Hummingbird Nesting

- Hummingbirds build soft, bowl-shaped nests
- Typically located in trees or shrubs, often built in a fork of branches
- Built out of a variety of materials including moss, lichen, plant down, feathers, and spider silk
- The female builds the nest alone and decorates (or camouflages) the outside with lichen, moss, and bark
- The nest takes 6–10 days to finish and measures about 2 inches across and 1 inch deep
- The female stamps on the base of the nest to stiffen it, but the walls remain pliable, allowing it to stretch as the chicks grow
- Hummingbirds can spend up to seven days building their nests
- The nests are usually well-hidden and camouflaged, often appearing like small knots of wood ... the one in this pictorial is an exception, on top of a lantern hanging from a average height porch ceiling and quite visible
-  After hummingbird babies leave the nest, the fate of the nests varies ... they may be abandoned, reused in future breeding seasons, or something else
- Although the nests are usually hard to find, they are common in southern Arizona