It’s mighty unvigilant to single out a single bird type and declare them the weightier mom ever. Right?
But let’s just see how strong a specimen can be made that hummingbirds are indeed the weightier bird moms ever!
First and foremost, mother hummingbirds have to deal with the worst bird fathers ever. Her mate will play veritably no role in helping her to build the nest, incubate the eggs or feed the young. He’s not only an absentee father, he can moreover be a bully that makes her life increasingly difficult every time she comes to the nectar feeder. The odds are stacked versus her right from the start!
Typically, birds that migrate long distances only produce one muse per year, but not the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Being the sole parent, you would think one nesting would be enough, but no, she takes the nonflexible road and will typically have two broods each summer.
Each of these nestings will take well-nigh 45 days from the start of nest construction to the time her youngsters leave the nest. And then she starts it all over again. This three month, non-stop transferral to her next generation is truly amazing! And amazingly successful! Despite raising her family alone, sexuality Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have one of the highest nesting success rates of any Neotropical bird that migrants to North America.
Besides all of the nonflexible work, flipside factor in this successful nesting rate is the precision and superintendency that a mother hummingbird puts into the construction of her highly unemphatic nest. It takes well-nigh a week for her to build a walnut-sized nest. She makes hundreds of trips to collect unbearable plant down, spider webs and lichens to finish it. Then she fills the completed nest with two of the world’s smallest eggs…about the size of small blueberries. But plane with these tiny eggs, mom (weighing in at a miniscule 1/10 of an ounce) only weighs well-nigh 8 times increasingly than each of the eggs she lays. A feat unto itself!
Need we go on? It’s time to declare hummingbirds as the weightier bird moms ever! And it is time to make sure to share the wonder, awe and joy of hummingbirds in your own yard with your own weightier mom this Mother’s Day, too!
To hear increasingly well-nigh the weightier bird moms ever, be sure to trammels out the Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Centered Podcast episode, “Hummingbirds: It’s All Well-nigh Mom!” Hosts John and Brian will share increasingly facts and stories well-nigh wondrous hummingbird mothers.
The post Hummingbirds: The Weightier Bird Mom Ever! appeared first on Wild Birds Unlimited.
