When we left our second nest on June 16, our Li’l Mama was sitting on the nest most of the time – day and night. The outside temperatures were rising getting up in the triple digits F most days.
Days 19 thru 21 (June 17-19). These days are spent sitting on the nest with occasional absences to feed – primarily in early morning and late evening.
Days 22 thru 26 (June 20-24). On June 20 (Day 22), things changed drastically. The Li’l Mama was seen feeding which told me at least one chick had hatched. Two days later, I took a peek and sure enough I could see two tiny dark bodies in the nest.
Feedings commenced on June 20 (22 days after nest building began)
June 22. Greatly lightened to show two small bodies in dark interior of nest.
June 22. Li'l Mama sits up higher in nest when temps hit 100F or more.
June 22. She is often seen sitting on the edge of the nest.
On June 24th. we had seen little to no activity so decided to take a look in the nest. Oh my, I could detect no movement in that dark nest. Oh no, I’m thinking maybe the heat got to them and they’re dead. It was up to 106F that day. Well, happy to say I was wrong — what a difference a few hours can make — not only did we spy little bills sticking up, we could see the top of one baby’s head. Yay!!!
June 24, Very early finds the Li'l Mama sitting on the edge of the nest.
June 24. Lightened to show tiny quiet babies in nest. No movement detected.
Later on June 24, we could easily see one baby at only about four days old.
Days 27 thru 34. (June 25 – July 2). Of the eight babies we’ve had since 2009, one of these has got to be the most rambunctious! He was raising himself up and wiggling so much, I feared more than once that he was going to propel himself right out of the nest. Usually we see only bills sticking up until they get fairly well developed. While I don’t want him to fall out of the nest, I will say that it has given us the opportunity to watch that development more closely
June 25. Active baby can be seen surveying his world.
Feeding time on June 25. Chicks about five days old.
Mirror image, June 25. Chicks about five days old.
June 25. Active chick about five days old.
June 26. Li'l Mama is hot. Chicks about six days old.
June 28. Now at about 8 days old, chick appears to be trying to escape from the nest.
June 28. Enlarged to show the beginnings of feathers. Still appears to be blind.
June 28.
June 28. The chick seems to be yelling "Moooom!!!". LOL
June 29. Chicks about 9 days old. All quiet on the home front.
July 2. Chicks about 12 days old. Look he's getting feathers!
Footnote: I am even more convinced that our Li’l Mama is a different and perhaps less experienced bird than the one who built the first three nests. Notice anything different about this nest besides the lack of anchoring spider webs? Well, it has to do with the droppings. Previously, the Mama would start flinging the droppings out of the nest by the sixth or seventh day after the chicks were hatched. This one is not doing this as much. I don’t know what it looks like down in the nest, but the rim is certainly a mess. Aha! maybe that’s why the chick wants to get the heck out of there. LOL
I’ve included this last photo that may or may not be our Li’l Mama Hummer. What tickled me about it is that it reminds me of the fascinating to watch African Black Herons. The Black Heron fans its wings to form an umbrella while feeding. This unique “canopy feeding” position is held for a few seconds as it wiggles its toes to lure fish into the shadows it has created. Kind of looks like our hummer here……LOL
July 2. A Hummer imitating a black heron. LOL
Enjoy!
Darline's space 
Maybe she’s so harried by out of contro youngster, that she just doesn’t have the energy for housekeeping! 😉
I can’t believe how many chicks ‘you’ have successfully raised. This so much fun!
LOL! You are probably right about her not having much energy for housekeeping.
We’ve had eight chicks in the four nests, but as you may recall, we lost one last year. Still don’t know what happened to it. I was gone for a day and a half and when I got home, it was gone without a trace.
I have to laugh at yours and Nancy’s comments about not having time to do the housekeeping. I did notice the very dirty nest but I also couldn’t help but notice, how good you are geting at photographing the nest and the activity going on. You have really excelled in this entry. Maybe having a youngster who is so keen to explore the world, helps in capturing some great images.
Thank you, Sandra. That means a lot coming from a photographer of your caliber. It is certainly a challenge using a point and shoot, having to shoot through glass most of the time, back lighting, trying to get focus on such a small subject, etc., etc. You are correct — I do have great conveniently located subjects. 😉