jhoneil_bird_pictures

02/26/2026

Almost ready to fledge! Mama Anna’s Hummingbird with her chicks.

The female alone builds a tiny, golf-ball-sized nest from plant fibers bound with spider silk and camouflaged with lichen, allowing it to stretch as the chicks grow. She lays two white eggs and incubates them for about two weeks. When the chicks hatch, they are blind, featherless, and completely dependent on her; she feeds them a rich mixture of nectar and tiny insects by regurgitation. Within about three weeks, the rapidly growing young develop full feathers and leave the nest, not returning afterward. In favorable conditions, a female may raise multiple broods in a year, making Anna’s one of the most adaptable and successful hummingbirds along the West Coast.

02/26/2026

The mother anna’s hummingbird hovers at the lichen-encrusted nest, her wings moving at a high frequency that appears as a blur to the naked eye. She approaches the two chicks, who respond by extending their necks and opening their beaks. Using a precise, repetitive motion, the female regurgitates a high-protein mixture of nectar and small insects directly into the chicks’ throats to support their rapid metabolic needs. This foraging and feeding cycle continues throughout the daylight hours. Within approximately three weeks, the offspring will have developed sufficient plumage and muscle mass to begin fledging from the nest.

02/26/2026

In barely three weeks, the nest that once seemed roomy now feels tight. The spider silk has stretched as promised. One morning, after testing their wings in trembling bursts, the young rise into the air for the first time. They do not return to the nest. It remains behind—an empty cup woven with patience—while the garden fills with the faint electric hum of new wings learning the sky.

02/25/2026

Yawn.

02/25/2026

Neotropic Cormorant

02/20/2026