This morning we got up and found a little hummingbird building a nest right outside our back sliding glass door. It is in a very precarious spot.... right on a strand of lights that we had up for the wedding last month. I was thinking that we should take those lights down but now they will have to stay until this bird is done with it. How long does it take for hummingbirds to hatch? .......I just looked that up and it takes 16 to 18 days sometimes longer in colder weather. Then it takes another 3 weeks before the birds are ready to leave the nest. The whole process is about 6 weeks. She builds her nest out of plant parts and then collects spider webs to wind around everything and then fills the nest with plant down. Another interesting fact: Females may use the same nest for a second or third clutch within the same breeding season, but there are also records of a female hummer building a second nest while she was still raising chicks in her first nest! Because it is against state and/or federal law to collect and/or possess hummingbird nests in the U.S. and Canada, one should leave any hummingbird nest in place--even after the breeding season is over.......... So I guess the lights will have to stay up until it falls apart. Very interesting.
