Mother Heningbirding

Hola! I am obsessed with the little nest outside the kitchen tool room window.

Many times throughout the day I find myself wandering into the room.

Oh, am I in the kitchen tool room? I will get some water and well, as long as I am here.................. thank goodness, it is still hanging, yes, gently moving in the breeze, oh, good, there is mama..........oh, no, it is beginning to sprinkle, only light drops, nest is okay.

In fact, oh look, I am in the kitchen tool room right now. How did that happen?

I may as well have a quick look.

Wait!! That does not look like the mother to me! Maybe it is just the viewing angle, but this bird looks fatter and squatter than the real mama. Could this be a nest robber? Could it be the father? The aunt? Or maybe the fat old grandma ma?

I just looked back at the other pictures of the mama. This just does not look like her. I am going to go have a look outside.

And you are coming with me.

Watch your step, we are going into a danger zone. I should have a hard hat for you but I don't.

That bougainvillea will try and get you, it has sharp thorns. Just duck your head.


we are going down to the ladder, to the next to the last window.........

........................under the orange blooming fuegos.

the nest is just to the left of the ladder, the old fatty has flown off, you have to hold the ladder for me.....................

shhhhhh, there it is! it looks like a walking bird, with pointy eyes, and breasts, long legs and bird hair flowing down its back.

okay, i am up on the ladder..............

...................and i see two little birds, are they alive?

...............omg, eyes are opened, that made me jump!.

okay they are alive and well, no fatty nest robbers, that must have been the mama or a good relative.

you can go back to sleep little guys, we are leaving.

We are going to research this...............only the mama cares for them, no daddies, no grandma mas, and no nest robber hummingbirds. They are hatched after two to three weeks and will leave the nest after two to three weeks. I think they are about a week old. So we have some time to keep watching them. Did you see their fluffy down? It is just below their heads, on the right.

After Friday's heavy rain I thought about putting an umbrella out there, up in the trees and then I also thought, I really better not mess with this. What if the wind knocks the umbrella down onto the nest and the nest falls on the ground and the little birds die? I worried about them all night.

But did you see how tightly they are jammed into that nest? I don't think any water could possibly fit in there. And during Sunday's chipichipi, I saw mama on the nest, with her winds spread. I guess that is all the protection they need.

When I am not watching my nest, I am glued to Weather Underground, trying to figure out what the problem is. Reports are that there is too much dry air out there. Well, even I can figure that out, if it weren't dry, for crying out loud, it would be wet. The Sonoran monsoon season does not peak until the end of next month, according to other reports, so there is still time. Part of the reason we live here year round is the summer storms, so we will hope for a weather change.

Tomorrow I will tell you about the event we went to last Saturday and show you what I came home with. I promise to take a break from all this mother heningbirding I am doing...............