In the mid-80's Dr. Marguerite Baumgartner told me that she was banding
hummingbirds in Oklahoma in summer. She had a special permit and had grad
students working with her. I asked how they found nests, and she said that
she had the grad students watch the hummingbird feeders. When they saw a
hummingbird make repeated and consistent flights in one direction, they
would watch until the hummingbird went out of sight. Then go to that spot,
wait for the bird to return, follow it, wait, go on, and eventually they
would find the nest.
Some of you may remember Marguerite, an ornithologist who was a visiting
lecturer at UW Stevens Point in the late 60's, while her husband, Fred
Baumgartner, taught in the Dept. of Conservation. I met them at a WSO
Convention in Door County. They retired to Oklahoma, and authored the book
Oklahoma Bird Life, 1992.
More information on Marguerite at
http://www.hcgsks.org/harcodatabase/showmedia.php?&mediaID=55901&page=290
and Fred at
https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v114n03/p0500-p0500.pd
f
Barbara Duerksen
Richland County
-----Original Message-----
From: wisbirdn-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wisbirdn-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Kathi Johnson Rock
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2016 12:48 AM
To: Mory Jahangir; Michael Rock
Cc: loonp@xxxxxxxxxxx; wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [wisb] Re: Hummingbird
It is extremely difficult to locate a Ruby-throated nest as they tend to
nest in forested areas far away from their feeding sites and are very
secretive. If we lived in California, it would be very easy to find and
follow an Anna's hummingbird nest until the babies fledge.
Some friends of ours were walking and birding in a Madison park several
years ago. By chance, they happened to see a female hummingbird fly into a
tree and through a lot of patience and careful observation, they were able
to determine that she was building a nest. In fact, they sent us an
excellent photo where she is on the nest and has a piece of plant material
in her bill to add to the nest. We use this photo in our educational
program about hummingbirds today.
Because we have so many sources of nectar in our yard (flowers and feeders)
and also have many squirrels (squirrels love to eat bird eggs), we think
that hummingbirds would never choose to nest in our yard. During June, we
see the females come in for an extremely quick feeding---usually around 12
noon or around dusk---and then fly towards one of the nearby parks---there
is no humanly possible way we could be fast enough to follow one of these
nesting females to see her on the nest. Additionally, we tend to see many
male hummingbirds in our yard and the females specifically build their nests
away from where the male hummingbirds feed as males could be threat to the
female's territory during nesting (remember, the male hummingbird is a
"deadbeat dad" and after conception he plays absolutely no part in the
feeding and raising of the young---his only role is to mate with as many
females as possible.)
One of our colleagues on The Hummingbird Forum who lives in Wisconsin was
visiting a relative who lives on a lake in Northern Wisconsin. They
happened to see a female hummingbird fly into a spruce tree and discovered
that she was building a nest there. People might find this thread to be of
interest:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/439743/thread/1463850828/last-1464294419/Watc
hing+RT+building+nest%21
Finding a hummingbird nest is a very challenging task and requires sheer
luck and patience and careful observation with a good camera in hand and
maybe a digiscope so you can really see what's going on since the bird and
the nest are so very small (the bird is the size of your thumb and the nest
is the diameter of a walnut shell!) You obviously must be looking at the
right time of the season as well (right about now---note that the female
bird builds the nest before she mates with the male.)
Last year a hummingbird attracting friend of ours who lives in the city of
Appleton had a neighbor who cut down a branch that was hanging over their
driveway. After the branch was taken down, they discovered that there was a
hummingbird nest with two baby hummingbirds in it!! They were able to prop
the large branch up nearby and the two baby hummingbirds were successfully
fed by the mother hummingbird and fledged. Sometimes establishing a
hummingbird garden brings an unexpected surprise and opportunity!
We would love to find a Ruby-throated hummingbird nest someday and hope that
others will also be successful.
I wish I had an easy answer to your question. I hope this is a little
helpful!
Kathi and Michael Rock
Madison, Dane County
On Thu, May 26, 2016 at 7:55 PM, Mory Jahangir <mory.jahangir@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Please post publicly, since I also have been trying to this for years.
Thanks,
Mory Jahangir
La Crosse
On Thursday, May 26, 2016, K Petersen <loonp@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Is there any good way to track a hummingbird from a feeder back to
the nest?
Kurt Petersen
Sheboygan County
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