The Life of a Female Hummingbird (2010)

"In the third week of May, the ruby-throat chooses a site for her nest. Typically it’s out near the tip of a long horizontal tree branch 15 to 20 feet above the ground. The construction of a hummingbird nest is amazing. First she carefully gathers scraps of spiderweb to form a sticky pad on a branch. To this she’ll affix a flat pad of plant down before building up the sides of the nest with more of the same soft, pliable materials. It may take her hundreds of trips over a week or more to gather what she needs and press it into place. As a finishing touch, she’ll select tiny flakes of lichen to camouflage the outside of the miraculous little cup. After the nest is done, she lays a tiny egg and soon begins incubating it. One to three days later, she lays a second one. For the next two weeks or so, she will sit on them all night and most of the day, leaving the nest several times a day to feed herself. When the eggs hatch, our already industrious little bird turns into a dynamo. The ruby-throat visits flowers, drinking as much nectar as she can gather and swallowing tiny insects as well. Then she returns to the nest and sticks her bill deep into the throat of a baby, pumping her neck muscles as she regurgitates the nectar mix into its stomach. Then she feeds the other baby. If it’s chilly, she may sit on top of the young for a minute to brood them and warm them up. Then she’s off again. It requires an exhausting effort to get enough food for herself and both of her young..." From "The Life of a Female Hummingbird" by Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman published in Birds & Blooms.