First flight « Pix and that

First flight

21Jul07

July 21, 2007: The weather cleared this morning and I brought the video camera out and it was great timing. I got to watch the mother Anna’s feed the remaining fledgling and also sit nearby and chatter at the young bird – what I’m going to presume is hummingbird for “get off the nest.” And sure enough that’s what happened. I’d hoped to be lucky enough to see the fledgling take its first flight but didn’t count on it. I guess I must be living right because at 1:14 p.m. I saw the young Anna’s take her first flight. Amazing! Much like first steps, it wasn’t far — about two feet – but still truly amazing to witness.

A few minutes later the mother Anna’s flew over and fed the fledgling on the branch. I checked on the fledgling on and off and she moved from time to time, but stayed in the protected canopy of the plum tree most of the afternoon, with the mother coming in to feed.

Since I saw this fledgling spend at least six hours in the plum tree near the nest today, and she was easily spotable I’m not sure how optimistic I am for the first fledgling, which took off yesterday and I haven’t seen since.

You can see a 4 1/2 minute Quicktime movie of the fledgling being feed on the nest, testing her wings, taking her first flight and getting a snack in the tree on my Website. Click here to see video of the hummingbird fledgling’s first flight.