Over the millennia, we humans have constantly been able to improve our living conditions, building more and more creature comforts into our residences. We have gone from the sod homes of the prairies that my late wife Corky’s great grandmother lived in less than 200 years ago to beautiful homes that we see in Sedona. Some very large and plush and others not so much, but still much improved over those in the early part of the last century, when less than five percent of homes in the United States had indoor plumbing or electricity. Other creatures we share the planet with continue to build and maintain shelter in much the same manner that they always have. The goal is to provide shelter and a place to jump start their young into the real world. Survival is the key word for them.
I found a series of photographs I took from early June to July of 2022 in Sedona, which covers this critical phase of life for birds. In the photo above, we see the adult hummingbird sitting on the eggs in the nest that she built. It only takes about one week for the female to build the nest. Because the eggs are so vulnerable to predators, she spends most of her time sitting on the eggs protecting them. In about two weeks the eggs hatch.
The nesting hummers in this photo are about 10 days old. Their mom will continue to feed them until they are able to leave the nest, which can be range anywhere from a month to a month and a half from when they hatch.
This photo shows the mom feeding her hungry kids. A process that will last until they fledge or fly and leave the nest. From that time on, they are on their own.
In this photo, one baby hummer has already left the nest, and this one left the nest two days later as is seen in the photo below.
A functional home, now left behind. The kids have had their home and are now gone and will build their own dwellings in the future.
