For the Birds: The spiderwebs were deliberate

Hard to get the spider web from toes to nest.
Photo by Jan Hansen

By Diane Hettrick

Remember the charming photos of a hummingbird picking spiderwebs out of her toes?

We thought she had accidentally flown through a web.

Offended hummingbird. Photo by Jan Hansen

She was a little offended at the assumption. 

According to For the Birds columnist Christine Southwick this is a female Anna's Hummingbird, who is in the process of building her nest!

Anna’s Hummingbirds nest starting as early as late December, although as cold as it was I suspect most waited until about now.

The females build a nest for their two small eggs using spider webbing to bind it together and to allow the nest to expand as the nestlings grow.

The whole nest is only about 1 1/2  inches across. 

 

Keep your feeders clean and active and you should see some juveniles in about a month.