I kept seeing this adorable Hummingbird checking out a bird house high in the tree. She kept flying from one branch of a broken tree to another branch still looking at the bird house. She knew deep down in her birdie heart it would be so much easier to move into a bird house then for her to build a nest.
First, it’s a complicated business of building a nest, especially for such a tiny bird. Right after migrating to the breeding grounds, the first thing a female does is EAT and EAT! By eating so much, she gets lots of energy, and then meets up with her fella after all that and then she begins building her nest. She chooses the perfect location away from the ground to prevent any predators from getting at her. Her nest must be strong and sheltering from any wind, because she does not want anything to happen to her babies. She will look for a strong sold base, like two branches that cross each other.
The Mama Hummingbird will begin looking for nesting material to make her nest. She likes soft material, such as moss, lichen, bits of willows, and soft plant pieces. Finally, she will bring all these items back to the tree where she will build the nest. She uses spider webs, to glue everything together. This unusual glue allows the nest to stretch as big as it needs for the babies to be comfortable. Soon she will find small sticks and plants to shade the outside of the nest to camouflage it. She makes sure the lighter parts of her nest point to the Sun, and the shaded part of the nest blends in with the surroundings for the safety of her little family.
I wondered how she would bring all the materials for her nest. I was told she carries them in her beak. She uses her chin and body to press the spider webs and material into her nest to make the shape she needs. These nests look just like a small cup about the size of a walnut shell and the diameter of a penny. It ends up to be one and a half inches in diameter, when its done. It will either hang from a branch or any kind of a vegetation. These nests are cone shaped and easy to attach to something.
After explaining to you all how these poor Mama Hummingbirds build their nest by themselves, you will now understand why she was looking at that beautiful bird house. In two of my photos you will see the male giving her a bird look as though she would be going nuts taking care of her family in a bird house that has walls, and not an open air bird nest that all hummingbirds will LOVE and call HOME SWEET HOME!
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