AN UNHAPPY ENDING

Our little hummingbird was doing well, growing every day and filling up the nest.  We checked the nest several times a day to see how it was doing but on Sunday afternoon, the nest was empty.  The baby hummer was too young to leave the nest by itself and the nest looked like something had been plucking at the lining.  A closer inspection revealed that the unhatched egg had been broken open so we figured that a predator took the baby and destroyed the egg.  So sad.

The mother kept coming back to the nest for the rest of that day but eventually gave up.  I wonder if birds have any thoughts or emotions.  Probably not as the term “bird brain” indicates otherwise.  So now we’re empty nesters but we certainly enjoyed seeing the hummingbird nesting process.