hummingbird nest

This has been the year of baby bird sightings for me – this nest is in a potted ficus tree at an apartment building in Alameda, CA. I wasn’t able to ID the type of hummingbird, but very fun to see them so close. Taken on 7/1, the babies were very still, except for the occasional tired drooping of their eyelids as they lapsed in and out of sleep. The scene looked like someone set an island cocktail in a tree, their beaks sticking straight up in the air like straws coming out of a coconut shell drinking vessel …

The survival of this nest is amazing as it was very exposed and only four feet off the ground – in a potted tree in a parking lot. There was roof construction on the building next to it so there were shingles and other random debris flying down all over the place around it. Yet another species that has somehow found a way to adapt to city living. Maybe I can learn something.