Flurry of Flights at the Floss Silk Tree

The other day at the San Diego Botanic Garden, I spotted at least four different female hummers gathering nest materials. It is nesting season for the Hummingbirds and the nest building is done at an urgent pace.

Walking by the huge Floss Silk Tree in the South American plant display area, near the small pond by the waterfall, I spotted this cute female Allen's Hummingbird on a nearby branch. She soon flies to the open seed pod that is hanging from the Floss silk tree and proceeds to pluck the fuzzy cotton-like fibers.

Here is a photo of the seed pod of the Floss Silk Tree, Ceilba (Chorisia) speciosa.  It measures about 8 inches and has black bean sized seeds surrounded by fibrous, silky , cotton-like mass that is used as stuffing for pillows and mattresses. This female Allen's hummer is busy getting a beak full to take back to her nest.

The hummer dives into the fluffy mass grabbing the cottony fibers in a plucking motion.

When she gets a beak full, she goes to her nest and uses it to pad the walls of her nest bowl. She will keep the outer wall all in place with lots of sticky spider webbing... lining the inside nest walls with soft cottony fibers from seed pods like this Floss Silk Tree and other cottony plant material, even her own feathers. The nest builders visit the spider's web flying up to it with their beak open and secure it on their beak and chest and bring it back to the nest where they press their chest onto the outer nest wall. They also use their beak and tongue to secure the spider web to the nest much like a weaver... tucking webbing here and there. The spider webs will act like spandex and will stretch as the hatchlings grow. To decorate the outside of the nest, she may use bits of leaf, bark, flower parts, moss, lichen, her own feathers and any other material she finds for camouflage to blend in with the surroundings and all heald in place by the wonderful sticky spider webs.

Another stab at the fuzzy fruit ball of the Floss Silk Tree. There is a flurry of wings all around the tree. You can feel the urgency of the females building their nests.

Stabbing the beak into the fuzzy seed pod she gathers as much as possible in a grabbing motion. A female hummingbird will spend several hours a day for five to seven days building her nest. Sometimes she may start a second nest and choose one that she feels best to use.

Got a beak full and ready to go back to her nest. A hummingbird nest may be located from three feet from the ground all the way up to sixty feet high. Nest may be near their feeding ground or can be located up to half a mile away.

As soon as one hummer leaves another is there in an instant gathering more of the silky fibers.

A close-up look at the hard-working intense hummer gathering her nest material. As soon as a female breeds with a male she is on her own to build the nest. And after laying her eggs, she must do all the caring and protecting of the young on her own. The male is not to come near her nest for he attracts too much attention with his bright colors.

As the female works on building her nest, she must be sure to be very secretive on the location of her nest. There are predators such as crows and Scrub Jays that watch and will remember and come back to raid the nest when her babies are worth raiding. I saw a crow nearby and hoped that the females were being very careful in going back to their nest.

The nest building by the hummers is amazing to see. First they gather lots of spider webbing to form a sticky pad on a branch.

After the hummingbird makes a pad of sticky spider web they stick plant material for the base of the next and start to build up the sides of the nest bowl using soft pliable material such as the Floss Silk Tree seed pod fibers. 

Female hummers may make hundreds of trips to gather the nest materials before the nest is completed.

After placing the materials on the nest and building up the walls, the female will lay inside the bowl and use her legs and feet to push her chest against the inside wall to stretch and shape the nest.

The rim of the nest will curve inward to keep the eggs in but the wonderful spider webs that help hold the nest material together is also stretchable and will expand with the size of her nestlings.

When the nest is done she will lay her egg and in one to three days she lays another.

The female will incubate the eggs for the next two weeks.

She sits on her eggs all night and most of the day. She only leaves the nest several times a day to feed herself.

When the eggs hatch, the female will drink as much nectar as possible and grab some insects too and will feed the baby hummers by sticking her beak deep into the throat, much like a feeding tube, into the baby's stomach and pumps her neck muscles to

regurgitate the nectar and insect mix into her hatchlings. After one is full she feeds the other baby and goes back to brooding and keeping them warm and protected. Soon she is off to repeat this procedure.

  

I found one of the nests nearby and it looks like this Allen's hummer female is already incubating!

Another hummingbird female visits the seed pod.

The gathering of the nest material is done at a hectic pace. There are wings everywhere, some gathering, some chasing away competitors.

You can feel the excitement of the coming events.

Most looked quite heavy around the waist.

Some nest materials that escape the hummers beak gets tangles in the nearby branches.

Another look at the nest but this is as close as I can get and do not want to focus my camera on the nest too long for fear of being spotted by a crow or making her nervous. I will be keeping an eye on the nest in the coming weeks.

Heading home I pass this beautiful Mallard lounging by the small pond.

Even though they are one of the most common ducks, they are gorgeous and the metallic plumage is a feast for your eyes.

Going up towards the parking lot I passed the area where I had spotted the Varied Thrush before and sure enough the male was there as usual perched on his favorite coral tree.

A few moments later the female joins him. I hate to leave this beautiful garden with so much excitement going on but it's time for me to go home.

Have a super day everyone.