Greg, How easy is it for you to go back and get more info on the next egg, incubation, etc.? Or maybe directions to the particular 5th floor waiting room?

Phil

pmattocks at kvalley.com

---- OriginalMessage ----
From: "Greg Pluth" <gjpluth at gmail.com>
To: "tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sun, Feb 19, 2017, 02:11 AM
Subject: [Tweeters] hummer lay


Hello Tweets -

I had occasion this past Friday to note a female Anna's egg-laying.

Gazing out from a fifth floor waiting room at GroupHealth Capitol Hill, Seattle, I gleefully discovered an active humming bird nest in a nearby tree down at third floor level! In the course of five minutes I watched my feathered attraction return to the same perch three times. My attraction became suspect of more when I noticed a bit of a knob at the spot of the perch. A Nest!

It was about 10:50am. Within seven minutes I'd fetched with my binoculars from my car. I watched her sit a minute or so between a handful of flights. Another woman in the waiting area enjoyed the show with me. We had a steep angle of view down to the nest so when vacant it was easy to tell the nest was empty. In the binoculars the finished nest was a ring of sage green lichens, a bit of fuzz on one side. She would come and go, and so, after a while, I just settled into a Sudoku.

Her doctor's appointment complete, I told my friend I had a surprise. She is a budding birder and has never seen a hummingbird nest. I handed her the binoculars, instructing where to look. She looked and I looked again - and even with the naked eye we could see a white spot not seen before in the nest. Between 11:05 and 11:25 an egg had been laid! A more intimate birding experience for me, for sure!

I began to wonder about the time of day and all the flying forays in the forty minutes preceding. Do hummers commonly lay late morning? Could the prior coming and going in many short trips be more than simply feeding? I will do some research, but any feedback regarding these issues would be appreciated.

Greg Pluth

University Place, WA