don!

Here's our babies today.

As I was sitting on my back step talking to my mother on the phone I captured these moments.

I'm hungry


Look at those wings growing. Dem soon fly away!


Breakfast time!

OMG!!! These pix are amazing...I keep tracking these pix, and they are awesome... How close can you go from her? Intrested, you are the first person I ever see getting so close to these birds. It seems that it almost time for them to fly. Maybe you should see if you can tame her

Thanks Rosie. I'm not getting too close. My camera has a good zoom lens. That is why some of the photos are not so clear as I should really be using a tripod when zooming in so much. I was about 30 feet away while taking the above shots. I want to make sure not to scare away the Mama.

Trust me, I've had so much fun watching these babies grow! I'm just hoping I will be able to witness the flying lessons.

Rebecca can you tell what the nest is made of? It looks like half o' coconut? Also what type of camera are you using?. Fantastic!

Shouldn't be long now. Check out those wings!



To Metro, I use a Cannon Power Shot. The nest is only about 1 1/2 inches big. I just googled it and this is the link I got.

http://www.hummingbirdworld.com/h/nest.htm

It said the inside is made up of plant down and spider webs. I can see that as it looks like cotton.

Oh, I was so amazed at that video, how does she put that long beak in their little mouth without hurting them? The work of God is truely amazing. I hope you will be able to see them take their flight.

Amazing and inspiring! You're a great naturalist Rebecca. Thanks for sharing the evolution of this wonder!

Your photos are amazing, Rebecca! Thanks for sharing them with us.

Nature is truely amazing! Still cannot believe that they are not even the size of a leaf! You are soooo lucky Rebecca to have seen them emerge from that tiny weeny egg and grow. Thank you so much for sharing.

I think they need to find a bigger place!



And then Mother Nature hit my yard again last night with the birth of 7 new puppies! Spring is definitely in the air around here.

I cannot thank you enough for the hummingbird pics...I hope you don't mind that I've been reposting some of them to my FB page for those of us who will never have a chance to see this in person?

You might also enjoy this essay, which was on my mind when you discovered and shared the nest....http://dangerblog.blogspot.com/2004/11/humbird-humbird-following-piece-by.html

Hey just what TB needs, more dogs!Is anything ever spayed or neutered around there??

Actually Bob, I couldn't agree with you more. However, my dog was very sick and the vet said to wait until she got better. Before he got the chance she got pregnant. But we have a hot date as soon as it is possible.

Spaying and neutering are expensive for many persons. From time to time there are free clinics but, unfortunately, not enough.

Thanks for sharing Sisterfire. What a beautiful and educational essay. Goes to show we better not waste even one heartbeat as they too are numbered.

This was the latest from this morning.





Unfortunately, Mother Nature is not always kind and a few hours after taking these photos I went outside to find one baby on the ground dead and no nest. I am hoping the other baby flew away but I am a bit baffled as to where the nest went.

There is very little spaying or neutering of dogs done in Treasure Beach. As Rebecca says, it is ususally beyond the budgets of most people. I helped pay for someone to get their dog spayed and I must say I was appalled by the poor vet care that dog received. After seeing that, I would never use that vet again. There must be a better answer but I don't know it.

Oh now, I cant believe that really happen!I always come to see whats the latest. I'm so sorry about that, they are so pretty. Hope that one will be able to survive without the nest until it's ready to fly.

That is sad,it was a privilege to watch them develop. From the last picture it appears as if one could have already been dead, and maybe it's just a case of survival of the fittest; food may have been in short supply and the dominant one got most of what was available.
Maybe a chicken picked up the nest and tried to or ate it.

Oh, no! Yes, I too hope the other one is safe...and glad you liked the essay...thank you so much for the pictures of this tiny miracle...

What I think happened here is that the nest could no longer hold these beautiful babies and just fell off the branch. I would not think otherwise.
Hope the one that survive will be healthy and come back to visit that same tree.
I would have taged him/her.

I must say it was such pleasure to have track from those tiny eggs, to birth and developement, I had enjoyed this so much . I must say I'm a lover of Mother Nature. Looking forward to see more of mother nature from you Rebecca.Keep up your good work, I always admire you work...Keep having fun!!!!

As an avid fan of Nature, I understand the precarious "nature" of the wild. Mother Nature works in funny and mysterious ways, ways in which we will never understand. Thanks for the pictorial Rebecca; you share so much with us.