Apr 1
A lot has happened.
Flower’s chicks, Wind and Rain fledged! It was very slow. Wind fledged yesterday about 5 pm and stayed around the nest. http://youtu.be/dLfgB1paNf8 Wind flew off to the plum tree for a while, http://youtu.be/rsbA7R6ZDOs http://youtu.be/_lg050wbhSM then came back and spent the night in the nest back with Rain. Probably telling tall tales to Rain about the adventures he’d had that day.
The next morning, Wind went off again after a feeding by Flower but Rain couldn’t quite get out of the nest. http://youtu.be/PSd5KR-sqS0 I came home later in the afternoon and saw and heard a bird tussle in the yard. http://youtu.be/IX-YhebWiAA I feared the worst and braced myself as I saw a small bird, maybe a wren, speed out of the yard. When I got close to the area, Rain was lying in the grass, wings akimbo. It looks like I came just in the nick of time. I picked Rain up and put her back in the nest. http://youtu.be/Lwk8fuAS1cs She fussed a bit, but soon settled back in. I decided to keep a close eye in case the bird came back, but it didn’t. I watched Rain via the webcam and stayed close so I could jump in if need be. And it’s a good thing I did. Rain tried to fly again, but her feathers are really not very full and it appears as she may have suffered from cold and a lack of bugs during her life so far. http://youtu.be/phxV1MSfq0E That’s not surprising as she hatched on February 17th during a terrible wind and rain storm. Most of their early life was spent hunkered under their mothers butt as she hung on for dear life while winds toppled trees. They are a testament to excellence in design, but bugs were hard to come by during those storms so I think they still suffer the effects of those days.
I was able to get Rain to hop onto my finger and I placed her gently back near the nest. I was afraid that she could only fly down so I stuck around. Luckily, after monitoring her for several hours and after leaving her in the grass for about 20 minutes, http://youtu.be/saviva3Jyew she flew up to the garden bench and into the bush behind it. She has been fed several times by flower and will probably stay in the bush overnight. Wind has been flying from plum tree to feeder and getting fed by Flower in between. Wind has been exploring the yard and is doing quite well. I have a lovely photo of Flower feeding Wind while the sun sinks low among flower tops and leaves.
Hummingbird feet are naturally clenched, so that when they sleep, they clamp to their perch or nest. But because of this, if you have to pick up a hummingbird chick, you should pick up whatever it is that they have grabbed onto. Don’t try to pull the bird free if you feel resistance when you try to lift it because that could injure their little feet. With one hand, try to pick up whatever they have grabbed onto and use the other hand as a cover to contain their wings close to their bodies with a gentle grip. It’s usually a blade of grass or a small twig but it’s easier to do that then to pull them free from their reflex grip.
Here are some videos of Rain getting fed by Flower after she fledged. http://youtu.be/LNsVPVqNq9E http://youtu.be/3lQCm6uiNFQ http://youtu.be/y3BsvA1WU9g http://youtu.be/s8EQRkzEfXI