Hummingbird Nests

Hello to all! Just wanted to add another post to my blog, and wanted to continue along with my Hummingbird line.

I always thought this was an interesting bit of information about Hummingbirds that I learned while working at South Coast Botanic Gardens. There was a tour guide named Eric Brooks, who worked there and was also a bird watcher. He taught me a lot about birds and especially Hummingbirds, and he also provided me with my first Hummingbird feeders to put up and attract the Hummers to the area where I worked.

Eric showed me a Hummingbird nest one day and pointed out to me how the nest had been 'decorated', or perhaps 'camouflaged' might be a better word to use. You can see from the photograph all the little bits of materials that are stuck onto the outside of the nest. The Hummers use materials that are locally available to put around the nest so it will 'blend in' with the surroundings. Most commonly available materials for them to use are lichens, mosses and bits of leaves. However, on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where South Coast Botanic Gardens is located, it is a rather affluent neighborhood with a rural flare to it and horses are very much the norm. Horses mean stables and horse trails, and stables and horse trails lead to wooden structures, so City codes were established that all wooden structures had to be painted white which made the neighborhoods look nice and clean. This also meant that one of the most available materials in the area were flecks of white paint, and sure enough, the Hummingbird nest Eric showed me was decorated with flecks of white paint all around the outside of the nest! What opportunists these hummingbirds are!

I'd like to thank Cindy McNatt for allowing me to use the Hummingbird photograph above. Cindy is the Garden editor of the Orange County Register and also publishes a daily blog called Dirt du Jour. Although we have never met personally or spoken on the phone, I feel we have become friends through her articles and blogs and many emails sent back and forth. Cindy is also the one who encouraged me to start this blog!

Have a great day!

Ron, the Plant Man