Midas the Hummingbird

Midas has made a nest in our teeny tree in the backyard.  The tree is right next to our back porch. We could pluck this bird out of his nest without even bending over, that's how close he is to the porch.  We first noticed the nest a couple of weeks ago.  It looked like this:

You can see bits of feathers and string in there.  Two days later it looked like this:

So much fluff!

He wasn't spending much time in the nest at this point.  But on occasion he could be spotted bouncing up and down in the nest, as if to mold it to his plump little rump.  I can just imagine how proud he must be, waiting for a female ruby-throated hummingbird to happen by and spot him doing his rump bump dance.

I took this close up shot yesterday.  He is so used to us passing by now that he doesn't fly away.  I got my camera within one foot of him and he barely flinched!

Zoom:

Of course it's possible that this is now the wife sitting on some eggs!

We haven't had much nesting in Wellington's yard over the years, but that's because we had our darling Hugo.  We miss her every day.  But Midas doesn't.

**UPDATE**

I think it's safe to say that that last picture was not of Midas, but of Mindy.  Because when I was coming in from the gym this morning, she flew off the nest and over to a nearby tree where she preened herself in the sun.  I took the opportunity to snap a picture of what can only be EGGS.  No worries, though.  She was soon right back on those eggs.

I'll keep you all posted while we wait for the pitter patter of baby hummingbird feet.

**UPDATE #2**

Apparently it's the female Ruby Throated Hummingbird that builds the nest.  So this was Mindy all along.  The Dot found out when she looked up the incubation time of hummingbird eggs.  It's two to three weeks.  And then another two to three weeks until they leave the nest so if all goes well we should have a hummingbird in residence for five or six more weeks!  I hope she doesn't mind if we still call her Midas.  After all Hugo was a girl and she didn't mind.

**UPDATE #3**

Her name is actually Bluebell.  And Midas is still in the picture, too.  Today, February 19, the eggs hatched.  It's hard to tell, but this is a picture of at least one baby hummingbird.

Bluebell still sits on the nest.  And we haven't seen her feed the bird(s) yet.  But we'll keep an eyeball out.