From birth to flight, these pictures at the below link paint a beautiful story, and are great to share with the kids/grandkids. What child (or adult) isn't fascinated with hummingbirds?! Although these are not my pictures, my greatest thrill was a few years ago when I found a hummingbird nest nestled into an overhanging branch I was about to prune. I didn't own a camera at the time, so I couldn't take my own pictures, but I found this wonderful webtv site that has wonderful large pictures of a hummingbird they found in it's nest in 2005, following the babies from the moment of birth, until they left the nest.
Follow this hot link to view the pages:
hummingbirds: from hatch to flight
Page 1 has a close up photo of her in her nest, and an interior shot of the nest itself with it's 2 eggs in it.
Page 2 is taken a week later shows a just born baby hummer breaking out of his shell; the second picture is a few hours after it's birth; the 3rd picture is a close up shot of the baby itself.
Page 3 advances to one full week later. Picture 1 is the Mother is sitting on the nest; picture 2 shows just how much those two tiny birds grew in one weeks time; picture 3 is a close up shot of the babies.
Page 4 is taken 5 days later. Picture 1 shows the babies are getting fuzzy developing their feathers to come; picture 2 their developing beaks growing; picture 3 shows them getting their color, and picture 4 is taken one week after that and shows them developing even more color in their downy feathers...and look how huge they are getting too!
Page 5 shows Mom keeping her babies dry on a rainy day, the babies sleeping, and getting too big for their tiny little nest!
Page 6 shows them at 21 days old, with one having left the nest, and the bottom picture says a lot about the hummers size! It shows a penny and a toothpick resting in the nest. The nest is smaller than the length of a toothpick (2 1/2 inches long). This is a great comparison picture!
Much thanks and credit must be given to whoever Vel (Verle33) is, for posting these pictures and sharing it with everybody on the internet!!
Some amazing hummingbird facts:
* Hummingbirds do not flap their wings up and down, nor do they flap in a circular motion. Their pattern of flapping is in a figure 8 shape. Much like a helicopter, the hummers can fly forwards, backwards, up, down, and most amazing, they can also fly sideways.
* When a hummingbird is flying a normal flight, it's wings move 80 times per second. When they're courting a mate, or diving for food, they often increase it to 200 times per second!
* This birds heart beats as fast as 1,260 beats per minute. Adult humans only beat around 80 per minute.
* They use up so much energy that they will eat up to eight times an hour, with each feeding session lasting only around 45 seconds.
* The main part of their diet is sugar. They take nectar from flowers, as well as sap from trees. Sometimes they add pollen or insects to their menu for building stronger muscle.
* The smallest hummingbird in the world is the Bee Hummingbird, which comes from Cuba. It's adult size in only 2 1/4 inches long and only weighs around 2 grams. The largest in the world is the Giant Hummingbird that lives in South America. He is much, much larger than those we have here in N. America, he grows to a whopping 8 inches long, and weighs in at up to 20 grams!
* The hummingbird egg is only approximately half an inch long.
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