The Bella Hummingbird Nest camera is located in La Verne, California, and toggles between the nest and a feeder cam. The owner of the cameras has enjoyed watching female hummingbirds nest and raise their offspring in their ficus tree since about 2005. They set up a webcam and began broadcasting in 2012.
The camera’s namesake, Bella, is a female Allen’s Hummingbird and continues to nest in the tree through this day, according to BellaHummingbird.com.
Where do Allen’s Hummingbirds live?
Allen’s Hummingbirds live in brushy canyons, gardens, and parks along the Pacific coast of the U.S. and Mexico. Allen’s Hummingbird is one of two common nesting species of hummingbird in northern California gardens, National Audubon’s website explains. The other is Anna’s Hummingbird.
What is the habitat of Allen’s Hummingbirds?
The habitat of Allen’s Hummingbird changes depending on the time of year.
The species breeds in semi-open areas, such as streamside groves, wooded suburbs, and city parks, the National Audubon’s website says. After breeding male, and female birds separate; males head to more open areas and females look for covered areas to build nests, AllAboutBirds.org says.
Migrant Allen’s Hummingbirds in Mexico live in oak-pine forests and scrubby clearings with flowers.
Where do Allen’s Hummingbirds nest?
Female Allen’s Hummingbirds build nests about one inch in length in trees and shrubs. The bird sticks spiderwebs and downy from willows and sunflowers together for the inner part of the nest and weaves grass, moss, leaves, and lichen for the outer part. It takes between one and two weeks for the bird to finish building each nest.
Allen’s Hummingbirds usually have 1-3 broods a year. They will build new tests on top of old ones or use materials from an old nest to build in a new location.
The incubation period for the eggs is two to three weeks, and the newborn birds will remain in the nest for 22-25 days.
What is the range of Allen’s Hummingbirds?
The range of Allen’s Hummingbird goes as far north as the southern part of Oregon during the breeding season, which starts in early spring. For the winter, the birds migrate south to Mexico.
Populations of Allen’s Hummingbird live year-round on the Channel Islands and in Southern California, according to AllAboutBirds.org.
Visit eBird.org to see real-time locations of Allen’s Hummingbird sightings.
What do Allen’s Hummingbirds eat?
Allen’s Hummingbirds mostly eat insects and nectar. They’ll also visit feeders that offer sugar-water mixtures.
The hummingbirds favor red tubular flowers like penstemon, red monkey-flower, and red columbine, National Audubon’s website says. The birds will hover and extend their bill deep into the flower to reach the nectar.
The species catches insects in flight or by hovering at plants. It will also eat spiders or insects caught in spiderwebs.
What’s the best hummingbird feeder?
The best type of hummingbird feeder is one that visiting hummingbirds can empty every one or two days and that is easy to clean, as AllAboutBirds.org explains. Bacteria and mold grow on sugar water, so hummingbird feeders need to be cleaned out every few days and more so in hot weather. The fill hole should be large enough to fit a bottle brush in, and you should be able to scrub every crevice.
Hummingbirds can be very territorial, so using more feeders with fewer ports is often better than one feeder with many ports.
Visit AllAboutBirds.org to learn more tips for feeding hummingbirds.
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