A Hummingbird Builds her Nest in our Playground

What an amazing little hummingbird!  While we were busy doing our school work today, she was hard at work building her nest.  By sundown a distinct nest was taking shape and off she flew for a well deserved night’s rest.  I’m sure she’ll be up at the crack of dawn and back to continue her efforts tomorrow.  Be sure to arrive early to school in the morning to see further footage on the computer screen in the walkway.  

It all started when a hovering hummingbird in the playground caught my attention this morning.  On further observation, I saw that it was gathering cotton fluff and wrapping it round one of the branches of an almond tree.  To my excitement she was clearly starting to build a nest.  It’s a Bahama Woodstar, a species regularly found here in the Turks and Caicos. We often see them in the playground feeding on the nectar of flowers and, in the past, a few have chosen to build their nest here.  It always amazes me how they choose to build them right in the middle of a school, usually precariously balanced on a child-height branch.  We have set up a protection area to watch from afar and are filming the nest-building in progress.  It’s all very exciting and the children are thrilled to sit and watch her come and go.  Watch this space for some footage of her at work over the next few days.

Bahama Woodstar are generally green on the top of the body with a brown underbody. The female is rather dowdy and drab whereas the male has that magnificent irridiscent purple throat which shimmers and glints as the sun catches it.

The cup shaped nest is built out of plant fragments and silk from spiders’ webs which are all glued together with her own saliva.  A female hummingbird will usually lay two white eggs which take about two weeks to hatch.  A further three weeks in the nest and then the young are ready to fly.  Let’s hope we can capture her eggs and her young chicks on film over the next few weeks.

Check out this great nature website to learn more about these incredible birds:  ‘Hummingbirds – Magic in the Air’. Unfortunately, you can’t watch the full movie episode on the the site, but you can watch the  mini videos about their babies, their agility and hunting skills.