It's best to purchase material from a nature store such as Wild Birds Unlimited. Household items such as yarn, string and dryer lint are not suitable for bird nests. Yarn and string can catch on tiny feet. Dryer lint holds moisture, and when it does dry out, it becomes hard and crumbly. It can also contain human hair, which acts like string to trap the birds in the nest.
Female hummingbirds build the nest, sit on the eggs and care for the chicks without assistance from the male. And this hard-working mother has four or five clutches a season. She typically lays two eggs per clutch, though not all eggs are viable and many chicks do not survive. The eggs hatch within 16-18 days. The babies fledge approximately 21-28 days from the date of hatching.
Please comment if you've already seen a nest this season.
Happy Birding!
J.J.
We are watching a mother hummingbird build her nest, at eye level, in a bush near our patio. It is almost ready to have eggs laid in it. In the past, we have had many nests, only to lose the babies to crows! So sad to see. We are hoping that the crows will not find the babies this time. Carrie in Laguna Niguel on 2/6
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