When my friend and birding buddy Suzanne Eberhard called me on March 23 to report the strange behavior of a hummingbird carrying something in its beak and seemingly building a nest, I would never have imagined that what looked like a simple investigative check up would turn into something utterly amazing and wonderful. The very next day it did not take me very long to locate the female hummingbird and after a few trips into the same cluster of branches I could see that indeed she had already constructed a nearly complete nest. The little marvel was artfully built on top of a cluster of branches with plant mulch woven tightly together by numerous strands of spider webs. She had chosen a live oak tree with moss and lichen covered branches and to make the nest nearly invisible the outer walls had been decorated with flecks of lichen. The perfect camouflage! She was working on the inside of the nest, carrying plant down, tiny feathers and spider webs inside to prepare the nest cup for the eggs and babies. The rim of the nest looked well padded as well.
We observed the building process and fine-tuning of the decoration for a few days but around March 27 all activity at the nest stopped and we did not see the female coming to it at all. Had she abandoned the nest? After all this was a very unusual location for a nesting hummingbird. Neither the common migrant Ruby-throated Hummingbird nor the nearly identical looking but much less common Black-chinned Hummingbird had previously been documented to nest in Calhoun Co. The excitement was great when she returned on March 30 and a day later I was able to photograph her sitting on her nest through my spotting scope. She was incubating! The literature suggests an average number of 2 eggs, although we could not look into the nest cup due to the height of the location. But what species of hummingbird were we looking at? Very subtle differences in the length of the bill and shape of the feather tips can tell the experienced observer if it is a female Ruby-throated or a Black-chinned.
So Brush Freeman, well known birder and author, circulated some photos among hummingbird experts. The judgement was unanimous … a Black-chinned, which proud discoverer Suzanne and I promptly started calling “Our Girl”. Things got personal from now on and we worried about the safety of the nest from predators and the strong winds we were experiencing at that time. Our Girl left the nest only rarely for short periods of time to feed, mostly in the late afternoon when the sunshine was hitting the nest and keeping the eggs warm. She was very vigilant and chased much bigger birds like Mockingbirds and flycatchers if they came too close.
The 14 days it takes for the eggs to hatch were complete on April 13. Had the eggs been fertile? Were there babies in the nest? Our patience was tested and it took us until April 17 to observe her coming back from a foraging flight, perching on the rim of the nest and poking her beak inside, presumably to feed the young. On the 18th I managed with Suzanne’s assistance to get my first shots of this event. More research about the life history of this species revealed that at the tender age of 10 days the young hummingbirds are fully feathered and beginning to show over the rim of the nest. Would everything go well for Our Girl and her baby until then?
Keeping the nestling warm on 4/18.
Activity at the nest continued but we had to wait until April 27 to see the first millimeter of black stick-like beak poking over the rim and the first baby photo of this tiny beak was taken on April 28. We felt proud like new Grandmas! A few days later there was still no second beak visible, so we were pretty sure that only one baby was in the nest. It would grow up fast not having to share the food with a sibling. The older the nestling, the longer the female stayed out on foraging trips, gathering tiny insects gleaned from tree branches and leaves or fly-catching on the wing. Young hummingbirds need protein for their development and the usual sugar nectar from flowers or feeders does not supply it.
It takes only 21 days for a young hummingbird to fledge and leave the nest so we were expecting to see more of Our Baby any day now. It would be May 1 for our next landmark observation. The head of the young one appeared way above the rim of the nest. The still short beak was opening and closing as if to advertise to the female that it was hungry. Feeding sessions went a lot faster now and we could actually see the throat of the mother moving while regurgitating the insect mush. Our Baby was beginning to exercise its wings, shaking them and moving around in the nest, a sure sign that it would leave the nest soon. Indeed, two days later we found the nest empty. A bit of sadness mingled with joy and pride. What a great experience it had been to observe and document this event. Would mother and baby leave the nesting area right away or hang around for a while? Would we see them again? When young hummingbirds leave the nest their wing and tail feathers are not fully grown despite the fact that they can already fly. It seemed logical that they would be somewhere in the general vicinity, mother teaching baby how to gather food while baby did the last bit of growing up. On May 5 I received another excited call from Suzanne. She had just seen mother and baby in a tall oak festooned with vines. She said the baby still showed some pin feathers on the wings but was flying just fine. I was hoping to get a last glimpse of them together just yesterday. It was not to be, but I watched the female for a while, still gathering insects.
I suspect that the little family will stay around Port O’Connor through the summer and, if all goes well, begin their migration south by August. Suzanne and I feel very privileged and lucky to have been able to witness and document this amazing event and I am sure that the spring of 2012 will always remain in our memory as the year we watched a Black-chinned Hummingbird nesting for the first time in Calhoun County.
Female & baby at feeding time on 5/1
