Time To Fly?????

Little did we know our first flying lesson would be today!!!



It started out like any other Sunday...but today was going to be different.
First thing, like most days, we checked in on our adorable little hummingbird babies that we had been watching grow from two minuscule, bald, squirming hatchlings to full grown,overflowing out of the nest, ruby throated hummingbirds. We knew their fledgling time was fast approaching and so we came up with the brilliant idea that we would videotape the momentous event. Just as we focused the video camera on it's tripod to capture the perfect filming angle, we noticed one of the palm frawns next to the nest was definitely in the way of our filming...hmmmm...Simple solution, just move the obtrusive frawn out of the way...OOOPS!!!...you guessed it...as John gently pulled the one frawn down, the other frawn with the nest followed AND then ricocheted forward catapulting our little fledglings right out of their nest!!!! OH MY!!!! Not exactly how they envisioned their first flight, I'm sure. We both stood there, staring in horror at the now empty nest. The older, stronger baby bird, took flight beautifully and flew to a nearby palm tree, the younger one, however, we found clinging for dear life on our sliding screen door. Moments later, she ( I have no idea if it's a she or not) began wildly beating her wings and attempted flight but landed only a few feet away on the ground just below her nest. Now, we were unsure if we should leave this defenseless baby bird on the ground where it would be easy prey for rodents or other predators or try to return it to the safety of it's nest. This was eerily reminiscent of that childrens book I used to read to the girls..."Are you my Mother?" It broke my heart when we then saw the Mama bird return to the empty nest and hover around looking for her babies. A quick check on the internet, reassured us that placing the fledgling back in the nest would be the best solution, provided the one handling the bird wore gloves. I quickly donned a pair of latex gloves and gently returned the baby bird to her nest. Only moments later, the Mama bird returned and once again began feeding her baby. Over the last few hours now we have been watching the Mama bird feeding both the baby in the nest and it's sibling sitting in the palm tree. What a good Mama bird!!! We believe their "flight day" was probably a day or so premature since the baby in the palm tree seems to be anchored there, not really ready to fly off. At the end of the day, both baby birds seem to be doing well but we learned our lesson...it's best not to interfere with nature. We'll keep you posted on our hummingbird saga. Click on the site below to see pictures of our hummingbirds.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sriolo168/OurLittleHummingbirdNest#