Subject: BIRTH OF A HUMMINGBIRD - amazing
This is truly amazing. Be sure to click on NEXT PAGE at the bottom of each page; there are 5 pages in all. A lady found a hummingbird nest and got pictures all the way from the egg to leaving the nest. Took 24 days from birth to flight.
The photography is wonderful.
Thankyou. I love nature and the creatures we share the earth with. My hummers come to the feeders now in the morning and evening. They are a treat to see. Great pictures.
Excellent - thanks. :-)
The last photo with the toothpick & penny really help w/the perspective!
Cathy
What is amazing to me is that the mother bird didn't abandon the nest with an intruder constantly hovering over it with a camera.
IMO, more like she didn't dive-bomb the photographer. I was checking out a robins' nest that was in the foundation plantings next to my house one year, & one day Mom & Dad Robin saw me. Circled low overhead, absolutely screeching their heads off at me. I backed off before they got *too* worried.
Cathy
My experience is with Blue Jays. They are just nasty birds when it comes to dive-bombing.
Reminds me of an article in the Tufts Medical Newsletter some 20 or so years ago about a study at Cornell (IIRC). Apparently, joggers were being dive-bombed by birds. After some study, exactly what I don't remember, they concluded that the best defense was to affix two large "eyes" to the jogger's back to frighten the attacking birds. I remember the article saying, prior to the "eyes" solution, the only warning the joggers were getting was if the sun was at their back, and they noticed a rapidly descending shadow headed for their shadow, it was air raid time. I still love that early warning technique as the cue to bail.
Red-winged blackbirds are furious defenders of their nests. If you get even a couple dozen feet close they will start circling and harrassing.
Meanwhile, we have a couple of Mallard ducks that took up residence in our back yard this spring. Fun to watch and I encourage them to stick around with some water in a pan in which they love to splash around.
I used to hunt, but now I couldn't except with my camera.
I wonder what was causing the birds to dive-bomb those joggers. (Other than birds' idea of funsies, maybe...) At least they found a solution. ;-)
My pet sitter his having the same experience. A stream runs nearby her house - they prob. really live over at the stream, but spend time in her yard. She's put out a large container for them to splash around in.
Cathy
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