Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'humming bird'.
Found 1 result
-
This happened to our family in 2016, myself, my wife and my granddaughter Alisabeth who was staying with us that summer. She was 21 years old at the time. I wrote and placed on the computer to have a record of what happened. This was a very heart warming experience for all of us. At first it was just myself, my wife and my granddaughter Alisabeth. Our friends, relatives and just anybody who had heard would show up and we would tell the story. I will put a copy of how things fell into place. I will enclose 7 pictures. The 3rd pic shows the duck tape at the top[ of the picture. The grey thing at the bottom is the nest. It is very small. Anyone has question-ask away. Preston & family June 25, 2016 at 700 N. Dewey St., Middleton, Id at about 10 AM we decided to trim and prune a London plane or Sycamore tree at our back door. My wife, Judy took a long handled pruning saw and cut several low hanging branches. They all were in a big pile in the yard; well it was about time to eat so we retired to the house and ate lunch. Well it was about nap time (that happens when you get old and good looking). About 2 ½ hours later we went back outside. I went into my shop and was working on some molding for the shop door. My wife, Judy and my granddaughter, Alisabeth went to work on the pile of branches cutting them up to take to the burn pile. I’m working away in the shop when my wife comes in and says I have something to show you. So I follow Judy back to the yard and there is Alisabeth on her knees looking at a branch about 3 feet long on the ground. I get down and look and they were, 2 baby humming bird chicks. They were so small and helpless. Alisabeth wanted to know what to do with them. Alisabeth was real concerned to say the least. So between our 3 brilliant minds we set to work. We didn’t want to leave too much of our human scent on the baby in fear of mama rejecting the baby chicks so Alisabeth put a finger underneath the one baby and it crawled on and Alisabeth put the chick back into the nest. By the way the nest was very small, well both of the chicks fit and they looked like they were at home. Alisabeth was holding the branch and we came up with the idea of using duct tape on one end with the tiny hummingbird nest and wrapping it around another branch on the tree where they came from. Well we found a branch and snipped back the leaves on the tree branch and the leaves on our branch with the nest. This took a couple of ladders, 3 people and some duct tape. We positioned the nest branch to the tree branch and duct taped away. We got the branch with the nest in the up position. We only had the nest about 6 feet off the ground. The main thing the chicks were safe and in their home. Now while we were eating and napping the 2 baby humming birds were on the ground. Did momma feed them or know what was going on? We cleaned the area up and sat down in our chairs by the back porch and waited. The new spot for the nest was a lot lower and back toward the house several feet. When I work in my shop I have a box fan in the window to help cool down the shop. Well momma came looking for the chicks in their new location and was not having any luck. Finally it dawned on me; shut the fan off and maybe mamma can hear the chicks. It worked when she came back she found them but everything was different. It took her several minutes but she zeroed in on them and she fed them right away. By the time we went to bed she had made several trips to feed. Oh by the way, the 2 babies are named Trim & Prune. JUNE 26, 2016 The chicks slept good as they were still with us. Oh by the way the chicks are Alisabeth’s god babies. We cut another small limb about 3 feet long and held it up to the limb that the nest is on and we cut leaves off to accommodate the shape of the nest limb. We tied the new limb to the old limb with the nest with bread bag ties keeping in mind for the new leaves to shade and camouflage the chicks. JUNE 27, 28 & 29 The chicks are sleeping good and mom feeds about every 20 minutes and she knows when about 30 seconds feeding time is up. We have cut several limbs to replace the old dried out limbs. Mom’s activity around the nest is increasing, so something is up, maybe time for the young ones to go into the world. They are a joy to have around and we will miss them. Maybe next year they will remember our good nectar and return to raise some more chicks. JUNE 30, 2016 There is about the same amount of activity as the last three days. Mom does act a little different. She flies around the nest as if she is giving flying lessons. JULY 1, 2 Same activity as previous days. JULY 3 Mom is very busy today compared to the last few days. Maybe this will be the day. Mom is flying around the nest again giving flying lessons. We went into the house to eat around noon. We came back out about 2:30 PM and guess what an empty nest and I wanted to be there when they flew off. Already we were missing the chicks. We sat down and watched the tree where the nest was and saw mom doing her feeding thing. The kids were in the tree. Mom was taking nectar from our feeder and taking it to the chicks in the tree. From time to time a young one will check out the nest but not stay. This has been a great experience for all of us. We tried hard to not humanize ourselves with the young hummingbirds. They seem to be doing fine and who knows; maybe we will see them next year.
