Hummingbird cam.... 2010
 

This is just wonderful:


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newly hatched one chick so far.

Now the Mom is sitting on the chick.... TOO CUTE!

There appears to be some kind of audio with this stream.
You can turn it off with the little marker to the right under the
picture.

OH Mrs D! Wonderful!
 

Signs of life and 'spring' to come to other parts of a snow dumped-on world!
I remember a friend's house in the US Virgins. Dozing off on the 'gallerie' [porch to others] I heard this strange ZXEEEEP. ZXEEEP! The most beautiful brite blue hummer w/a gold head was 'tasting' the succulents! It was a magical moment for me...lasting about 10 minutes.
Here outside of DC in the late spring and fall, we have them as they pass thru. They are soo beautiful! And they travel far!
So folks? This spring thru fall, put that special feeder and water out for them!
They make our world so much more beautiful! - j

I am looking at Sassy the chick, today, and she has her eyes open and some feathers starting. But she is behind schedule for fledging. Since the other chick died right after hatching, I hope this little one is going to be vigorous enough to survive too!
(I've seen newly fledged hummers upNorth, who can't even fly in wind!

Update:
 

Sassy the chick, is not developing properly. The owners of the
cam, consulted a bird rehab specialist who thinks that the poor insect availability is perhaps the cause of her delayed development. So the owners have put out an organic rotting banana to attract more insects for Phoebe, the mother to eat and provide to the chick. Evidently there have been alot of storms to reduce the insect population.

They are considering moving Sassy to a bird rehab center, but will leave her as long as possible in the nest. Phoebe is not sitting on the nest anymore but does feed Sassy and come back to shade her from the harsh afternoon sun. Reports are that in the morning, the chick is in significant torpor. (which hummers do to conserve energy).

I have seen Sassy exercising her wings, and that is a good sign.
But the consensus is that she hatched too soon. (the other chick died from hatching too soon as well).

Sad update:
 

The owner of the hummingbird cam has posted today, that
the chick, Sassy, will be removed and taken to a rehab to get
more nutrition and care.

Phoebe sat on the chick all day yesterday, and has cut back on feeding frequency... so sometime today, the chick will be moved.

This will free Phoebe up for another breeding cycle, also.

Observers think Sassy is exhausting Phoebe, who is not young anymore herself.

edit.... Sassy has been removed, and the cam is showing an empty nest. I don't know if Phoebe will return to this one or build another.
I'll post on this thread any further news.

Another hummingbird nest:
 

This is a link to another nest not too far from Phoebe's.

This nest just had one egg hatch today!
It is the same type of bird, with the same beautiful feathers!

The camera is looking down into the nest so you can see more!


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Sad news
 

Sassy, the chick has passed away early Sat morning. I guess she was doomed from the start, being born during that awful storm.

The cam at Phoebe's has been moved to show her new nest, while she puts the finishing touches on it. She must be ready to lay a new clutch.

The two little new chicks at the other cam are doing well, and seem normal.

Phoebe has fixed up an older nest, and today, has laid her first egg in it! The cam is up and operational at the new nest site:

The link has changed, it is now:


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Velcro and Zipper at the other Hummingbird cam...in Calif.

are just totally the cutest ever. They will be leaving the nest very soon, so if you want to see some really moving things...


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I have a screen shot in my siggie currently as a sample.;)

How wonderful
 

Thank you for sharing that, it made me smile :winky:

almost fledged
 

Bea's little babies aren't so little anymore.

I thought for sure they would fly away today, but all they are doing is practice.

But they are very adorable and fun to watch.


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They might be "gone" tomorrow.

Everyone on the Bea cam expected both chicks to fledge yesterday.

The smaller one did fly away late just at dusk. He came back for a few minutes and then flew off for the night.

This morning the remaining chick is trembling, and not very interested in anything. She even refused one feeding from Mom.

Now at about 11am EST the little male who fledged yesterday has returned. The remaining chick even moved over before he came leaving a large spot open for him.

The change in behavior of the remaining chick has been remarkable. The caressing they did, and even mutual preening is very moving. Evidently according to the cam owner, who is experienced...this has not happened before. The chicks typically remain away from the nest once they fly for the first time.

The chat that accompanies this cam is naturally quite active today and the conversation reflects this unusual state of affairs!

Do take a look at this cam today...it is truly remarkable!

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It appears that the one chick is helping the second to fledge!

edit.... here is a photo from the cam from a few minutes ago.
The chick in the back is the one who is hesitating to fledge.
She did accept a meal so I saved the screen shot!

edit 2-- a second shot of Mom feeding again! This time hovering!

Edit #3... best viewing times are before noon, and after 3pm because of the sun/shade. The nest is in shade for some parts of the early afternoon. There are videos below the stream window that show what has happened since yesterday. They have a pause button so you can capture stills. It appears the Bea is feeding much more today, perhaps yesterday, she didn't feed enough to give the chicks enough energy. Sometimes the mother cuts back on feeding to encourage the chicks out of the nest...but this can backfire.

Here is the video of Zipper's return to the nest.

He apparently followed Mom back. You can see his little head in the lower left of the video, in the first 5 minutes.
They seem really happy to be back together IMO.


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Zipper and Velcro fledged yesterday at about 3:30pm Pacific time.

Bea is already checking out the nest for repair. (she may have eggs coming soon!)

I have intentionally limited my time watching the live cams as I have to stay work disciplined and it is so easy to drift off into a watching fascination and then time flies by ......:o

I do peak in at them tho every now and then and have grown especially fond of the hummingbirds :)

Zipper and Velcro have returned to the nest and have been there
all afternoon.

For a while they were trembling quite a bit. I guess they are not quite ready to be on their own?

They are still there now.

The chat is saying that one egg is missing out of Phoebe's nest?
I am going over there now. :confused:

edit-- apparently the egg that had the hole in it, died. Started to smell (hummingbirds can't smell), and attracted a lizard. Phoebe became agitated and speared the dead egg and removed it so the lizard would leave. Some people saw it...the lizard on the cam. I missed it.

Phoebe is still agitated... so we don't know what is going to happen next.

To see the lizard attack at Phoebe's today:


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at around 56:90 and at 1:01:00 you can move the bar to those times...

at 57:00 the lizard appears! You can see the flash and hear the thump as Phoebe attacks him.

At the 1:01:00 time she removes the dead egg to lure him away.

Hubby is calling this Hummingbird soaps!

I can watch this video forever! I sent it to my sister and she said the Lt. Col in her office (she works for a government agency in VA) was just mesmerized by it. Apparently his wife feeds hummingbirds so he asked if he could forward the link to her.

Phoebe has abandoned her nest and egg.
 

There is now a YouTube of the Lizard attack:


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It condenses the times and is easier to watch.

It appears that Phoebe is giving up on her other egg and the nest now.

Velcro and Zipper are off the air this morning. Velcro must have fledged again.

Phoebe has returned to the nest, and since the egg is not discolored like the other one, people on the chat are saying it still might hatch :Dunno:... Phoebe is sitting on it again today.

I suspect she is getting another nest ready however. She often runs two nests in that rosebush tree.

The lizard is back.... Phoebe is off the nest and the egg is
vulnerable. On screen right now!

I'm watching it now!!! :eek:

I can see the lizard's foot!

:rolleyes: Okay, I have to have this live cam going all the time now. I have one tab open with it playing all the time so all I have to do is click and I'm there! This is addictive! :)

I know how you feel! I don't think Phoebe is coming back to this nest. The Lizard is bothering her.

She may be starting a new one. If you look back at the pictures in the history there, at one time she had TWO nests going at once!

She may also be too old, for eggs. That is what the discussion is saying lately.

The other cam is having Velcro return now and then as well. Maybe she learning how to build a nest, by watching Mom?

The eagle cam is really nice today... an early feeding was like you were right there! Great camera this year and great zooming!

I know how interesting this is. We had a hummer nest outside our bedroom window one summer on vacation. It was too high up and I didn't have my digital camera then. drat! But we watched the mother drive off red squirrels! She would never sit on the nest while we were outside, but we could see her thru a window. We watched the little black beaks, grow longer and finally they fledged. It was quite something back then!
And this is even better! I have quite a file now of stills, I captured and I think I'll do some nest drawings again. I used to do lots of nests ! But never a hummer!

I didn't know you were an artist. Scattered Dreams is lovely. I would like to see the hummer nest when you have completed it.

I envy your talent. I can't draw a straight line with a ruler.

I agree! That picture is beautiful. I'm like plgerrard and can't draw worth a flip.

Do you matt and frame your artwork, mrsD? If not, you should. It's beautiful. My oldest sister used to do illustrations for Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Those little drawings that separate the paragraphs of articles.....she used to do that. She drew me a couple of pictures of flowers and framed them....years ago. I still have them!

Update....
 

According to the owner of Phoebe's cam....

He has seen Phoebe fixing up the other nest...the one that had Storm and Sassy in Feb.

He is moving the camera back to that location this weekend, so we may see Phoebe again with another clutch of eggs soon!

Phoebe is BACK
 

Phoebe is back and sitting on a new egg today!

I have to say, of all the cams, I enjoy Phoebe the best. She is
very interesting to watch, and the whole camera is set up very artfully.

I hope this time she will have viable eggs and better luck.

Bad news....
 

Phoebe's eggs were eaten by a crow today at 10am.:(

(I missed it, thankfully. I was watching the Norfolk eagles' banding--which had its own problems!)

Phoebe is back.... she has a new nest and an new egg laid today!

This little bird is just remarkable, and busy!

That is awesome. I was almost afraid to move for fear of scaring her off :wink:

Our hummingbirds are finally back, so we have enjoyed watching them at the feeders and playing World War I Flying Aces up and down the length of our porch.

I just put up mine today.... and some cotton stuffing from pill bottles for nesting wedged in a tree crook. Ours typically return when the Mertensia blooms...which they have just started doing.

Hoping to see ours soon! Our cool weather is a problem. It was only 35 this morning. Just barely enough to leave my seedlings out! :yikes:

I found a really nice window suction cup feeder to replace our cracked one (the one the black bear bit years ago upNorth), for $5.98 at Lowe's. I had glued the old one back together, but it was getting icky and black mold in the crack which I couldn't get out...

Really a good price and very similar to our old Perky Pet.

Phoebe has a second egg...today!

Her new nest is surrounded by leaves...some look plastered down in fact. She might have put spider webs around them, to make a shield. (so the nasty crow does not see her nest and eat her eggs this time? ).

Here is a new video I found on CuteOverload today:


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It is about a juvenile hummer who fell from his nest and was rescued and cared for until he recovered. There are two very cute portions of this video of the mother bird feeding this fledgling. Make sure your volume is up to hear him calling for her.

Phoebe's egg hatched today!
 

Phoebe's new nest is on its way now. The first of the two eggs has hatched today, Mother's Day! They have named the chick, Hope. (given the bad luck of the last 3 nests!)

The camera has been adjusted so you can see into the nest.
But this nest tends to move more, with the wind. We'll have to see how it goes!

This is really incredible to watch...I turned my volume all the way up and the sounds of moms' wings when she landed was....wow!

Here is the link to the video of the second chick hatching: named Hoku:


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The hatching begins at one hour 33 minutes. You can move the loading bar to that time...carefully!

So now there are 2 cute little chicks!

Sad news...
 

Phoebe's new nest, which had two healthy chicks...

They were ready to fledge in a couple of days....

A crow attacked it today, and Hope is missing, and Hoku was found on the ground. He was returned to the nest, but has some injuries.


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This video is NOT for the faint of heart. It it very very sad.

Hoku is better. He looks much better.

The owner has posted the video of his rescue and it shows putting Hoku back in the nest.

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At 5:50 minutes Phoebe returns, and Hoku is weak and stunned but does take one short feeding.

Then Phoebe sits protectively over the chick.

I've seen stunned hummers, and sometimes they die of fright.
The one that we rescued, took a whole day to get her strength back to perch. I hand fed her sugar water then put her in a small aquarium we keep for critters, and she recovered and flew away 2 days later. I put the feeder cup (the bottom of a small feeder on the floor of the aquarium and she did manage to feed herself).

This is a pic hubby took of her.

Hoku has successfully fledged this morning. There is a video on
Phoebe's site.

The cam is still going, and when I visited there at around 2pm EST you could hear them chittering to each other!