Hummingbird Nest
All About the Hummingbird Nest
The hummingbird nest is minute when compared to that of other birds. In fact, it is no larger than half of a walnut shell. And, in that tiny space two baby hummingbirds will hatch from their eggs and grow up. The female hummingbird will start to build her nest each spring, as soon as she returns to home from her southern winter migration.
A hummingbird nest is a work of labor and love. The female has nothing to do with the male hummingbird beyond mating. She builds the nest herself, all the while she is carrying her eggs. It takes around one week to build the nest, and during that time the mother hummingbird is said to make approximately thirty-four trips every hour to bring back nest-building materials. Working an average of four hours every day means the pregnant female makes 136 trips bringing back building materials in her beak.
A hummingbird nest is one of the softest and coziest of all bird nests. The female hummingbird goes out and collects soft plant parts, pussy willow pieces, the lint from dryers, lichen, moss and any other soft material she can find. She covers the outside with sticks and seeds and is careful to place it where it will blend into its surroundings. One of the most amazing things about the hummingbird nest is that it is glued together with spider webs. These allow the nest to be flexible, at the same time holding it together well.
The placement of the hummingbird nest is as important as its design. The mother hummingbird usually seeks out a spot where the branches look like the letter Y. She also needs there to be shelter from the wind and shade from leaves as hummingbird eggs do not do well in temperatures in the high nineties. Most will die in high temperatures. The female also wants a hummingbird nest that is located where snakes and birds cannot access it. Sometimes she will reuse a nest from a previous year or simply build a new nest on top of an old one.
Sometimes birdwatchers buy hummingbird houses and put them out in their yards, hoping they will be used, and many times they are. The hummingbird nest has to be very tiny to keep the babies warm. The eggs are not even a half-inch long and normally the female lays two eggs. When the baby hummingbirds emerge from the eggs they are approximately one-inch long and weigh 2 ounces.
The female hummingbird does not leave the nest for more than a few minutes at a time. She collects insects and nectar for them to eat. They especially need the protein from insects to grow. In only three weeks, the baby hummingbirds are ready to leave the nest and head off to live life on their own.