Hummingbird Nest Photo

by John
(Cheraw, Colorado)

Last week when my wife and I went to the garage to get in the car, we noticed a small bird on the ground.

We immediately thought it was a baby bird that had fallen out of it's nest. After looking at the bird, we realized that it was an adult hummingbird that for whatever reason was in the process of dying.

We put the bird up in the tree so that the cats wouldn't notice it. Upon doing that we noticed a nest in the tree above where the adult bird was on the ground. The nest (pictured below) had three eggs in it. We were amazed by the nest and the tiny size of the eggs.

When we returned from our trip, we caught a quick glimpse of another bird on the nest. It immediately left when we came around.

Not knowing hummingbird habits, we assumed that the colorful bird that had passed away was the male and the bird on the nest was the female.

At that point we decided to do what we could for the mother on the nest. We bought a hummingbird feeder and premade food for the feeder and hung it in the area close to the nest. We have seen the mother use the feeder.

This occurred on June 5th, 2011 and the mother is still sitting on the nest today on June 12th.

My wife and I are totally adsorbed in this project of watching over this nest. We would appreciate any advice that anybody could give us.

How long will it take for the eggs to hatch; how long will the babies be in the nest and what can we do to help? We have been unable to get a good picture of the mother on the nest.

John
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