For quite some time I've been determined to find a Lucifer Hummingbird nest. After extensive research and fruitless searching, I concluded they must be nesting in Cholla near the top of the talus slope on the mountain above my oasis. Sunday I climbed to one area and found nothing. Today 3 of us climbed a more promising area where my sister had found a hummingbird nesting in a Cholla in early April of 2007. She didn't know what kind of hummer it was and a picture of it wasn't good enough to be certain. However, I've never heard of a Black-chinned (the only other option) nesting in a Cholla, and that's one of Lucifer's favorite places to nest. The climb is arduous, to say the least. We eventually found 2 nests in Chollas, but neither was in use. One was unfinished and old, perhaps early spring, and had an abandoned egg in it. The other appeared to have already fledged its nestlings. This is the old one with the egg. Click on photos to enlarge.
This one looked more recent but appeared stretched from having been full of nestlings. I think I see cotton inside from the supply I put out for birds to use. I even posted photos of a Lucifer collecting some of that cotton (see May 28).
4 comments:
Very interesting; looks like just a part of the cholla! But like curve-billed thrashers, they might need to stay hidden from roadrunners!
Isn't that the truth! I have a feeling there were more nests around but when they're fresh they're so covered with green lichens that they're virtually invisible. When the hummers are through with them, they probably stop camouflaging them. Thanks for your comment, Desert Dweller.
That's amazing--we don't have the Lucifers, so I had not thought about where they'd nest. Where do your Black-chinned hummers nest?
Black-chinneds nest in trees. Most of the Black-chinned nests I've personally found have been in ash trees.
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