03.03.2020 Frances is Nesting!
I’d been keeping my eye on the nest.
It had shrunk and withered since last spring, but it was still there. I’d noticed hummingbirds back in the neighborhood, and hadn’t seen any live action on the porch… but it looked a little different.
2/20/2020 - first signs of action in the nest
On February 20th, I started watching more closely.
Last year, we first saw the the nest on April 2nd. We still had some time.
I wasn’t sure if I was just REALLY wishing she’d come back, or if those feathers and some of that greener moss was new. I was pretty sure something was picking around in there.
By March 3rd, she was definitely back!
She was busy fluffing things up and adding new moss, feathers, lichen and fuzz.
3/3/2020 - she’s rebuilding!
The pictures are deceiving, guys. This thing is TINY. The nest lives in the bottom of my heart. For reals. You can read more about the magic of it showing up last year here. Watching Frances do her thing was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime gift. Or so I thought!
I’m SO EXCITED she felt our porch was a safe spot to come back to this year.
She must not mind my camera too much. I like to think she’s excited to share her parenting tips and tricks with all of us.
I love sitting on the porch and watching her zip back and forth from the nest to all the places she’s gathering her goodies. She pulls tufts of moss and bits of lichen from the tall branches of giant Oak tree on the corner.
She darts through shrubs and comes back with a face-full of spider webs to seal each layer together. Her nest is actually quite squishy and stretchy! It’s like a cozy little spandex pouch for her babies to snuggle in. It stretches with them as they grow.
She rests in our crooked parking-strip tree and surveys the neighborhood between trips while preening and sunning herself. She’s got lots to say to any other hummingbirds who dare come too close … she promptly tells them to GET OFF HER LAWN. She chases them away like a mighty little fighter pilot, diving and darting and chirping stern warnings for everyone to hear.
She perches often in this tree, ready to run anyone off who dares to enter her domain.