It was a humid tropical afternoon and I was playing with the children by the creek. One of them said, “Dad, we found a hummingbird nest with a baby in it!”

I followed them down, curious. Sure enough, there was a tiny little fluffy nest hanging precariously on a branch above the stream.

“Watch, dad! The mother will come back.”

I did and a few minutes later she arrived, head turning side to side as if looking for danger.

She stopped and jammed her little beak down into her baby’s mouth and fed his hungry maw.

Then, in a flash, she was gone again.

This was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. I knew that I needed to get the camera and see if I could take some photos.

Though the zoom lens I have is from an old Canon model and makes a lot of noise when I try to film with it, it takes nice photos and I was able to use it for filming by setting the focus precisely on where the nest was and not allowing it to autofocus during filming.

Taking shots of the nest required my hanging up in a tree and shooting down while waiting for the mother to appear.

My leg went numb and the ants got me but I managed to complete my mission and I now have the film to prove it:

Hummingbirds are not only beautiful, they are pollinators.  By allowing lots of space for them to live in by planting plants that deliberately attract them, you’ll bring both beauty and a healthier ecosystem to your homestead.

I wondered for years what hummingbird nests look like and where they raised their babies. I count myself as blessed to have finally found out in person… and to have had a good camera to take some shots with.