Empty Nest Syndrome

The baby hums fledged yesterday afternoon. The first one fluttered around the nest and then darted to a nearby eucalyptus tree around 1:15. It's sibling lifted off around a half hour later and disappeared into the trees and foliage on the hill behind our apartment. Mother hum buzzed around the general vicinity for the next hour and visited the nest several times. I haven't seen her in the last 24 hours.

Out of habit, Simone McSkitterson and I periodically peered between the blinds at the patio during the remainder of the day, expecting to see our backyard lodgers. No luck. Toward nightfall, the first baby hum had moved from the eucalyptus tree and disappeared into Bird World.

The nest is empty now. While I'm so very pleased that they matured into "fine young birds" and followed nature's call, I'm very sad as well that they're gone. The baby hums and their mom became a part of my life for around seven weeks.

My neighbors and I have hummingbird feeders and lots of flowering plants on our patios that attract a lot of hummingbirds each year. I hope that our hums will visit in the future. It's a strange but wonderous feeling knowing that, somewhere out there, these little creatures who we watched grow and who shared our space are buzzing around bottlebrush and fushias, living the lives they were born to live.

I'll have a few more baby hum pictures to share in the coming days.