Month: April 2014

April 29

Instead of writing all the stuff I should write, like all about Flower, Polly and Nate, I’m just going to give you an over view of what has happened lately. I got some attention for the web cam and got quite a few viewers thanks to Kirk and Lee. I kind of went viral for 15 minutes across Canada anyway.

Flower Polly and Nate are doing very well. They are developing a lot faster then Wind and Rain did when the weather was so cold. http://youtu.be/wuvE3pHllPg  http://youtu.be/k2CwqHfe9rM  http://youtu.be/wamh6BTBgVQ  http://youtu.be/9iGyBviFapo

Flower’s previous chicks, Wind and Rain are out on their own now. I saw Rain the other day. She is easy to recognize because of the rather bare patch on her chest. She has moved out of the back yard and into the front area. She feeds off the balcony feeder and not the ones in the backyard anymore. She was being allowed to feed there by Flower. Wind was last seen feeding at the flowers in the front too. Meanwhile, in Hummingbird Hills, Alice has another nest right above the path again, Coral has a nest with a couple of eggs, Glory has two chicks, Halley and Louya. And they fledged when I was able to film them. Watch the videos and you will see them through to being fairly independant. http://youtu.be/mSW46GAjYLM  http://youtu.be/xuzBrl2WkMc  http://youtu.be/tlXe2z3VSao   http://youtu.be/KfhD_yax5bM    http://youtu.be/tAJA0ME3eLk http://youtu.be/NW_a67bzz9s  http://youtu.be/bmgwMpqbBtU   I had found Rose’s nest but it was on a thick branch and I think a Squirrel ran though it so that didn’t work out. I also found another nest with an abandoned egg in it. There is a nest in the crown of the Ocean Spray and another in the Fir tree about 50 ft up.

Weaver has two chicks hatched about Apr 15  http://youtu.be/W_-TvOHHCNk

Coral has a couple of eggs. http://youtu.be/edVas9w5GPA

Alice is sitting on two eggs above the walking path.  http://youtu.be/gwa1UZxOXpM

That’s a lot of nests, eh?

The mortality rate was a lot higher when the weather was colder. Out of the six that I watched earlier in the year, only two made it through to fledging. And even then the chicks weren’t that healthy. You can see from Halley and Louya what a difference the weather makes on their development. Compare them with Wind and Rain which Fledged in early March, and you can see that Halley and Louya have a much better chance at survival.

This crop of chicks will fledge sooner and be healthier.

How to Find a Hummingbird Nest

I get asked a lot how I find hummingbird nests. The answer is kind of simple. It takes patience and you have to listen and watch closely. I was sitting on a high point in Hummingbird Hills today just listening for the different birds to find out where they were. I had already found another nest this morning when I was able to zero in on one who’s territory I had been watching. I figured the next time I thought I was close to a nest, I would try to capture on camera the process and sounds that tell me there is a nest nearby. It’s rare that I am able to do that, but today I felt lucky. Soon, I saw a hummingbird hunting for bugs a bit downhill from where I was sitting so I moved closer. The bird was going from shrub to shrub picking up bugs for food and then it would disappear and re-emerging a minute later wiping it’s beak on a branch. That’s a sure sign of feeding her young. They often wipe their beaks on branches after feeding. I kept moving closer to where I felt the bird was centered in the bush and pretty soon it turned it’s attention to me. That is where the video starts. http://youtu.be/nhEfT-d0FKw    You can watch it and see what I saw. What is hard to see is the very last part of her flight because she moves so rapidly that the camera can’t really see where she is going. I could though, and soon I found her nest. Listen for the type of sounds she makes and watch her flight patterns. How do I find a hummingbird nest? I let the bird show me where it is.

Wind, Rain’s healthier sibling is doing his best to stay out of the camera lens. I caught him zipping around our flower bed yesterday with a snootful of pollen. He rested in the plum tree for a while and let me photograph him a bit and then went right back to doing what hummingbirds do best.

 Sticking their beaks into every flower they see. He is quite agile and appears to have no trouble flying at all. I got a good look at his feathers and they are much more developed then Rain’s.

Meanwhile, Rain has taken up residence in our backyard and makes frequent trips to the feeder. I have seen her snapping at flies as they come close, but I haven’t seen her catch one yet. That doesn’t mean that she hasn’t, just that I haven’t seen her do it. Flower has stopped feeding her now, as her current eggs near hatching, but I did see Flower giving a fly catching demonstration for Rain over our neighbor’s compost pile. Rain sat in a branch while Flower zipped around chattering and snatching flies out of the air not 4 ft from Rain. Rain’s a quick learner and I think she got it.

April 4

Rain hasn’t clued in that she can feed herself yet and Flower’s feedings are few and far between after 10 days. She was peeping all day so I decided to give her a break and show her the glass flower feeder and see what she does. She hasn’t made the connection yet about food coming from anywhere except Mom. Once the flower is within reach, she gets it immediately and has a good drink. http://youtu.be/A0AaE1wSBI8   Perhaps this will help and she will fly over to the real feeder which is only about 10 ft away.  I placed the flower feeder close to her  so she could get to it. Here she is happily sucking up a snootful of sugar juice. http://youtu.be/kv1vVax6M-Y   I have seen Flower flying back and forth from feeder to Rain to show her where food comes from. Rain just hasn’t made the connection. I was very relieved when I came home from work to discover Rain gorging herself at the regular feeder. Here she is just finishing up. She has figured out how to feed herself and she’s going to be OK.  http://youtu.be/i7u-7Wmtie8

April 3 2014

I found Flower’s new nest about 25 ft away from her old one in the neighbour’s yard. http://youtu.be/XK2JBg0QI8A  http://youtu.be/OZWm7tbtCSM   Luckily they let me set up the webcam there so we can all watch the cycle again. It’s very well hidden and is hardtop get a good view at. She keeps her other chicks away from her nest by aggressive charges and calls, kind of like she does with this crow who got too close.   http://youtu.be/cOYbeHNzveg  The chicks tend to stay on my side of the fence in what I call the nursery, an area with lots of twigs and brambles where they are fairly protected. Wind and Rain are both flying around the back yard now, Wind a bit more able than Rain. Rain seems to have been injured by the cold when she was an egg, the feathers on her chest have yet to come in.  http://youtu.be/P0WzxOdnp3Y   I wonder if they ever will, Perhaps Wind was in the favoured egg that got more warmth from Flower during incubation. We had some really cold snaps during their egg phase and I am surprised they made it at all.  I have seen Wind eating at the plum blossoms and other flowers in the yard as well as chasing flies, so I know Wind is going to be OK. http://youtu.be/GzG3zwywrag  http://youtu.be/mM8TL4AzkC8  http://youtu.be/Kn998F1vPIY  Flower was showing Wind how to catch little fruit flies above the compost pile the other day and soon Wind was hard at it. Rain, on the other hand doesn’t have the feathers needed for the manoeuvrability yet so she sticks to calling for food from Flower, although she has been experimenting with eating pollen from the plum blossoms too. Flower still feeds Rain every half hour. I haven’t seen Flower feed Winds for a couple of days so I suspect Wind is weaned. Here are some videos of them in the back yard. http://youtu.be/z2v24kjrI1U   http://youtu.be/jLsynOvt8G8  http://youtu.be/g_zBrdSFZGU  http://youtu.be/PKRX0f_bq3Y

Apr 1

A lot has happened.

Flower’s chicks, Wind and Rain fledged! It was very slow. Wind fledged yesterday about 5 pm and stayed around the nest. http://youtu.be/dLfgB1paNf8  Wind flew off to the plum tree for a while, http://youtu.be/rsbA7R6ZDOs    http://youtu.be/_lg050wbhSM  then came back and spent the night in the nest back with Rain. Probably telling tall tales to Rain about the adventures he’d had that day.

The next morning, Wind went off again after a feeding by Flower but Rain couldn’t quite get out of the nest. http://youtu.be/PSd5KR-sqS0   I came home later in the afternoon and saw and heard a bird tussle in the yard.  http://youtu.be/IX-YhebWiAA  I feared the worst and braced myself as I saw a small bird, maybe a wren, speed out of the yard. When I got close to the area, Rain was lying in the grass, wings akimbo. It looks like I came just in the nick of time. I picked Rain up and put her back in the nest. http://youtu.be/Lwk8fuAS1cs  She fussed a bit, but soon settled back in. I decided to keep a close eye in case the bird came back, but it didn’t. I watched Rain via the webcam and stayed close so I could jump in if need be. And it’s a good thing I did. Rain tried to fly again, but her feathers are really not very full and it appears as she may have suffered from cold and a lack of bugs during her life so far. http://youtu.be/phxV1MSfq0E That’s not surprising as she hatched on February 17^th during a terrible wind and rain storm. Most of their early life was spent hunkered under their mothers butt as she hung on for dear life while winds toppled trees. They are a testament to excellence in design, but bugs were hard to come by during those storms so I think they still suffer the effects of those days.

I was able to get Rain to hop onto my finger and I placed her gently back near the nest. I was afraid that she could only fly down so I stuck around. Luckily, after monitoring her for several hours and after leaving her in the grass for about 20 minutes, http://youtu.be/saviva3Jyew  she flew up to the garden bench and into the bush behind it. She has been fed several times by flower and will probably stay in the bush overnight. Wind has been flying from plum tree to feeder and getting fed by Flower in between. Wind has been exploring the yard and is doing quite well. I have a lovely photo of Flower feeding Wind while the sun sinks low among flower tops and leaves.

Hummingbird feet are naturally clenched, so that when they sleep, they clamp to their perch or nest. But because of this, if you have to pick up a hummingbird chick, you should pick up whatever it is that they have grabbed onto. Don’t try to pull the bird free if you feel resistance when you try to lift it because that could injure their little feet. With one hand, try to pick up whatever they have grabbed onto and use the other hand as a cover to contain their wings close to their bodies with a gentle grip. It’s usually a blade of grass or a small twig but it’s easier to do that then to pull them free from their reflex grip.

Here are some videos of Rain getting fed by Flower after she fledged.    http://youtu.be/LNsVPVqNq9E  http://youtu.be/3lQCm6uiNFQ  http://youtu.be/y3BsvA1WU9g  http://youtu.be/s8EQRkzEfXI