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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The babies are out

these babies will be ready to leave the nest in 21 days


I peeped in to make sure that everything was ok when I saw this !

I got a piece of wire and bent it to hook onto the branch supporting the nest

so I decided to do some renovations and put in some additional support

Yesterday when I had gone to check on the nest it had tilted to a dangerous angle, and I was afraid that the eggs will fall out.

the antillean crested female, notice its straight bill

the emerald throated humming or the green throated carib bird, the larger of the two species we have on the island with its long curved bill



I have managed to capture some photos of the emerald throated humming bird, these are not the best photos however that is what I can manage so far. Yes the babies are out and in twenty one days they will be ready to leave the nest. Humming birds need lots of nectar for energy and will feed on white flies for their protein. Humming birds are the smallest birds in the world, the smallest humming bird is the bee humming bird from Cuba which measures a little more than 5 cms (2 inches) from bill to tail. Humming birds have the fastest metabolic rate of any warm blooded animal. They are capable of flying backwards to the left and right, hovering and even flying upside down. They have the fastest beating wings as well as being the fastest flyers in the animal kingdom. They are very territorial creatures and fights break out regularly around my feeder.

11 comments:

  1. How colorful your humming bird is! Beautiful! The babies in the nest should be safe now, thank to you!

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  2. Thanks for helping save the nest, I look forward to updates as the babies grow. : ) Beautifaul picture so the humming bird.

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  3. How fun! Can anything get so much tinier than a baby hummer. I get plenty hummers around here but, beats me if I'm able to find any of their nests. Spotting one seems to be a chance encounter when not looking for it.

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  4. Wow for the new babies in your garden! Does the hummer really eat those white flies that spell doom for the guavas? Wow again.

    A white fly hater.

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  5. Lucky you and a good helper in caring the nest and the beautiful birds.

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  6. Helen, you have done a good job. Successfully saving the babies and taking photographs of these beautiful birds. I have not been successful of taking bird pictures yet. The last time I tried to save a baby myna, the whole gang of birds chirped so loudly and was circling over my head, I gave up. The next day, I found a dead baby bird, and I have been feeling very guilty I couldn't save a live. The only consolation is whan I read that mynas are very invasive creatures anyway.

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  7. That little nest is wonderful ;-) Yes yes... I hope that they would grow well, healthy so that they are able to leave the nest!

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  8. That is a fantabulous job you have done. I remember reading about humming birds in my general knowledge books, but to read it from your blog was like getting to know the birdie first hand.

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  9. You are taking good care of the birds.Beautiful photo of the humming bird.

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  10. thank you all for visiting and leaving your comments.

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  11. I recently noticed a pair of Purple sun birds here and thought they were Hummingbirds... what a tiny, neat nest!!


    Beautiful pictures!

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