Frank Weston ImagesDistinctive Photography of the American West

Well, it’s finally happened. The chicks have left the nest. One of them left the nest on Friday and the other flew Sunday morning. I completely missed the first one. I checked on them Friday and both were still in the nest. The next time I checked, there was only one. I watched the remaining chick very closely hoping to see him take his first flight. I knew that it was a long shot that I could photograph his first flight, since hummingbirds take flight in a fraction of a second.

I was delighted to catch the chick seriously testing his wings. Previously, he’d just flap his wings but not get any lift.

But now, he started getting lift. He’d sit on the edge of the nest and actually fly, but he wouldn’t let go of the edge of the nest. At times, it seemed that he was hanging on by only one toe. These “test flights” would last for as long as thirty seconds.

Of course, after all that exertion, there had to be a serious rest period. After a sufficient rest, vigorous preening began in preparation for the next test flight. You can’t expect a hummingbird to fly until all of the equipment is thoroughly checked and in proper order.

Then, on Saturday, he finally did let go. He hovered near the nest, drifting about two feet away.

We have lift off!

After a 15 second flight, he returned to the nest. Although he did many “test flights”, he refused to let go of the nest for the rest of the day. Mama continued to feed him in the nest.

Very early Sunday morning, before sunrise, he worked up enough courage to finally leave the nest for good. I was both excited and a little saddened to see the nest empty. But, that’s life. It was a very memorable experience. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Wow! They’re also getting a lot more active. Today was the most activity that I’ve seen. They’re preening almost constantly between bouts of wing beating. As you can see from the pictures, they’re almost completely feathered.

They also spend a lot of time just moving around in the nest, scratching, exploring the parts of their world that they can reach, and just generally jostling each other around. They seem to be interacting with each other more and more.

And these little guys just keep getting cuter every day.

The chicks continue to grow. I couldn’t figure out how they both manage to fit into the nest, until I saw a comment on a hummingbird website that the nest can actually expand. The nest is made up of bits of leaves and other debris that is held together by spider web. It’s the spider web that gives the nest it’s flexibility so that it can expand to accommodate the growing chicks without breaking.

And the chicks are definitely growing. I’ve seen them flap their wings a few times and the primary flight feathers are now fully opened.

The chicks are probably about half the size of the adult, or perhaps a bit larger. The chicks are beginning to look more like small versions of an adult bird. How soon will they fly? That’s the million dollar question.

It’s been a week since I first noticed chicks in the nest. Since then, feeding was the big excitement. Now, there has been some new activity in the nest.

Instead of waiting for an hour to see a minute of activity when mama returns with food, the chicks are creating their own activity. They are not getting curious about what’s outside the nest. I frequently see heads poking up over the edge.

"Hey, what's that up there?

They’re spending more time looking around, preening and trying to get re-situated in the nest. I image that it’s getting a little crowded in there.

In spite of the crowding, they are beginning to exercise their wings. For the first time one of them began beating its wings. How long until they fly? It usually takes about 20 days, according to the literature. So it’s still a couple of weeks away, unless they hatched several days before I saw them.

The chicks are getting a little stronger and a little bolder with each passing day. For the most part, they stay hidden in the nest when mama isn’t around. But more and more, I’m seeing their beaks sticking up above the nest. It seems that when I first saw them, they had pretty short beaks, not the long needle-like beaks of the adults. But now they seem too be getting a little longer. Compare the image below with some later images and you can see the changes.

In this photo I took  yesterday, the beak is definitely getting longer.

This photo of the beak poking up above the nest  was a prelude to the chick taking his first tentative look over the edge of the nest. I’m not sure how well they can see at this stage of their development, but his eye is definitely open.

Ooops! There was a major faux pas in my last post titled “It’s a Chick!” It should have read “There be Chicks!”. There are two chicks in the nest. From the angle at which I can observe the nest, I could only see one for several feedings. Now I can see two! Most likely they didn’t hatch at the same time. According to my bird books, hummingbirds typically lay two eggs. It looks like the books are right.

This past weekend, we noticed she was not sitting on the nest anymore. We kept watch on and off through most of the day without any sign of her. Sadly, we thought that the eggs had failed to hatch. Just as we were about to give up, Alix saw her return, stick her beak down into the nest and fly off again. She was clearly feeding chicks.

The chick was down deep in the nest and couldn’t be seen unless it was feeding. And mama wasn’t there very often. She’d show up to feed the chick for maybe two minutes, then she was gone again for about an hour. That left a very small window of time when the chick might be visible. So, it took a lot of patience to actually photograph her feeding the chick, but I finally got a shot.

It’s truly amazing to see her feeding her chick. As long as her bill is, the chick must be akin to a sword swallower to be fed that way. It makes me cringe every time I see it. It seems to work, though. The chick doesn’t hesitate and in it’s hunger even pushes itself up higher on mama’s bill. Glad I’m not a hummingbird.