Wednesday, September 14, 2005

hummingbird nest

This morning we got an email on the all-work email list that someone had brought in a hummingbird nest, and it was available in the library for public viewing. So...being the nerds that we are, several of us went to see it. It was SO COOL. It was probably 2 inches across or so, a perfect little cup stuck onto a tree branch. I wish I had had my camera, but I didn't as...you know. Don't normally bring my camera to work. Not that much of a dork.

Instead I found this cool website that shows daily photographs of the goings-on inside a hummingbird nest, from the time the eggs are laid until the chicks leave the nest. The nest pictured here is a lot more fluffy than the one we saw here, which was almost like a cup molded out of mud and lichen and tree bark. I read somewhere that hummingbirds use spider webs as 'glue' in their nest building and that they mould the sides of the nest between their body and their wings (like, in their armpit, if a hummer had an armpit).

We only have ruby-throats here, but I would like to see some out west or in Mexico or something where they have a lot more varieties around.

3 comments:

Melissa Greenfield said...

Ok first, you need to enable the word verification on this little blog you got going here because as much as I want to read UNUSUAL stuff about dental insurance, I don't come to your site to find it. :)

Second, way cool about the bird nests. They make them so tidy.

Melissa Greenfield said...

Yea now that the two "anonymous" solicitor comments are gone, I look like some crazy chic making up things.

Neat! :)

Lisa said...

yeah, i wasn't going to say it? but you're totally crazy AND making things up.