Lyra, not to rub it in or anything, but here's pics by someone who did grab their camera and documented a hummingbird family:
http://community-2.webtv.net/Velpics/HUM/

   Cute pics!   I do wish now that I would have taken a few pictures.  I was afraid to bother the nest.  After the first time the mom bird flew out of the pot I just never knew what I might be disturbing.  Birds are pretty skittish as it is, so I didn't want to scare them and make them feel they were in danger.    I was tense just moving the pot that one time so the opening would be faced outward, and put off doing it for as long as possible.  oh well..!  Maybe there will be a next time....

Lyra, not to rub it in or anything, but here's pics by someone who did grab their camera and documented a hummingbird family:
http://community-2.webtv.net/Velpics/HUM/

Maybe one of the kids will return next year to lay their own eggs!

That's what happened here for 2 summers in a row, until this year. However, our seasonal tenants were/are pigeons, a white female and a grey/purplish male. We guessed the sex of each by noticing who was on top & bottom whenever they mated on the roof next door. The white "dove" was always on the bottom. ;LOL: 

First year, they nested on our upper balcony (we have a deck below which we use daily, but the upper balcony is mainly for storage) and had 2 sets of 2 chicks. After that they moved to the next door upper balcony (we are in a semi-detached house), and had another 2 sets of 2. Then for whatever reason, returned to our balcon for a final set of chicks for that summer.

Last summer, they repeated the process. But after 2 summers of cleaning up copious amounts of disgusting pigeon shite, we'd had enuff, and so we evicted the parents, shooed them away each time we saw or heard them; tossed any twigs they gathered for the nest, and had to rearrange the storage boxes on the balcon so that there were no hiding/sheltering spaces; also we let the cat out on the upper deck daily   They got the message, and so made their final nest of the summer at the neighbour's again.

This year they attempted to come back only once. We shooed them again, tossed their twigs, and with no safe spaces, they seemed sufficiently discouraged. A couple of weeks ago we spotted them on the upper balcony of the house next door to our adjoining neighbour. They seemed to be building a nest atop an air conditioner, just below the roof. Don't know if they've been evicted, but I haven't seen them flying overhead on a daily basis, like before.

Another thing, for the first time since we've lived here (over 5 yrs) we've got a stubborn infestation of ants. And we've had mosquitoes on our balcony for the first time as well. Bastards!

So it seems to be a trade-off, either put up with the shit (literally) or the bugs.

Lyra,

Great story. For the birds!  ;lol:

I know, I'm such a dork, I'll stop this nonsense now.     All I can say though is nature's cool....better than TV any day!

Oh, goodie!  Can't wait!

Uh oh, well, you're going to be disappointed..........

They have flown the coop.  !   I swear, yesterday afternoon I grabbed the patio chair, got up and looked in, and the nest was empty save for a lone, unhatched egg that looked a bit trampled.      Explains the frenzied activity over the past week, and the mama bird trying to lure the babies out of the nest.  I noticed how quiet it seemed yesterday on the patio, no ruckus and bird screeching and babies squealing.   So I already suspected they were gone because of that before I even looked.  At this point I can only take a picture of the nest for posterity.   I just can't get over how quick the entire process is from the time they make the nest to the time the babies leave........Not much more than a month.  Incredible.  Sometimes all these little "miracles of nature" really make me ponder how all this came together.  Just the way each critter is seems so perfectly adapted for their enivornment, doing amazing things that even humans can't do.  The butterfly morphing from a crawling catepillar worm looking thing into something else entirely...which flies.   And birds, being able to weave such intricate nests complete with doorway openings and all using only their beak, and selecting clever locations to put them.  Just two of about a bezillion examples.   Darwinists claim "evolution", creationists say God, and I'm just left shaking my head going I don't know, but it's pretty damn amazing!

Any chance of some photos?

Good idea........I'll see if I can get some this afternoon.  The funny part is, I have a camera sitting on the counter top right next to the front door, with film and everything.  Maybe I should use it! 

That's the most uplifting thing I've heard in a long time.

Cool!   

You know, it is actually.  It's really amazing to watch.  Our front door has a window with blinds, so we're able to stand there and watch the birds do their thing in the pot that hangs right there outside the front door.   I've learned through observation that in the late afternoon before sunset the parents work doubletime to gather up food for the babies before the sun goes down.   I mean, they're all over the place, flying to and fro in a frenzy, making repeated feeding trips back and forth.   And what they'll do is perch on top of the nest ball and lean down into the nest to deliver the food, upside down.    !   Which leads to the fact that both parents are involved in rearing the young........amazing!   I see more committment on behalf of that Dad bird then I've seen with some human fathers!!!     I mean, he's involved!   haha   (Well, I'm assuming he's the dad.....he's actually quieter than the other, not as brightly colored, while the other one seems to be more aggressive and "wears the pants." I think in the bird world the moms are more take charge, but I'm not sure...)    I'm still not sure what type of birds these are - they're not robins, chickadees, jays or cardinals.  I've looked in my Audobon Guide but nothing really matches up.  It's just some general looking bird, 5 or so inches long, brownish to browinsh orange colored feathers with a white underbelly.   Very quick and hyper movements, and very loud!   

Oh yes, and one time when both parents were away we peaked into the pot to see the babies....oh my god, too cute!  The head at this stage is disproportionally big to the body, with these big ol' eyes that were staring up at us.  awwww!       Anyway, so this has been my "adventures with birds in pots."   

Yes way! 

The bird that had burst out of the pot was now on top of the patio wall, looking sideways at me.  I called Tom outside and we took the plant down and looked in, and lo and behold.........there's a nest in there!   I don't have any personal experience looking at bird's nests, and I always assumed all of them were bowl shaped.   I mean, that's what they show us as kids....bowl shaped nests.     But this one....it was round, and had a ROOF.   The opening was on the side!   It was nestled in the pot, partially obscured by the ivy plant, and sheltered by the patio overhang.   Talk about clever!  (we didn't touch the nest or anything btw, we just observed.)     And just looking at how this nest was made.....it makes you shake your head and go "How the hell do they DO that????!"   Somehow, someway, this bird can create a huge hollow ball of intricately woven pieces of twigs and whatnot, and even leave a nice little opening on the side!    God, I mean, that's just amazing. 

Tom grabbed a flashlight and we peered inside......there were already 4 little white eggs in there.  !   They don't waste any time!   I had last watered the plant maybe only 6 days before.   And between then and now a bird had scouted the location, built a nest, then plopped out 4 eggs!!   So now I'm like, Uh oh, well alright.  There goes the plant then I guess.   Will sacrifice my plant to give life to 4 little birds.       

So, we hung it back up, and it's been fun to watch the entire process as it goes along.  I researched the life span of birds online, as well as birds nest, just out of curiosity to learn more.   It's amazing.  If you haven't researched it it's worth a look, although it's certainly more fun when you have a nest right outside your front door that you can watch. My cat sits in the window now with a front row seat for all these noisy, busy birds flying to and fro, and she does that involuntary "cat bird chirp" thing.  You cat owners probably know what I'm talking about, it's so cute.  When cats see birds they can't help it, they begin making this chirring, chirping noise.     It's her television......KittyVision.     Every day we can hear the little babies squealing in the nest to be fed.....it actually sounds much like a high pitched electronic noise.   You can see the pot start to move around and swing a bit as the birds fuss about in the nest, it's really cute.   

This morning I noticed that the parent bird seemed to be perched on the patio wall, calling out repeatedly, over and over, while the babies squealed excitedly from the nest.  I laughed about it to myself thinking, what, is she teasing the birds?  haha!  "Who's got the food??  Who's got the food??  Does MOMMY have the food??  Does MOMMY have the food???   Look!!!  It's FOOD!!!"  while the babies go bonkers "FEED US!!!  FEED US!!!  WORMS!!  BUGS!!   SEEDS!!!  FEED FEED FEED!!"   But then I remembered....wait......I read about that online......that's what birds do when they want to begin enticing the babies to leave the nest....they stand outside the nest with the food to try to get them to leave and learn how to fly.  !  ding ding ding.  Lightbulb!  So I decided it was time to switch the pot location with the other ivy plant, because the location is very poor for when the babies begin to fly on their own for the first time.  They're sitting over concrete, and the nest opening faces a tall concrete wall about 8 feet away.    Not good.  If they don't go splat onto the concrete they might fly into the wall instead.   So I swapped it out for the other one which faces out towards the land and woods.   There's even a little tree straight ahead, if the mom wants to perch there to get them to fly.    Much better!   As soon as I did that and went back inside the mom bird was already back in the nest in the new and improved location.

So at any rate, the plant has withered up now and is dead, but, it's teeming with life.  !   Just thought I'd share this story, since to me it's pretty cool.