Fledgling number two out of the nest and flying around the garden

A few hours after I observed fledgling number two testing its wings while sitting on the edge of the nest (see video in previous post), I checked the nest again, since it was early evening.

The nest was empty!

As I stood in the spot from where I always checked the nest, a little hidden by a low hanging redwood tree branch, about 9 feet away from the nest, a hummingbird suddenly flew in front of me and hovered close to my face, then it flew to the side of me, and hovered again. It then flew up onto a redwood branch.

At first I thought it was the hummingbird mama.

But no, it was fledgling number two.

I guess it came to greet me.

Here it is, up on a redwood branch.

Then it flew up to a very high branch of the fig tree (image at the top of this page).

Suddenly mama appeared to feed it.

She will continue to feed her fledglings, as needed for the next week or two.

They will chirp somewhere in a tree or shrub in the garden, and she will recognize the chirp, locate them and feed them.

I consider it a gift from nature and felt it a privilege to have had this experience.

It really was pure coincidence that I discovered the nest because it is well- camouflaged and can only be viewed from one direction.

We always kept our distance so that neither the mama hummingbird nor her babies would get stressed.

And now the nest is empty, but somewhere in the garden are two new pollinators.