It has been extremely dry in New Mexico this year. There have been many terrible fires that have caused a great deal of damage. Because of the extreme fire damage, many of the areas that I like to visit to watch and photograph birds and wildlife have been closed to the public. Last weekend, after I visited a local Farmer’s Market, I decided to see if the Rio Grande Nature Center was open. The nature center and the grounds around it were open, although the part that extends into the Rio Grande Bosque was closed. While I was walking around the grounds, I saw quite a few Black-chinned Hummingbirds. One landed on a branch fairly close to me. As I stopped to observe her, I noticed that she had two chicks in a nest near where she landed. The nest was inside a large bush, and the lighting conditions were not the best. However, I was able to take a number of photographs.
Black-chinned Hummingbird chicks.
Black-chinned Hummingbird chicks, another angle.
Waiting for Mom to come back to the nest.
I hoped that if I stayed quietly near the nest, the mother hummingbird would return to feed the chicks. I stood quietly and waited, and she arrived within five minutes.
Mom hummingbird arrives at the nest.
Feeding one of the chicks.
The second chick looks impatient.
The other chick is fed.
An un-cropped photo shows how tiny the nest really is.
Apparently when Mom Hummingbird is not taking care of the chicks she can be found hanging out at the local bar.
Local hummingbird bar.
When I stopped by the Rio Grande Nature Center a little more than a week later, the chicks had fledged and the nest was deserted. I will check back to see if this little hummingbird mom will raise more chicks this year.
Wonderful series!!!!!
What an awesome fine! Great photos!
Thanks Beverly and Steve. It’s so difficult to spot those tiny nests, i was very fortunate to find it.
More great photos, Linda. Considering the low light, I think you did a great job of photographing the tiny tots.
Thanks Bob. I was really pleased to find that tiny nest with chicks in it.
Great photos!
What an awesome post!! Great shots of the little chicks!
Thank you both. It was wonderful to get such a close look at the Mom hummingbird and the chicks!
Oh my goodness! I love this post! How lucky you were to be able to see the baby hummingbirds in the nest … and then to watch the mom feed them. Outstanding! We have Ruby-throated Hummingbirds all over our country property but I have yet to spot a nest. I’m sure it’s tough being a mom to those hungry, needy kids. A trip to the local bar is no doubt very necessary
Awesome post!
Oh yes, this is amazing. We have Ruby-throated hummingbirds here. A nest is very difficult to come across. It is so amazing to see the nest and babies. When we realize that only the female hummingbird is involved in raising the babies , we can only commend her.Thanks so much for this.
Linda: What utterly PRECIOUS captures. These are amazing–I’ve never seen hummingbird wee ones. Thank you!! I want to commiserate with you about the fires–it’s such a tragedy and there have been so many this year.
Thanks Julie, Ruth and Patricia. I can’t even describe how difficult that tiny nest is to see. Don’t know how I managed to do it. I’m sure I walk past them all the time without ever seeing them. Thank you for your very kind comments.
Amazing set of shots! We get ruby throated hummingbirds from June through October at our feeder but I’ve never seen the nest in person. Thank you
Oh, Linda!! What a fantastic treat!! Your pics are just wonderful…I would love to see a nest of Hummingbird chicks! Congratulations!!
Excellent Series on this Hummingbird. What ever you are doing , don’t stop, it’s working.
Aww…great pics Linda.
Thanks David, Cindy, Reid and Lovely Dawn. It was really wonderful to find the hummingbird nest and be able to photograph it.