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.

Thanks again to Max for the loan of the “big lens” — most of these great photos wouldn’t be possible without it.

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One fledged

20Jul07

July 20, 2007: When I checked on the fledglings last night at dusk both were squeezed into the nest. This morning was rainy and I didn’t go out to check on them until it let up in the late morning, and to my surprise it appears one of them took its first flight in the rainstrom. The nest hangs over the patio so it’s easy to see if anything or any bird falls out of the nest – nothing. So although I didn’t witness it, one of the pair seems to have flown off.

I’ve seen the mother Anna’s in the garden and she continues to keep watch on the nest and feed the remaining fledging, but I’ve seen no sign of the second fledgling. The remaining fledgling has been sitting on the edge of the nest today doing wing tests.

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Ready to fledge

19Jul07

July 19, 2007: Today I saw both of the young birds sitting on the edge of the nest and testing out their wings…they are certainly working on becoming fledglings.

Also you can see from this photo their feathers are looking more like adults than nestlings. They are practicing sitting on the edge of the nest.

And from this photo you can see that the young birds are nearly the size of their mother.

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Feathers

18Jul07

July 17, 2007: Their feathers are really coming in strong now as you can see from this photo. They look a lot different from just a few days ago.

P.S. July 18, 2007 – rained today most of the day and couldn’t take any photos. Saw the mother Anna’s in her normal, if rain damp, feeding routine.

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Growing fast

16Jul07

July 15, 2007: Watching the pair of nestlings day to day it’s amazing to see how fast they are growing. Their feathers are really coming in. They’ll be ready in no time for their first flights!

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Flaps

16Jul07

July 14, 2007: Finally got a photo today of the nestlings trying out their wings. As you can see from the photo baby hummingbird wings also move pretty fast.

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Wings

12Jul07

July 12, 2007: The first of the nestlings was born two weeks ago today and today was the first time I saw one of the nestlings flap its wings…so I guess soon I’ll have to start calling them fledglings. I didn’t get a shot of the fledgling flapping but you can see from the shot of the pair that their feathers are coming in. They will probably take their first flights by this time next week.

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Family portrait

10Jul07

July 10, 2007: Got a good family portrait today of all three on the nest. Also a nice shot of her flying up to the nest. With the new remote cable for the camera I can put it in places in the yard I haven’t been able to before now. You might notice in some of the photos that her far wing is tipped up, haven’t see that happen before but it wasn’t a problem I watched her buzz around for hours after these photos.

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Wind in the trees

09Jul07

July 9, 2007: The new 16-foot cable release for my camera arrived today, so I can put the camera a little closer and sit far across the yard so as not to disturb the mother Anna’s. She seems to approve of this arrangement. Today and yesterday she’s been sitting in the Lilac across from the plum tree where she has a better view of the nest.

Every afternoon there is a good breeze that blows through the neighborhood. To give you an idea here is part of a series of photos I shot today. I hi-lighted the mother Anna’s feeding on the nest. The camera is on a tripod so the frame isn’t changing but you can see the branch sways quite a lot.

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Feathers

06Jul07

July 6, 2007: I haven’t seen the mother Anna’s sit on the nest at all today and I have a good idea why. It’s crowded in there. The hatchlings are growing fast, you can really see their feathers now. The mother Anna’s has two favorite perches in the tree where she can watch her young and she flies the perimeter from time to time for good measure.

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