Hatchling to Fledgling

Hatchling to Fledgling

Several years ago, a friend showed me the location of a hummingbird nest on a tree branch near a popular trail in Dillon, Colorado.  On a number of occasions over the years I would look for the nest to see if there was any activity.  The nest was about 6 feet off the ground and very difficult to see into the interior and even more difficult to photograph.  I never did see any activity and the last time that I looked I was not even able to locate the nest. I assumed that it was abandoned and it fell out of the tree.

I searched up and down the trail in frustration trying to locate the nest. A broad-tailed hummingbird was flitting about and started buzzing me. I watched carefully as the hummer hovered and slowly descended to a branch right in front of me and landed on this stub.  To my surprise, it was not a stub, it was a nest. This nest was only five feet off the ground and with a clear line of sight from the trail. The hummer was sitting on the nest. There had to be either eggs or babies in the nest.  Finally, my lucky day.

When the hummer flew off, I could see that there was one baby hummingbird in the nest. Probably just a few days old. The period of time from hatchling to fledgling is about 21 days. Once they fledge they are ready to fly and migrate south. They fly solo, on their own in just a few days after fledging.  This is Just amazing to me.

Parent Hummingbird Feeds Chick

With my Sony A7R3, Sony 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM lens, mounted on a tripod, with a wireless remote trigger, I watched and photographed the hummingbird nest from August 5 to August 20, 2018 until after the baby fledged. From a series of video clips and images. I have created this short movie (50 seconds).

Hatchling to Fledgling

 

 

~ by richardseeley on October 21, 2018.