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The Book
The Book of the Hummingbirds is available as a print copy or digital download via Lulu.com.Printing time is approximately 3-5 days. The book is 33 pages, loaded with full-color photos of hummingbirds, both on the nest and off.
The Story
Below is a version of the story told in the book. The book goes into more specifics at some points and presents larger images with a great deal more visual detail, such as individual spider web strands visible as a component of the nest.
These photos started on July 9th, with this photo of the mother hummingbird on her nest:
On July 29th, I went back to check the nest again:
Then, a week later, on August 4th, I found out that the babies had hatched, so I checked in again. I got these photos:
Notice how small the babies are. Tiny little beaks, rest of face and body not even visible. The next photos I have of them are only eight days later. We'll get to those in a moment.
Fast forward to August 12th. I knew the babies would be bigger, but I didn't realized they'd be *this* much bigger. These ones are nearly adult sized, in only eight days. Here are the babies by themselves:
Notice the spotted necks on these birds. That's one of the markers of a juvenile. Full adult ruby-throated hummingbirds either have a bare neck (females) or bright red (males). Juveniles can have these spotted necks.
Here are two more photos, these of the momma feeding her baby:
On August 13th, I returned again to discover that one of the babies had fledged. That left the one lone hummingbird, still being fed by its mom:
I didn't make it over on the 14th, but I did manage to swing by on the 15th.
I missed the last baby leaving the nest by about an hour.
But they were still hanging out. I managed to get these photos (and the one in the intro) of them feeding near the house. I think the first three are of the mother and the last is of one of the babies. It's possible that I'm mistaking the mother for one of the babies, but I think that's a full adult there.
So that's it. A nest from laying to hatching to flying off into the distance.
Additional Resources
Other relevant Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Links: