By human standards, the
Circle of Life can be cruel. I fear the baby hummingbirds met an untimely end sometime Friday (3/22).
At 9:20am I photographed what appeared to be one of the baby hummers sitting in the nest in its standard "bill up" position.
I returned to the nest later in the afternoon and photographed the mother hummer making three trips to what appeared to be an empty nest. In this sequence, taken at 2:05 pm, you can see the mother hummer poking her head deep inside the nest. Normally she would not have to do this, as the babies would raise their heads up to meet her bill and be fed.
She took off......
Leaving behind what looked like an empty nest.
Throughout the afternoon she remained near the nest and chased off birds which got too close, including a back-capped chickadee and a golden-crowned sparrow. I think the babies were too young to have fledged and may have been eaten by a predator.... most likely another bird.
Fortunately, Anna's hummingbirds are not an endangered species in my area. As spring has just begun and there are plenty of males in the vicinity, this female may once again mate, build another nest, and raise a second pair of offspring this year. Anna's have been known to "double clutch",
i.e., the female may produce and raise two broods during the normal nesting season. Our local Anna's do not migrate, so unlike local migratory species such as the osprey, there is no pressure for the juvies to develop and be ready for a long journey south before next autumn.
