baby hummer

Thought it was a mosquito and swatted it. Sorry 'bout that.

Dys--

Lucky!

I've got a pair frequenting sugar water feeders outside the window. In the last two weeks the number of visits has picked up considerably. I expect the babies are vocally hungry.

what'd they build the nest from, spider webs?

They are magical little creatures responsible for great amounts of lore. I've posted some information from a book about hummingbirds, along with the link. There are also links to Native American lore and photos of eggs in a nest, following the growth of the babies.

http://books.google.com/books?id=5XXqmTErM24C&dq=mother+hummingbird,+size+of+eggs&pg=PA52&ots=DMvHfH-c3Q&sig=Y-4SkusA3uMqBBv22276WwrPFfU&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fsourceid%3Dnavclient%26ie%3DUTF-8%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2005-42,GGLG:en%26q%3Dmother%2Bhummingbird%252C%2Bsize%2Bof%2Beggs&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=1

Humming birds, on average, weigh as much as three paper clips. They can fly forwards, backwards, sideways, hover and, for quick getaways, they can flip over and fly upside down.

A hummingbird's nest is a tiny cup made of moss, plant fluff and woven together with spider silk. Hummingbird eggs are half an inch long and look like small beans. The babies are the size of a bee, but by the time they're three weeks old they are almost the size of their mother and ready to start flying.

Hummers will fight anything from cats and dogs to humans to defend their territory.

Ruby throated hummers fly 500 miles nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico from Central American to North America. Roufus hummers fly 2500miles twice a year between Alaska and Central America. Some live 15,000feet up in the Andes.

There are 340 different kinds of hummingbirds and they all live only in the Western Hemisphere.


Humming bird birth photos

http://www.spitfirechallenge.ca/hummingbirds%20birth%20may%202006.htm


hummingbird legends and lore

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

Edited for accuracy.

Farmerman, you can read about the nests on the post above. Spider silk is used to hold them together.

besides feedersw waht type flowers do you have around the place to attract hummers

currently the hummers seem to really go for the Salvia, we have both red and autumn.

we get them around the honeysuckle growing on the back porch

Hostas.

I was recently dive-bombed by a hummingbird but it was my own fault -- I was wearing a psychedelic tie-dye T-shirt

I got all excited and then realized that this thread was about birds.



Baby Hummer

No Intrepid, not big ol' gas slurpers, but miraculous little flying gems.

I am putting in lavender which will bloom next year and several other native plants that will attract hummingbirds. In the back we also have a trumpet vine and various flowers they like to explore. Plus, they go pretty far afield in search of flower nectar. They can't go very long without feeding or they will die. Their metabolism is astounding.

I was sad to read the himmingbird babies simply fly away after fledging. We have seen the little finch babies sticking around for a while, learning which places have the best food. It is very dear to see parent and child on the fence, eating thistle seeds and then going for a short flight.

It has been raining hard lately with marble size hail coming down yesterday. We were terribly worried about the little nest, but it wasn't harmed in the least. Guess that spider silk is strong enough to withstand violent winds and it is protected under lots of leaves in the ash tree.

It is such an honor to have these little guests in our yard and great fun to be rushed by mom and dad if we get too close.

at our home we have a number of plants that the hummers always hit.
Monarda (bergamot, especially red)
petunias, (Im not sure that the wave petunias have much nectar though)
A little red flowered climbing plant that gets a dense mat of lacy leaves and tiny red trumpet flowers. (Lady's mantle?)
phlox

My sons gf is taking care of the hummer feeders at home and we have 2 here in the woods. The MAinehummingbirds are less territorial than the ones at home. If Id be working near the bergamot, thered be at least 2 that would buzz me or sit on a low branch and just gripe with high pitched chatter

At the apartrments, people put out hummingbird feeders. I am opposed to these, since many substitute sugar water in them for whatever the store sells. They get to moving around here, often by the dozens.

what, do you own stock in hummingbird nectar mixes? I think that hummer mixes are just sugar and colring and some inerts. I wont bet my life o it though.

The Harford County birdie club recommends that home made hummer syrup is just as good and waay cheaper.

I worded that wrong. I like the idea of the birds getting their feed from the plants. I just figured the stuff in the packets had more sustenance than sugar water.

Edgar, at all the sites I've seen, they emphasize using 1 part sugar to 4 parts water and warn not to add anything else, even saying that honey can cause problems. The sugar water has very littlw nutrition, but they get what they need from flowers; in fact, hummingbirds that have been hurt and need to be cared for should not get only sugar water for more than, I think, 72 hours. Sugar water is good only for helping to sustain that incredible metabolism. They also eat little insects. I'll see if I can find how much an adult man would have to eat if he had a hummingbird's metabolism.

One of the babies is sitting on the edge of the nest or up as high as he can reach, using his wobbly little neck to look out at the world and keep an eye on mom. As usual, I was properly fussed at when I went out to change the sugar water in the feeder. They are wonderfully ferocious when it comes to their babies.

I feel like a parent who doens't want her children to grow up too quickly. Bob and I will miss them as if they are college kids leaving home on their to becoming adults (although for my kids, it took considerably longer than college to reach adulthood ;>}).

waaaaaaay cool!

WOW!! I'm indignant and impressed at the same time. I just read that the male hummingbird mates and then flies away, leaving the little female to lay the eggs and take care of them from then on. She has to protect the eggs and nestlings plus find enough food to feed them and herself.

When hummers sleep or get too cold, they go into a kind of stupor to save energy. Moms can't do that when they are caring for babies because they have to keep the babies warm. They sit on the nest in the rain or cold, windy weather and have to stay at their normal body temperature in order to maintain enough warmth for the nest.

What a busy, spunky little lady she is--very impressive.

Something else I read is that hummingbird eggs are the largest of any bird in proportion to size. I'll bet she's happy when she can finally lay those little monsters.

One more: hummingbird hearts are the largest, in proportion, to any other bird. That one isn't at all surprising.

J_B, way cool is right!! It is amazing. We are continually fascinated by this little family.