Uploads from Schill, tagged trochilidae

Hummingbird + Nest, 2010: Two babies! (720p)

nobody@flickr.com (Schill) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:13:00 -0700

Schill posted a video:

A hummingbird has set up a new nest in the same camilia tree as last year, right outside my window - we think it's the same bird - and is successfully caring for two offspring. This is great stuff, as something went wrong last year and the nest (with one or two babies) was left abandoned after a point.

In this video you can see the mother arriving, two babies being fed, and some cute wing flapping attempts towards the end. Apparently hummingbird babies do this "flight test" naturally, holding onto the nest floor so they don't accidentally take off. Looking good.

I'm no David Attenborough, but I'm going to guess this is a black-chinned hummingbird based on my brief research from last year.

This was shot hand-held on a 5D2 with a 70-200mm lens after waiting, standing near the top of a ladder for about 20 minutes, so my arm was getting tired - pardon the camera movement. ;)

Hummingbird + Nest in the garden

nobody@flickr.com (Schill) — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:00:52 -0700

Schill posted a video:

The lightwell my windows open into has had turtle doves nesting for the last two years, and now we've had what appears to be a black-chinned hummingbird move in. They're quite neat to watch. This one has set up in a camilia tree.

I put my camera (Canon PowerShot SX100IS) on a ladder and used the 10X optical zoom to get a decent shot. The picture quality for video is quite decent for 640x480.

The bird leaves and returns with some feather down, presumably building or maintaining the nest. It appears to have a long tongue, as well.

A Wild Hummingbird Nest

nobody@flickr.com (Schill) — Sat, 16 May 2009 11:02:53 -0700

Schill posted a photo:

Right at home in the garden! Shiny colors.

A Hummingbird nest in the garden

nobody@flickr.com (Schill) — Sat, 16 May 2009 11:03:06 -0700

Schill posted a photo:

This little bird has taken up shelter in the tree outside my window, in a lightwell. It might be young, as my neighbour has said there was another one (perhaps a protective parent?) flying around her window the other day.

I've seen these birds in San Francisco before, but never in a nest like this, nor this close! Pretty neat. (I used something like 30X zoom to get this shot, I was a good 10 feet away.)