Thanks Dave. Cool. Pete
On 7/19/2017 10:56 PM, Dave Nutter wrote: > Remember that hummingbird nest I mentioned awhile back? I checked it > yesterday afternoon, and the 2 nestlings looked like actual birds. They were > well past the lizard stage with wrinkly round chameleon eyes and serrated > iguana ridges where pinfeathers were forming. They had grown real hummingbird > beaks. One youngster was nicely contoured with a green tint above and a > gray-speckled throat. The other looked a bit scruffier. It had all the > feathers but they were not as open or lying as neatly, and they were more > buff-tipped above. I could still see a bit of sheath on the outermost primary > of that one, but the wings were generally hidden from view due to the upward > viewing angle and the birds' position in the nest. Actually the nestlings > were more on than in the nest for the past several days, and yesterday I > could see a black-clawed pink toe gripping the rim. > > Standing side by side, they took turns exercising their wings behind the > other's back. "Scruffy" was curious, probing the nest with its bill, tasting > nearby leaves (including where they had defecated), and poking its sibling, > not in a mean way, but not random either. "Svelte" looked dignified, and > stayed still more, maybe having already done that exploration. Both tracked a > nearby flying insect with their bills. And when mama alit on the rim they > stretched up, and opened their rather dangerous bills to receive regurgitant > pumped deep inside them through an even more dangerous bill. > > I checked again this morning about 5:45 between taxi calls, but the leaves > were so droopy I couldn't see the nest in the sole sometimes-possible line of > sight. (On Monday I had also looked from the taxi just before a storm. Those > kids had quite a ride with the branch going up & down, but one of the leaves > acted as a wind screen for them.) I checked again today from the taxi at > 11:30am and finally got a view. The rim of the nest was an unbroken line, > although the youngsters haven't been able to hide inside the cup for days. I > got out for a closer look to double check. They were gone off into the wide > world. > > A bit more about this nest. It's on one of several branches drooping down > toward Fall Creek. It's not close enough to the water to be in danger from > flooding, but there are other risks. It's next to a popular fishing spot. > There's line tangled in an adjacent branch, and one time I arrived to find an > angler trying to yank free a line and hook caught in a different adjacent > branch, but shaking everything nearby. I mentioned to the angler that there > was a bird nest in there, and the person packed up and left, perhaps a bit > embarrassed at catching the tree instead of a fish. Meanwhile, I moved to the > one line of sight where I could view the nest, and it still had babies. > Perhaps that event was just another storm to them. Another time when I saw > someone move along the bank right next to the nest to fish, I pointed out the > nest and asked that they be extra careful, and that person obligingly moved a > bit farther away. It's true that the mama chose to nest there despite people > along the path and people fishing and canoeing, so the bird was clearly > somewhat tolerant of humans, but if it was going to get disturbed I didn't > want it to be birders' fault. The mama definitely noticed me when I was > close, so I was only close for limited periods and late in the nesting. > > Anyway, I apologize for not having shared the nest's location, and for being > vague to people on the path who asked what I was looking at. I feared that a > constant stream of birders trying to see and photograph it might be too much. > I made one exception. Melissa Groo, whom you all know as a wonderful > photographer, asked if she could discreetly try her hand, and I thought it > would be good to have high quality documentation, knowing that she would be > very careful. She made several visits despite a busy schedule and the fact > that the nest was frustratingly hard to view among the leaves. I also > documented the progress of the nesting, and my photography got better during > that six weeks. I hope to put together a more complete and illustrated story > which might be worthy of an article in the Cayuga Bird Club newsletter. > > --Dave Nutter > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by AVG. > http://www.avg.com > > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
