A hummingbird nested in a rose bush in my backyard a while ago and started a nest of spider webs that grew and grew. And then there were two eggs in the nest and the hummingbird nestled down for most of the day, almost invisibile unless you knew where to look. Now there are two little hummingbirds nestlings in my tree and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world right now.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
We've had lots of hummingbird nests all over our yard, too, especially in the lantana and bougainvilla, but they love all native flowering plants. When they buzz in place, beating so fast and furious, they sound like giant bumblebees... Yes, it's moments like that, or the eagle that comes to the canyon every year, that remind us of why we moved to L A and don't want to be driven out!
About four weeks ago a hummingbird that I was sure fell out of her nest when she was a hatchling and bounced on her head, began building a nest on a single thin telephone wire outside my den sliding door, forcing me to clean the panes to birdwatch what she was up to.
Obviously, she didn't read my hummingbird book, because she didn't build it forked branch, or in a well-protected area.
An amazing feat of engineering! Enough to put I.M. Pei to shame. The nest didn't wobble on it's precarious hold, nor did the wire sway in the wind.
Late in the afternoon on the third day of nesting I saw her fly to the nest twice, hover over it as if she were inspecting it...then she disappeared...never to return.
Very sad. Had she remained, and if there were eggs in the nest, they would have hatched at the beginning of last week.
I miss her and wonder where she flew off to.
One part of the hummingbird handbook that she might have read, said that sometimes they will build two or three nests before settling on one they're happy with.
Any year now I will climb on a ladder and take the nest down and see if she laid any eggs. If she didn't, why would she have sat there for three days?
I guess they don't call them "bird brains" for nothing. Frankly, I think birds are usually pretty smart, and they can do the one thing we can't do...fly without a plane!
I wish I had a backyard. Backyard envy here.