Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Weathering the storm

  

A short story about a hummingbird and her nest.  Before the storm on 4 February 2024, I had photographed this Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna) on a nest.  During the storm, I wondered how she was faring and if the nest would survive the storm.  I hadn't had a chance to go back until this past weekend, but here she is on 10 February 2024:

 
The nest made it just fine, and it looks like she might be incubating now.  [Anna's Hummingbirds generally lay two eggs, each ~12 mm (~0.5") long.]

Somewhat surprisingly, while I was walking towards this area I was listening for hummingbirds in case she had moved to a different location when I heard a hummingbird calling and followed it to a different nest location.  Then I checked the original site and found that nest intact, too.  So here's a second Anna's at a nest:

 
I love how the greens of the hummingbird feathers match the greens of the moss in the nest.

6 comments:

  1. Wow, how lucky you are! Good spotting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing! Great find and wonderful pictures! Made my day 😃

    ReplyDelete
  3. Annas are astonishing. Given how territorial they are, there are times when Im glad they're not bigger.
    (They like to stand in the air right in front of my face, buzz their wings & remind me that every single flower belongs to them. I bow and retreat.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, all!

    Thanks so much! Since they're just down the street, we should be able to check in with these hummers every now and then. Stay tuned for updates!

    :) Jackie

    ReplyDelete
  5. Some years back we stayed up late on New Years Eve; there was quite a windy storm raging, and we heard something hit the window behind us. We looked out, and there was a male Anna's Hummer lying motionless on the deck. Jeff picked it up and felt its heart beating - a thousand beats a second, it felt like when I held him - so we brought him inside, put him in a closed cardboard box with a light nearby for warmth, and kept our fingers crossed.
    New Years' morning when I woke up, I was fearful that the little guy would have died, but then I heard his wings moving so fast in the box! We made a celebration of releasing him back outside. It was the BEST possible way to begin a new year.

    ReplyDelete