I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.
Emily Dickinson
Last week, I posted a picture of the tiny hummingbird nest I discovered in the orange tree outside my window. Yesterday, I got a close-up view of the miniature eggs!
When the mama bird zipped away for nourishment, I zoomed in with the camera lens. I managed to snap this photo before she perched again on her nest.*
Did you notice the leafy umbrella? And the the citrus buds, just about ready to bloom? Given a couple more days of sunshine, the morning air will be filled with heavenly perfume.
*To put things into perspective, hummingbird nests are not much larger than a coin.
Girl, this picture and post has just made me so happy and I don’t even know why!
Thank you:-)
I’m so glad, and you’re definitely welcome! There’s so much promise in that picture, isn’t there? It makes my heart sing, too.
Oooo… what a precious little present! Brightens my day for sure! Thanks!
Nothing like Mama Nature to make your heart sing, is there? I’m so glad you liked the picture.
Oh, how beautiful!! I love hummingbirds. They are like little kisses from Heaven.
Little kisses from heaven…I like that! And I agree.
Whoops – that was me above. Forgot to sign in. Sorry for the doubly post.
Some things bear repeating. 🙂
Little kisses from heaven — a great way to put it! They’re tiny miracles, aren’t they?
Wow! That is beautiful! Thank you for sharing this.
It’s so magical…I couldn’t wait to share!
🙂
OH WOW!!! I miss my hummingbirds!! Can’t wait to see them again!!
THANK YOU for a little piece of heaven!
Believe me, it’s my pleasure. 🙂
That is SO cool! I’d love to have that outside my window! 🙂
I feel like it’s promising sign of good things to come. I’ll try to capture the tiny babies when they hatch.
I hope you get their pictures. I’m going to Google them to see what they look like at the newborn stage. I can’t even imagine. 🙂
I discovered a great educational website about hummers. Here’s a sneak preview:
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/humm/NestWeeklyCQs.html
Wow. The ruler puts it into perspective as to how tiny that nest really is. Great link! 🙂
Did you see where the nest is compared to a coin? I added that link to my post.
I did see that. Amazing.
Beautiful! With sub-zero temperatures on the way where I live, a glimpse of hummingbird eggs and citrus buds is the perfect antidote. Thanks~
And thanks for your email – I mailed off Sharon’s book this morning!
We can all use a little spot of sunshine now and again. I’m glad this post helped warm you up a little. 🙂
Thanks for mailing Sharon’s book. I know she’ll love it, and I love that you’re sending it to her.
Darling! I need to put out a hummer feeder–the big tree just south of us is full of hummers, my neighbor says. (I can’t see that well, unless they are close up I don’t know they are there.)
Hummingbirds are so entertaining and beautiful…
A feeder’s a fun idea. You can bring them close to your own window. Or how about a pair of binoculars?
my mother in law has 2 feeders right on the deck and they will fly right up inches away if you sit still. When the boys were younger, they would patiently sit perfectly still waiting for them to come.. they always did. They love to perch, even though some feeders don’t have a perch, I think they should, because at MIL’s house they sit right down and take a big drink!
So cute!!
We have one with a circular perch — like a round picnic table for hummingbirds. Thanks for the reminder; I should hang it this week.
My mom found a hummingbird nest that was made entirely out of the tail hairs from one of her horses. It was an amazing work of art. However, I have always wondered how the little birds got the hairs. I am guessing they found them caught on the fences, but I do not know.
That’s amazing! I wonder if horse hairs felt heavy to those tiny little birds.
How beautiful! Love the leafy umbrella. Definitely a miracle.
She’s a clever mama, isn’t she, to shelter her nest under the leaves?
*squee* I adore hummingbirds. We have feeder right outside my den window, and the local groups fight constantly for control over them.
Did you know that their nests are mostly made of spiderwebs? The Sonoran Desert Museum over here has a hummingbird house just full of the little guys, and one of the docents told me that, when they had just opened up, they didnt’ consider this. The hummingbirds had trouble nesting for a year or so, because no spiders had taken up residence yet. They had to stick a couple spiders in there to build webs.
Do you make your own hummingbird nectar?
I didn’t know they built their nests out of spiderwebs until I visited the website I linked in my post. Pretty incredible, isn’t it? And yet, I can’t imagine them being able to carry anything much heavier.
Is the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson? I’ve visited a great museum there.
Yep on the nectar. It’s pretty easy–just 1/4 parts sugar to 3/4 parts water. The red dye isn’t really necessary, especially if the feeder has a little bit of red on it.
The Sonoran Desert Museum is in the Tucson Mountains, on the Tucson outskirts (actually pretty near to where I live). It’s more like a combo zoo/natural museum, but they have some gorgeous grounds and a great facility. I could spend all day in the Hummingbird House, or watching the cougars.
That’s the one I visited! I loved it, and I agree with all you said.
Next time we visit (my husband’s a desert rat/cougar nut), we’ll have to meet up, yes?
Ooh, definitely! That’d be fun!
ooooh! how sweet the little eggs are! I hope you’ll be able to snap pics when they hatch!
The mama bird and you have something in common! 🙂
I hope I’ll be able to capture some photos of the chicks, too. Definitely, I’ll post them here if I do.
I hope so!
Indeed! 🙂
Nothing better than to see Mother Nature at her best. Spring must have sprung there but it’s still a long way off here. Expecting up to 3 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow. Birds got on a fast track back south. Turtles have dug deep for the winter.
Ack! It’s a long winter where you are, isn’t it? When we lived in Texas, I remember it being very cold.
Stay warm, PapaDan! Bundle up tight, when you hit the campaign trail wih Bubba! (How’s that campaign comin’, anyway? It’s been a while since I’ve heard a stump speech…)
That just made my morning. This looks like something out of a book of fairies. Especially with the leaf umbrella.
Thank you for sharing Melodye. I love humming birds and can’t wait until they are back. When we lived in Chester I had Glads planted all along the front of the house and around the porch and had humming birds all over the place.