A New Blog

I still have a few hummingbirds coming around now and then but don't see them nearly as often, the deer had a feast on most of the flowers the hummers like.

I am starting a new blog you can find here called Backyard Wonders. I have decided that instead of burying all the posts about the hummingbirds in order to post pictures of other birds and critters that visit my yard, it would be best to just start a new blog, thus keeping the information on hummingbirds more accessible.

On another note... These little hummingbirds, are being featured in the October issue of Birder's World Magazine, in the From Your Backyard section.

Hummingbirds Are Visiting Now

I believe these are the same hummingbirds that came from the nest. There have been three coming around and one does look like the same female from the nest. One of them must be a male because it was practicing the male flight display pattern today.

They love the Crocosmia that's blooming right now, they perch on it's flower stems, and get a good supply of nectar from it's blossoms.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independance Day everyone!

Just so everyone knows, the Chickadee in the previous post is not a Chickadee at all but a Junco.

Got a couple shots of one of the hummers today, this may be the one that has the fledgings, but I'm not certain about that. It had a bright red patch like the mother, but I didn't see it well enough to tell if it matched hers or not.

Flowers, Hummingbirds, and Cow Birds

This flower is the one that the hummingbirds love to land on the stems of, it's called Crocosmia, and the blooms just started opening yesterday.

Not the best shot here but there is a hummingbird sitting on it, will most certainly be trying for better shots, as they continue to visit these flowers. I should be able to get some good ones as long as the deer don't eat the flowers, some years they eat them and others they don't seem to bother them much.

I noticed a couple hummingbirds out by the flowers this morning, when I went outside one of them came and hovered in front of me for a few seconds, and seemed to be eyeing my camera. I'm not certain but it may have been one of the fledglings. Once the blackberries stop blooming, and they're almost finished, the hummingbirds will visit the flower beds more.

~*~

I saw this Chickadee feeding a Brown Headed Cowbird fledgling this afternoon, and managed to get a couple shots of them together.

The Chickadee seems so small compared to the Cowbird. I wonder if it's hard for the Chickadee to keep up with the feeding of this one.

Here's one more shot of the fledgling. Cowbirds lay their eggs in another birds nest, when the eggs hatch I guess the Cowbirds hatchling grows faster, and eats more, then the rest of the hatchlings starve. This Chickadee seems to be accepting the Cowbird as if it is her own.

Another Hummer Favorite

Hummingbirds love Columbine, and it is full of blooms right now, another flower that reseeds itself real well.

This second photo shows the long spurs on the back of the Columbine blossom, These are filled with nectar, it's no wonder the humingbirds love this stuff. The flower almost looks as if it was designed just for hummingbirds. They can easily get their beaks into those spurs.


The Hummingbirds are starting to visit the flowers a little more now, I hope to get some shots of them soon. There's another flower in the yard that's just starting to bloom and they love to land on the stems of it and sip the nectar from the blossoms, will try and get some shots of that happening.

Saw A Fledgling Today

These first two photos are of another hummingbird visiting some of the flowers that are blooming in my yard right now. These are the same flowers momma hummingbird has kept guard over.



I thought it might be fun to check out some of the flowers hummingbirds love, and the fledglings will soon be visiting. One already has that I know of, I was sitting on the porch drinking some coffee this morning, camera inside the house plugged in to let the battery charge, when one of the fledglings stopped by for a visit, it checked out some Petunias, then the new feeder from Duncraft, and landed on the Duncraft feeder and sat there for a few minutes before flying off again. I will have to keep an eye out for them now and see if I can't get some photos of them.

The hummingbird pictured here is visiting the Jupiters Beard, it's in full bloom right now, and the hummingbirds love it.

This is another flower they love, it's a form of Linaria and it is blooming right now, I have both a pink and purple flowered ones.

This last photo is of Lambs Ears, I have two different types, this one is blooming right now, and the hummingbirds do like it. If you leave the flower stalks on them over the winter in the spring the hummingbirds will collect down from them for their nests.

I will post some other flowers over the weekend, and hopefully before too long some photos of the fledglings when they start to visit. Another note about the flowers posted tonight is all three of these reseed themselves, and seem to do fine without much watering. So far the deer haven't eaten the Jupiters Beard but they sometimes do.

Second Fledgling Is Flying

I found the second fledgling yesterday morning sitting on the reed of some tall grass. These little fledglings are more like helicopters when they first start to fly, wonder how long before they obtain those jet fighter flight skills

I think it was getting bored there, or maybe it was just waking up. It took a short flight from where you see it sitting here, landed on my leg and clung to my pant leg for a few short moments, then flew up into the nearby Cedar tree.

Here's what the nest looks like now that they are finished with it. They really squished it down, and flattened it out.

I saw one of the fledgling last night in the Cedar tree, and saw the mother come feed it, and there was one up there this morning that I could locate as well. They are too high up to get any shots of, but who knows maybe they will be visiting me soon and I'll be able to get more shots of them. The mom is visiting the flower beds and feeders. I'm sure she will bring them around once they can fly better and are ready to start feeding from the flowers on their own.

After reading about all the things that might eat baby hummingbirds, I sure am thankful they have both done so well, and the nest was a success for the mother hummingbird.

I have decided to keep the blackberry bushes and just prune them back from now on, and let it mingle with the honeysuckle, I may get some cuttings from the honeysuckle and plant some elsewhere in the yard, this variety blooms when the native honeysuckle is finished blooming. I have noticed the hummingbirds really love the blackberry blossoms. And I have to admit, I love the jam that comes from the berries.

The Second Nestling Has Fledged

Here's where I found the first fledgling this morning...

Looked like it must of been flying around some early this morning, and getting ready to take to the nearby Cedar tree. I saw it fluttering around a little this evening in the Cedar branches, too far up for any pictures. Maybe it will be visiting the flowers and feeders soon.

And here's the second one, away from the nest, wonder how long before it takes to the Cedar tree.

Here's another little hummer that came for a visit tonight, I think it's the same one I got the other photo of sipping nectar from the flowers. It's not the least bit afraid of me.

One Fledgling Is Flying

The Fledgling that's been on the ground for a couple days is now flying. It flew a very short distance last night, just a couple of feet, and spent the night on a low honeysuckle stem, was there this morning, and spent most of the afternoon there. The other is still on the nest.

Here's a shot of the hummingbird that's fledged with an ant on the tip of it's beak.

It was just after I took this next shot that it decided it was time to fly. I would have loved to get a picture of that too, only one problem, it landed right on top of my camera! I was quite surprised at that. It sat on my camera for a few minutes while I talked to it, then flew off again this time even farther.

It flew up into a nearby branch of the blackberry bushes, and made a fairly nice landing. It didn't take long for it to start exploring the branch it landed on. They seem to like checking things out with their beaks and tongues.

Here's a shot of another hummingbird that flew over and was sipping some nectar from the Jupiters Beard, this one wasn't shy at all about me being right there. This is one of the ones the mother hummingbird runs off when she catches it in the area.

Learning To Fly

This morning when I went out to check on the hummingbirds, I found the one that had fledged sitting in the grass, and doing fine. Mom no longer lands to feed it, she feeds it while she is hovering over it, that has to take some good flight skills, and beak coordination.

This one was fun to watch today, it is learning how to fly. It will get it's wings going then work it's way back and forth across the piece of dry grass it's sitting on in this shot. Sometimes it flies off it a couple inches then gets back up on it. I wonder if it will be flying by tomorrow.


The other one seems content on the nest by itself so far, but I bet it wont be long before it decides to join the other one again.

To Fledge Or To Fall?

Well, it looked more like a fall to me, but I guess that's just how they must fledge the nest. They seemed to both grow fond of that one spot on the nest.

They both seemed rather comfy for the most part of the day.

This one especially....

The one on the top eventually decided to try standing on the other ones head while flapping it's wings almost took the other one with it when it started to fall. It seemed to find itself a little branch from the honeysuckle to land on, and made itself comfortable there.

I sat back and watched for a bit to make sure the mother hummingbird found this one alright, and she seemed to find it easy enough, and is still feeding, and caring for it.

Almost Time To Fledge!

This morning when I checked on the baby hummingbirds one was still sitting on the top of the nest, and the other one still staying cozy inside the nest. The nest has stretched out quite a bit.

The baby hummingbird inside the nest was getting it's wings into shape, and practicing flapping them.

By this afternoon both hummingbirds were sitting on the top of the nest, guess the one inside the nest was getting lonely.

I imagine one of them will fledge tomorrow morning, and if it does then it will be right on schedule from what I've read. Might be fun trying to get pictures of them at the feeders and flowers, Momma Hummer is already defending the new feeder.

Thank You Duncraft!

Thank You Duncraft!

If you have visited the Duncraft Wild Bird blog, then you most likely already know that one of the photos of the mother hummingbird, won in the hummingbird photo contest.

Since the hummingbird posed so nicely for the camera, she earned herself, along with her babies, this beautiful new hummingbird feeder.

When I got home yesterday afternoon I discovered the feeder had arrived, I can't believe how fast I got it!
They did a fantastic job of packing it, and even sent a couple boxes of nectar with it.

What perfect timing for the feeder to arrive! I think one of the baby hummers knew it was here, ok so maybe I did tell them their new feeder was here. Well one of the babies decided to start sitting on the side of the nest as soon as it heard the news. It has also been practicing flapping it's wings.

It looks kind of comfy sitting up on top of the nest. besides starting to flap it's wings it's been stretching it's beak up into the air and sticking it's tongue in and out, as if it were under a flower and sipping the nectar out, looks like it's preparing to fledge the nest soon.

Here's the other one, enjoying more space in the nest.

Still Growing!

The baby hummingbirds are getting bigger every day. Starting to see some of the green coloring on their backs now, more so on the first one that hatched.

They seem to be stretching the nest out just a little bit, and their beaks now pop up over the edge a little.

Now that they have feathers, they spend some time preening themselves. Look at those little itty bitty wings!

Another shot of one of the babies preening itself, they're both in the nest, the other one is hard to see but it is there.

Hummingbirds Are Doing Well

The Mother Hummingbird is still taking good care of her nestlings, a couple of the other hummingbirds in the area have figured out the best time to hit up the feeder and flowers is when she is shading her nestlings. Any other time she chases them off. She even chased a couple of goldfinches away that got too close to the hummingbird feeder.

Starting to see some of the rufous coloring on the nestlings. Sometimes it's hard to tell that there are actually two of them in the nest.