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Friday, September 28, 2012

Another hummer


The female Antillean crested humming bird is quite plain looking when compared to the male who wears his crest like a king with his crown.
The eggs were the size of a lizard's egg.

The nest measures about 4cms in diameter with a depth around 3.5cms.
Yesterday I was walking by one of my mango trees when something caught my eye. I stopped and back peddled.  At first glance it looked like  a tree gall and on closer inspection I realized that it was a humming bird's nest with one tiny egg in it.  Hummers always lay two eggs so I looked around and saw a tiny female of the Antillean crested humming bird nearby.  The nest looked a bit different from the others I had seen before. It was so well camouflaged  that it looked like part of the tree.  I figured that she was not finished laying and I left. So today I went out to look for the nest and found the mother hummer sitting on the nest. She flew off as I got closer so I took a peek inside and there was another egg laid. A few years ago I did a post on another humming bird's nest I found in another mango tree. I will keep tabs on this nest and will keep you informed.

6 comments:

  1. wonderful photos, thank you; I once spent forever trying to get a good shot of this tiny bird sitting on her nest!It's about the size of a coca cola cap isn't it? Amazing, Great post.

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  2. WOW, that is way cool! I wish we had more hummingbirds here but alas they only pass through at winter. I can't wait to see the babies! :)

    Happy Gardening & best wishes,

    Sheri
    www.pompanobeachgardening.blogspot.com

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  3. Helen, this was a truly informative post.
    You should be working with one of those Wildlife magazines....great shots.
    I had never seen a hummingbird nest, could not even imagine them keeping still long enough to lay an egg far less more!!

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  4. Amazing pictures. We don't have any humming birds in this part of the world. I can't believe that it is so small! I'm really looking forward to seeing picture of the young. I am also hoping that I will see a humming bird when we visit St Lucia!

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  5. Complimenti per le bellissime fotografie!! buona domenica...ciao

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  6. Fantastic photos, Helen! We don't have hummers in our part of the world but sunbirds. They do resemble the hummers...but it's difficult to get these kind of shots. I loved them all!

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