A few days ago, the hummingbird nest outside my window was finally vacated. I saw a little blur in the corner of my eye and looked up to catch the little green-chested bird dip low and then swoop up into the sky. The nest was empty. I waited a few days to go out and pull it down, just in case the chick might be coming back, but it never did.
But wait, you’re saying, I thought there were two chicks in that nest?
There were. About a week ago I noticed that I could only see one bird in the nest. Worried that one had been pushed out and was maybe floundering on the pavement I went out to check, but found nothing. So the way I figure it, one of two things happened.
- The smaller, weaker chick was pushed from the nest prematurely and ended up a snack for one of my dogs or a local critter before I even noticed it was missing or
- That other bird was just really precocious and took to flight days before it’s sibling got his or her act together and headed out.
I’m choosing to believe the other bird was just a flying wunderkind and is out there somewhere impressing all the other baby hummingbirds with its mad skills.
I’ve read that the nests get stretched out as the babies grow, so they don’t reuse them, but I’m hoping momma bird will remember the spot and come back next spring to build another. It’s been my favorite distraction so far this year.
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