Feeding Time at a Broad-billed Hummingbird Nest

By Dan Weisz

Broad-billed Hummingbird adult and nestling, all photos by Dan Weisz

A friend introduced me to her friends who had a hummingbird nest on their porch. They graciously invited me over to get a look at their little family. You can see that the mother hummingbird has orange at the base of her bill and a white stripe behind her eye. That tells us this is a female Broad-billed Hummingbird. The male Broad-bills have nothing to do with nest building, and don’t care for the eggs or the hatchlings. It’s all Mom’s job. Two little bills stretch up waiting for Mom to begin.
 

The hummingbird began her job. She will vary her feedings so that each hatchling gets food. At this stage, the little birds need protein to grow quickly and to develop strong bones and beaks. Mom is feeding them a slurry she regurgitates that is made from many insects she has eaten. At about 2.5 weeks after hatching, Mom will add nectar to the slurry diet she offers.
 

Five days later I returned. This little hummingbird looks so much bigger now and has real feathers on its body. Its bill is still very short. I placed the camera in a different spot, still at a distance, and then seated myself even further from the camera and the nest. From this angle, you can only see one of the little ones. The hatchlings and I both waited for Mom to return….

…and waited. I’m pretty certain that when this little bird looked at me, it was thinking “what’s taking her so long?"

As if on cue, Mom returned. The nestling has an open beak, hungry for food.

Mom positions herself for landing. When the birds were younger, she could perch on the edge of the nest. At this time, she is choosing a perch outside of the nest. Those two little birds take up the entire nest plus some! FYI, because the nest is in deep shade, the colors of the hummingbirds are somewhat muted with the available lighting.



Ready for the delivery, Mom lands and immediately looks down the wide-open throat of one nestling. Breakfast is served!

Hummingbirds feed their young with an approach that appears similar to sword swallowing. When the chicks are young, Mom is more gentle but as they grow, her food delivery comes in stronger thrusts. This closeup gives you a sense of the food in her bill being deposited in her chick’s throat.

In between feedings, the Mom might stick her tongue out. Perhaps she is just cleaning it or getting it in the right shape for more feeding.

 
The next day I learned that the big chick left the nest. Although it “felt” a few days too young, apparently it gave it a try. I heard that it spent several days in a nearby olive tree being dutifully fed by its mother. Mom also continued to feed the second chick for another 4-5 days until that one was ready to fledge (leave the nest).

Dan Weisz is a native Tucsonan and retired educator who enjoys birding, being in nature, and taking photographs.