Sigh. I'm an empty-nester, as of July 2. At least this year there's the hope that Mama hummingbird will come back and rebuild the nest again next year.
Baby #1 disappeared before I noticed they were starting to fledge. Baby #2 stuck around for a few days, first in the nest, then on a branch beside it, preening, flapping—it looked like procrastinating to me. Perhaps he (she?) was just enjoying a little elbow room with #1 gone. I watched nervously all morning, but eventually #2 launched with no apparent trouble.
And now I'm all alone.
Picture by Kiyoteru Tokuyasu, and lots more hummer info here, as usual.
You are staying up way too late! It's satisfying getting to see them grow up. This next part is depressing, so don't read it if you're not in the mood. We have a little sparrow family that builds a nest every year in a corner of our eaves that almost hits the second-tier roof. Every summer, we also find one or two baby birds, with no feathers, dead, on our driveway every other day for a week. The saddest thing was when one baby bird had pinfeathers and was still alive on the driveway. It could almost hop so I thought we could save it. First, I moved it into a nearby flowerbed, under a cottoneaster bush. Horribly, I didn't notice the pinworms or ants under the bush but they sure noticed the baby bird. Then I moved him into a container with a rose bush but I couldn't get the pinworms off of him. He died shortly after that, in agony, I'm sure. I felt so powerless. We even fed him ground up raw hamburger (ha ha) mixed with a little warm water from an eyedropper, hoping that would help him recover. Anyway, I hope I only find dead ones on the driveway now, and am encouraging Allen to block that corner of the eaves this summer. Hope you're well!
ReplyDeleteI hope you get another bunch next year. So cool.
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