Allen's Hummingbird Nest Taking Form

It isn't the prettiest nest, but this Allen's hummingbird is on day 8 of building her nest.

Allen's hummingbird nest on wisteria vine 3/15/2020

Three other Allen's females fledged their chicks between Feb. 27 and March 7th. The dry weather helped the five viable eggs all hatch and five chicks successfully flew from the nests. (Two pairs and one singleton)

This nest is part of the second round of chicks in 2020. It is nice to watch a positive bit of life happening in the yard.

So far 2020 is a much more productive year. 
The girls were challenged in 2019. 
The chicks of 2018 

Rescuing a baby hummingbird

A Bird on the Ground

Not all birds on the ground unable to fly are babies. Spring is definitely a time when people find and try to rescue baby birds, but just because a bird is small and grounded doesn't mean it is a fledgling.

 

 This bird was found on the ground and her inability to fly made people think she was a lost baby bird.

 

But this is actually an adult female white-throated swift (Aeronautes saxatalis). As their Latin name suggests most of their life is spent in the air. They catch insects in flight, drink by scooping up a mouthful of water as they swoop over a pond, and even mate in the air. Some sources cite them as the fastest flying North American bird because they have been documented out flying their predator the peregrine falcon. White-throated swifts are considered the most aerial land-based bird; they land only to nest on vertical cliff faces and sometimes freeway overpasses (man-made cliffs).

 

Because they are an aerial bird, swift legs are tiny with feet for gripping vertical surfaces. On the ground a swift is out of its element, it can't really walk around. This female was found in an atrium at the hospital where my neighbor works. The hospital staff gave her water in a cup and bits of cracker. Unfortunately, both were completely foreign to this bird.

 

Why was she on the ground? We don't know for sure. There was no sign of a predator attack.  but she most likely struck a window on the multistory hospital and then fell into the atrium surrounded by high walls.  Fortunately, she did not break a wing or come to serious bodily harm. 

 

When the neighbor first handed her to me in a box, my first thought was a violet-green swallow that had fallen from a nest. But once I had her in a quiet place and could evaluate her closely, I realized the amazing creature climbing up my hand was a bird I had only seen flying high overhead–a white-throated swift. Their long pointed wings slice through the air and the white belly and white flank spot make them easily identifiable from below. Most references only depict their appearance in flight because no one is going to see them on the ground. Yet, here she was.

 

With a little water offered from a dropper, she drank and rehydrated. She has a short stubby beak, but her mouth opening is large. She also has a pouch in her throat for carrying insects back to nestlings. 

 

With her gripping claws she climbed up this brick wall and she spent the night sleeping while clinging to a vertical surface, much like a bat. (Insectivorous bats and swifts have similar lifestyles; one fills the ecological niche during the night and the other during the day.) 

 

Injured wild birds frequently do not survive long. I didn't expect her to survive the night. But come morning she was still looking at me with shiny eyes. Most rescued swifts are juveniles that have fallen from nests and there are several excellent Internet resources.

Swift First Aid & Carers (Britain, but excellent info.)

Commonswift (German based, but excellent info.)

An adult swift in your hand is a very unusual gift. As I held her I knew what a rare moment it was.

 

The female swift was much improved by midday and when a breeze came up she was able to take to the air with the help of our long sloped driveway. She caught an updraft and flew. I watched her circle over the neighbor's house and then head east. I can't think of a better Earth Day moment. I didn't have a camera to capture it, but it was definitely an Earth Minute I will cherish.

 

A swift is as different from a sparrow, as a cat is from a rabbit. The more you know about the wildlife in your area–bird, mammal or reptile–the greater assistance you can be to a fellow creature in trouble. Get to know the birds in your backyard. 

 

Cornell University All About Birds website 

Baby Bird Found Alone

This is the time of year when baby birds are about. 

If a baby bird is found out of a nest many people panic and think the tiny creature is in need of rescue. STOP!

Most likely that baby bird has parents near by. This California towhee is still downy and is unable to fly, but its parents have purposefully moved it out of the nest. It is sitting in this spot just a foot off the ground because its parents led it to this safe location and told their chick to stay there.

Some birds find greater survival rates for their chicks by encouraging them out of low lying nests and moving them to different locations in clumps of grass or low shrubs. This chick had two parents hunting for food only twenty feet away. 

Occasionally, the parents were no where to be seen, but for the most part they were close by all day long. 

When evening comes, the parents will probably move their two chicks again to a safe roosting spot for the night. A second chick was under our car port.

Birds are very good parents. Even in cases where predators have damaged nests and chicks have fallen out, parent birds will come back and feed their offspring. Handling a chick and putting it back in the nest will not scare off the parents. Hummingbird chick.

The best caregiver for a baby bird is its parents. They provide the right food and in some cases bacteria and enzymes necessary for digestion.

Baby birds need their parents. Watch from a distance and you will be amazed at the attention and care they give their chicks.

Bewick's wrens build a nest.
Baby bird in grass

See more California local birds - Walk the Beach in Malibu

Hummingbird nests.

Pre-School for Cooper's Hawks

young Cooper's hawk

The Cooper’s hawks have had a huge family this year. They first mated back in March. They must have lost the first clutch, but they are making up for it. There are four recently fledged juveniles hanging out in the backyard. In the morning and late afternoon they raucously call for their parents to bring them food.

Two of the larger juveniles are starting to follow the parents. It would be fascinating to see if they are watching their parents hunt.

Catching enough food to provision the four youngsters, who are now as large as their parents, is a Herculean task. The parents aren’t being picky about prey; rats have even become part of the fare.

With four youngsters to watch over, it's understandable that while the parents were off with the bigger chicks when they first left the nest, they missed that the little one didn't want to be left behind. The little hawk was not yet able to fly and ended up on a neighbor's front porch, just steps from the sidewalk. The flurry of humans wanted to "save" the little guy. But these hawks are devoted parents, like most birds, I convinced everyone to give the parents time to collect their youngster. I relocated the juvenile a short distance from its landing spot to an area that was away from the sidewalk, shaded yet visible to the parents. The parents did return and communicated to their little one what it needed to do, to get safely up into a tree.

He is flying a little, but still not well enough to follow the parents. The smallest of the juveniles he's pictured here. He's hungry enough that he has started trying to catch his own food. His movements are not skillful and his attempts seem to be in slow motion. He went toward a group of house finches, who stayed just out of his reach, then he turned to go after a fox squirrel. The squirrel couldn’t believe its eyes at first. It moved just out of the young hawks reach, then actually came back to taunt the young bird.

When he isn’t calling for his parents, the young hawk sits watching the small birds that one day will be its food staple. He’s learning how they fly, their alarm calls, how they respond to threats. His sharp eyes are ever watchful.  Cooper's hawk on fountain.

Meanwhile the California towhees are taking no chances. They are teaching their youngster to fly under the covered patio and carport. No use tempting the young Cooper’s hawk to make its first self-caught meal a young towhee just learning to fly.

What To Do With a Baby Bird

Baby birds, we see them out of the nest, shudder at their vulnerability and immediately think they need our help. But STOP! 

Before you do anything with that baby bird, stand back, watch and listen. 

CA towhee chick, fuzzy grey in the center in the grass

There is a baby bird, all fluff and down, in some tall grass in my backyard right now. It doesn't have flight feathers and its little legs are wobbly. But this little bird did not fall out of a nest. It's parents pushed it.

California towhees are ground-feeding birds. They like their chicks up and on the move ASAP. Amid a flutter of brown wings and successive chirps, I watched this morning as the pair of California towhees were leading this tiny youngster out of the chaparral and into our yard.

Once the little one was in the yard and accidentally sheltered in the grass, the parents took turns guarding it and occasionally bringing food. I say it was accidentally sheltered in the grass because it took a tumble off a short block wall and into the grass. Don't worry, it's fine.

The towhees however are having a stressful day. Without the protection of the nest, their chick is vulnerable and they are working together to protect it. When a Bewick's wren and an Allen's hummingbird both stopped to glance at the youngster, the towhee pair tolerated their presence. But when a fox squirrel was passing too close, the towhees acted as a team to drive the squirrel off. They chased that rodent completely out of the yard. 

I've looked a few times to make sure that the tiny chick is OK. At first glance it appears to be a lone, distressed nestling on the ground. But the parents are close-by. If I don't see them, I hear them. Bird parents are devoted. This pair seems to be putting all of their efforts into this lone offspring. Do they sometimes need help? Yes. But most of the time they need us to stand back, watch, listen and let them do their job.

Rescuing Baby Hummingbirds

Spring is definitely here. Baby birds and nests are everywhere. Currently, there are two active Allen's hummingbird nests in the yard. (A-1 has two chicks and DR-2 still has eggs. The third nest, D-1, was abandoned after the female broke one of the eggs.)

The other day I had a comment from someone saying that they had a baby hummingbird and they didn't know if they should leave it alone or call for a rescue group to pick it up.

The baby Allen's hummingbird pictured here is still downy and can't fly. It is out of the nest, but its mother is still taking care of it. The chick calls to the mother and she only appears for short bursts to feed it. It does not need to be rescued.

Here are some key points to remember regarding baby birds.

1. No one can take better care of a baby bird than its parent. Young birds with feathers usually have NOT fallen out of a nest, but are learning to fly. Some species like hummingbirds and California towhees leave the nest before they can really use their wings. They hang out in shrubs for a few days learning to fly. BEFORE you try to save a baby bird, watch it for a while. There probably is a parent bringing it food. This spring the Bewick's wrens brought one of their young fledglings to the yard like it was day care. The young bird could barely fly. It poked around the patio and the planters all day. In the evening the parents came and took it home. This went on for 3 or 4 days. A few years ago a young crow spent about a week in the yard. It couldn't fly. Parents and siblings brought it food and usually, a family member was stationed to watch over it. In both cases, we did nothing but provide a safe place. Most birds are good parents. Rarely, do they abandon a chick.
   
2. Sometimes baby birds do fall out of a nest. The first step is to PUT THEM BACK. Most birds do not have a sense of smell. You are not going to scare off the parent.
3. Older chicks may push a younger or weaker sibling or out of the nest. If this is the case, there may be a reason. Perhaps the parent only has resources for one chick. In some cases, cowbirds will lay their eggs in other species' nests. The cowbird chick will push out the owner's chicks. This seldom happens in Southern California. I did have a situation in 2008 when very hot weather caused an older hummingbird chick to push its younger sibling out of the nest. In the photo, you can see the mother, "P" is perched on the nest. The larger chick, Pop, is in the nest. The smaller one, Peep, is on a branch beneath the nest. These chicks were only about a week from fledging, so they were mostly developed. We replaced the smaller chick, but it was pushed out again. We made a small replacement nest, put it about 8 inches from the original nest and the mother bird continued to raise both chicks successfully.
4. Parent birds typically leave their chicks while they go off to get food. Sometimes they stay away from the nest so that they don't attract predators. But parent birds come back to their offspring. A few years ago a friend had a fledgling CA towhee get stuck in her garage over night. She was concerned she was going to have to call a rescue person. In the morning we opened up the garage. The parents waiting outside, calling for the chick. It took a few hours, but the parent birds lured the chick out of the garage. Family reunited.

I can't say it strongly enough. The best way to rescue a baby bird is to reunite it with its parent.

Today is Mother’s Day

Several times today, we scoured the bushes. Watched the tree for any sign of a clumsy baby hummingbird. But we found no sign of the baby. Inali and I weren’t the only ones looking. His mother would come back to the feeder, search the tree, sit close to the spot where she had fed him this morning. She called, but there was no answer.

I had resolved myself to the fact that something might have happened between those few hours of 10 and noon when he seemed to have disappeared.

As twilight started to fall, I sat across from the tree and watched as a constant flow of hummingbirds, Allen’s and a few Anna’s, stopped at the feeder to top off for the night. There was an awkward youngster that crash landed in the top of the tree before going to the feeder. But it seemed too large for the baby I had held in my hand this morning.

As it got gradually darker, the mother hummingbird perched on the branch where she had last seen her fledgling. We waited.

Then I saw a shadow appear from behind the ivy across the street. A cat. It’s been years since we’ve had a cat prowling this part of the street. Could this cat have spotted our little hummingbird on its perch 5 feet off the ground?

Inali barked and growled. The cat slunk down the street.

My heart dropped. It was getting darker. If the young hummingbird didn’t come back to roost in his nest tree with his mother, we would know something had gone wrong.

Mom chased off another hummingbird that attempted to come to the feeder while she was watching. She seemed as anxious as I was. The sound of her slapping bills with the Anna’s female was like the clashing of tiny sabres. Soon, she returned and sat on the feeder.

Together, we waited.

Suddenly a tiny figure dropped into the tree. It was nearly dark, 7:40 PM. The little hummingbird hovered above the feeder and came to rest beside the waiting female. It drank and then lost its footing and fluttered, like youngsters often do. Mom sat and watched it drink. Our relief was audible.

The little youngster had been exploring the neighborhood all day long. It is amazing how hummingbirds go straight from vulnerable to independent in an hour or two. After a few more slurps, he flew up to a tiny branch in the tree. Mom followed and they settled in for the night.

Tonight, this little one is on his own. It was a team effort, but we did it.

We saved this tiny baby and he has become a remarkable flying jewel.

For Pictures and the whole story.

The Rescued Baby Hummingbird

My heart is broken.

For the past three nights I have been gently plucking our baby hummingbird off of this man-made nest and bringing him inside. He seemed lacking the feathers to get him through the cold night without the shelter of a real nest. Each morning at 5:20 AM, just before sunrise, I carefully put him back on his tiny roost.

With the arrival of day, his mother would dutifully appear, feed him and watch over him.

Last night when I brought him in around midnight, his fluttering wings were stronger and he actually got lift. As I tucked him in for the night, I thought, “He might try to fly tomorrow.” When I put him in his “nest” this morning the process had become old hat. He easily fluttered from my hand onto his spot.

When I checked him at midmorning. He was about 6 inches from the nest on a tiny branch. Had he “flown” there? He still looked a bit downy to be truly flying. Mom came and fed him and our routine seemed to be working out just fine.

But when I went to leave the house at noon, he was gone. No tiny figure perched on the twig. I looked in the immediate area. Some hummingbird fledges test themselves with short flights, while I’ve seen others just take off and go straight from the nest.

When his mother came back I watched her do the same thing I had done. Look in his spot, search the immediate area, then become concerned. She came over to me, chirping. I tried to convey to her, that I didn’t have him. I hoped he would call to her and she would find him, but so far that hasn’t happened.

There are no signs of foul play. Inali has searched the planter. She found bits of the destroyed original nest, but this time no baby. I think he tried to fly and wasn’t as ready as he thought he was. I hope he is somewhere in the tree.

It is hard to move forward with the things I know I should be doing today. This baby hummingbird fluttered in my hand like a moth. The first time I brought him in for the night, his tiny tongue came out and tasted my hand. The second night, when he was shivering, he seemed to relax when my warm hand encircled him. His tiny claws actually clung to the ridges on the pads of my fingers. He was a bit of grace, a living wonder.


His mother, Inali and I, we’ll all keep searching.

A True Mother’s Day Story

I know why the hummingbird in the front, “F,” has babies that seem so far behind in development. (see Hard-Working Single Mom's). The branch she has built her nest on is at the top of the plum tree and just the slightest breeze can make it bend dramatically. I believe her first brood tumbled out of the nest , at only a few days old, in one of our March storms. She must have immediately laid two more eggs.

I came to this conclusion after watching her try to keep her two new chicks in the nest during a few windy days. Her chicks were about 8 days from flying, too big to sit on, but there she was trying to sit on the smaller of the two. All through the day she hunkered down on the edge of the nest trying to help the chicks ride out tossing wind gusts. With each moment of calm she would dash off to find food. Sometimes, while she was gone, a gust of wind would carry the chicks to a near vertical position.

The next morning one of the chicks was gone. Sometime during the night, it had disappeared. We looked through the planter beneath the tree but could find nothing.

For the last few days, I have checked the lone chick daily. The weather has been cool, but the winds have abated. “F” stays close to her nest . She and I are counting the days until her precious chick can fly.

Then yesterday afternoon I came home and as I walked up the front steps I glanced up at the nest. It was torn apart and hanging in three pieces. What had happened?

I looked around under the tree. “F” appeared. The Allen’s hummingbird was frantic. I have come to know the rapid peeping sound these females make when they are distraught. (Predators and hummingbirds). This little bird had worked so hard to be a mother.

Inali, our 5 year-old black lab / golden retriever mix, was out front too. She frequently birds with me. She grew up following 4 chickens around and has an affinity for birds. Inali started sniffing the ground beneath the tree. There it was a tell tale sign–a large dropping from a good-sized bird. The nest had probably been raided by a crow, jay or even the raven.

I kept telling “F” how sorry I was. But Inali kept sniffing. She froze and stared into the twisted undergrowth of African daisies. She kept staring. I followed her gaze, and there, deep withing the tangle of rambling stems, sat the tiny hummingbird baby. Somehow, as the nest was torn apart it had tumbled out, landed unharmed, and now clung to a twig with tiny feet.

We had to save this baby. My mind raced. Could I feed it and keep it alive for the next few days as it got all of its feathers and learned to fly? Probably, but if I could get it back up in the tree, maybe “F” would finish the job she had set out to do. Only she could encourage the baby to leap into hovering flight. Only she could take it to the best places to find food in the neighborhood.

I had to get this little one back up into some kind of nest in the tree. I carefully scooped it up in my hands and took it into the house. I tossed a towel in the fruit bowl and placed the chick there. A nest. How to make a nest?

I grabbed a small plastic cup that had held take-out salsa, cut it down, gathered dog hair and nesting wool to make a cozy inside and then taped it securely in the tree. I chose a lower branch, closer to the trunk. No more worrying about the wind. Then I set the baby in the manmade nest and told it to call for its mother. Everything happened in less than 10 minutes.

Inali and I retired to the house and watched from the window. We could hear thin squeaky chirps. “F” called for her baby. She checked high in the tree. She searched the ground near where it had been. She stopped. She called. There was an answer. Then I watched her triangulate, getting closer and closer, until she found the little one. My nest didn’t offer a convenient place for her to sit and feed her tired and frightened offspring, so “F” walked sideways down a twig and then turned over her shoulder to feed the hungry chick. Mother and baby were reunited.

Inali and I sat on the porch watching “F” chase off other hummingbirds and then returning to feed her chick. Then “F” came over to us and hovered a few feet away looking right at us. I could feel her gratitude. Together the three of us had saved her baby.

The chick doesn’t really like my nest. It prefers sitting on the edge. Last night was going to dip into the low 40s. Afraid that it would be too cold without the comfort of a real nest, especially after its traumatic day, I scooped it up last night after dark. It slept soundly in a plastic container cushioned with paper towels. At 5:20 AM, before the sun came up, I put it back in the makeshift nest. “F” is feeding it again this morning. The baby is stretching its wings and fluttering.

This baby hummingbird has three mothers–its natural mother, me and a big black dog that saved its life.