Costa's Hummingbird Nests In Ridgecrest, Calif.
The Lady of the Lamp
For TWELVE consecutive years (1993-2004), a Costa's Hummingbird (Calypte costae) had nested in the
bottom of a lamp in my patio. However, in 2005 I moved to a new residence but I did take the lamps with me. I had hoped to
start a new nest streak once I got settled, but alas, I was not able to duplicate the feat.
The picture on the left is of the first nest for 1997. The picture on the right is one the lamps
which is 10 feet from the ground. Ridgecrest is a community in the Mojave Desert and my home is located at
N35.594642 W117.657819 (WGS 84) at an elevation of 2320 feet. Temperatures vary from below freezing in the
winter to well over 100 degrees in the summer. Costa's Hummingbirds are year around residents.
Below is the nesting data from years 1994-2004. Data from 1993 is not available as it was the first
nest and I did not want to disturb the nesting activity. In 1995, this hummingbird successfully produced FOUR broods with the first egg laid on February 7th and the last hatchling fledging on July
23th. Post nest feeding continued into August. Over six months of continuous maternal activity. She was observed to be post nest feeding one brood while sitting on the eggs of the next brood. Whew !!!
Pictured
on the left are the 1997-2 eggs. On May 3, one chick fledged the nest leaving its sibling behind
(pictured right). The second chick fledged the nest in the morning of May 4.
The story with pictures of the fledging event is posted on this link.
2004 Nesting Activity
As I have recommended to others, I left the nest in the lamp from last year. There is always the
possibility that an old nest will be reused or at least used as building material for another nest.
This year was no exception.
I had been checking the nest daily since the end of January. I have had hummingbird nest as
early as the first week of February. It had been raining the last week of February.
On a wet day of February 23rd, I saw a hummer buzzing around the nest. Checked the nest but found nothing.
The next day (February 24th), I checked the nest to find one egg had been laid. I checked the next day
(February 25th) and found a second egg had been laid. For the next two weeks I looked daily in the nest to
monitor the status of the eggs. All was well. Then in the afternoon of March 11th, I discovered that
both eggs had hatched. Both chicks that hatched on the same day also fledged on the same day. The first
one left the nest in the morning of April 2nd; and the second left the nest sometime in the afternoon.
Mother is very busy now post-nest feeding the chicks. Hopefully, I'll have more nests this year.
The picture on the left is the proud mother of the 2004-1 nest.
Nesting Event 2004-1 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 24-Feb
2nd Egg Laid 25-Feb
1st Egg Hatched 11-Mar 16
2nd Egg Hatched 11-Mar 15
1st Chick Fledged 2-Apr 38 22
2nd Chick Fledged 2-Apr 37 22
DSL - Days Since Laid
DSH - Days Since Hatched
2003 Nesting Activity
This year had several early inquiries and fly arounds, one as early as the 15th of January. Had nesting
occurred, it might have been the earliest record for California. It's quite possible that a nest was
built elsewhere but I was not able to locate it. Then activity around the lamps dropped off in March
and I was again wondering if I would get another nest.
Finally, on April 7th I noticed a female buzzing around the lamp that had last year's nest still pretty much
intact. Two days later, on April 9th, she laid her first egg, followed two days later with the second
egg being laid. The first egg hatched April 25th, and the second egg hatched April 27th. Both chicks
successfully fledged the nest and mother was seen post-nest feeding as late as June 2nd.
After Memorial Day, the weather turned hot here in Ridgecrest with temperatures soaring
over 100 degrees. If I could counsel the hummers I would not advise them to start another nest.
Nesting Event 2003-1 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 9-Apr
2nd Egg Laid 11-Apr
1st Egg Hatched 25-Apr 16
2nd Egg Hatched 27-Apr 16
1st Chick Fledged 18-May 39 23
2nd Chick Fledged 18-May 37 21
DSL - Days Since Laid
DSH - Days Since Hatched
As a side note, I had Greater Roadrunners nest in one of my pine trees. The nest was about 20 feet
off the ground and contained four chicks. Very exciting stuff !!!
2002 Nesting Activity
Finally, a nest in the lamp. I was beginning to wonder if I would continue my consecutive nesting
streak of having a nest in the lamp. I have several female Costa's flying about with a couple of
males nearby so the chances were good for a nest lamp. In the latter part of February I found a
nest in a nearby tree so a productive female was in the area. To entice a female to build in the
lamps I gathered up spider silk and globbed it about the patio. Also, I put up an old nest with
the idea of a female either reusing the nest or picking from it to build a new nest.
As it turns out, the latter was the case. On April 24th I noticed a female buzzing around a lamp
and then picking material from the old nest to build her own. Five days later, on April 29th, she
laid her first egg, followed two days later with the second egg being laid. The first egg hatched
in the morning of May 16th, and the second egg hatched in the afternoon of May 17th. Both chicks
successfully fledged the nest and mother was seen post-nest feeding.
Nesting Event 2002-1 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 30-Apr
2nd Egg Laid 2-May
1st Egg Hatched 16-May 16
2nd Egg Hatched 17-May 15
1st Chick Fledged 7-Jun 38 22
2nd Chick Fledged 10-Jun 39 24
DSL - Days Since Laid
DSH - Days Since Hatched
2001 Nesting Activity
The 2001 nesting season did not go very well. A female returned to build a new nest in the
one of the patio lamps. She started building the nest during the week of February 18th. The first egg
was laid on February 21st and the second laid on February 23rd. All seemed to be going well. Then
on Monday, February 26th, I noticed the female was not on the nest that morning. She was not seen
during the day and did not sit on the nest that night. The eggs appeared to be intact. As in 2000,
for whatever reason, she abandoned the nest.
Nesting Event 2001-1
1st Egg Laid 21-Feb
2nd Egg Laid 23-Feb
Nest Abandoned 2/26/2001
2000 Nesting Activity
The 2000 nesting season had it's joys and it's sadness.
The last nest of 1999 remained intact and the female chose to reuse it for her 2000-1
nest. She went on to use the same nest two more times in 2000. The first nest started in early
February with the chicks fledging the nest at the end of the month. At the end of March the
2000-2 nest was started with the chicks fledging in mid-April. The 2000-3 nest started in mid-May.
However, for what ever reason, the eggs failed to hatch and the female abandoned the nest in June.
No other evidence of nesting activity was noted. Nevertheless, four Costa's chicks successfully
left the nests and joined the hummingbird population. Click here for the
complete 2000 nesting activity narrative.
To the left is a picture of the female on the first nest the day after the second egg of 2000
had hatched.
1999 Nesting Activity
To the right is a picture of the nestlings from the second
nest of 1999. It was taken the day before the first chick left the nest.
The first nest for 1999 was discovered in March leaving speculation that she might have had an
earlier nest in February. As it was she had three successful broods giving six new Costa's to the
world. Click here for the complete 1999 nesting activity narrative.
1998 Nesting Activity
The picture on the right is the first Costa's nesting occurrence in my yard for 1998.
Unfortunately, the 1998-1 nest failed. However, the 1998-2, 1998-3 and 1998-4 nests were successful
producing 6 fledglings. The building of fours nests is matched only by the 1995 female which had four successful broods.
Click here for the complete 1998 nesting activity narrative.
I have posted some additional pictures.
Nesting Event 1994-1 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 24-May
2nd Egg Laid 26-May
1st Egg Hatched 8-Jun 15
2nd Egg Hatched 10-Jun 15
1st Chick Fledged 28-Jun 35 20
2nd Chick Fledged 1-Jul 36 21
Nesting Event 1995-1 DSL DSH 1995-2 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 7-Feb 20-Mar
2nd Egg Laid 9-Feb 22-Mar
1st Egg Hatched 23-Feb 16 7-Apr 18
2nd Egg Hatched 24-Feb 15 7-Apr 16
1st Chick Fledged 15-Mar 36 20 30-Apr 41 23
2nd Chick Fledged 16-Mar 35 20 30-Apr 39 23
Nesting Event 1995-3 DSL DSH 1995-4 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 4-May 15-Jun
2nd Egg Laid 6-May 17-Jun
1st Egg Hatched 20-May 16 2-Jul 17
2nd Egg Hatched 21-May 15 2-Jul 15
1st Chick Fledged 10-Jun 37 21 23-Jul 38 21
2nd Chick Fledged 10-Jun 35 20 23-Jul 36 21
Nesting Event 1996-1 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 24-May Eggs Failed to Hatch
2nd Egg Laid 26-May Nest Abandoned 6/12/1996
1st Egg Hatched * *
2nd Egg Hatched * *
1st Chick Fledged * * *
2nd Chick Fledged * * *
Nesting Event 1997-1 DSL DSH 1997-2 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 3-Feb 24-Mar
2nd Egg Laid 5-Feb 26-Mar
1st Egg Hatched 20-Feb 17 9-Apr 16
2nd Egg Hatched 20-Feb 15 9-Apr 14
1st Chick Fledged 16-Mar 41 24 3-May 40 24
2nd Chick Fledged 17-Mar 40 25 4-May 39 25
Nesting Event 1997-3 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 12-May
2nd Egg Laid 14-May
1st Egg Hatched 29-May 17
2nd Egg Hatched Failed to hatch
1st Chick Fledged 19-Jun 38 21
Nesting Event 1998-1 DSL DSH 1998-2 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 4-Feb (estimated) 7-Mar
2nd Egg Laid 6-Feb (estimated) 10-Mar
1st Egg Hatched 20-Feb (failed to survive) 24-Mar 17
2nd Egg Hatched (failed to hatch) 25-Mar 15
1st Chick Fledged * * * 19-Apr 43 26
2nd Chick Fledged * * * 20-Apr 41 26
Nesting Event 1998-3 DSL DSH 1998-4 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 26-Apr 9-Jun
2nd Egg Laid 28-Apr 11-Jun
1st Egg Hatched 12-May 16 24-Jun 15
2nd Egg Hatched 13-May 15 25-Jun 14
1st Chick Fledged 1-Jun 36 20 15-Jul 36 21
2nd Chick Fledged 3-Jun 36 21 15-Jul 34 20
Nesting Event 1999-1 DSL DSH 1999-2 DSL DSH 1999-3 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 2-Mar 22-Apr 4-Jun
2nd Egg Laid 4-Mar 24-Apr 6-Jun
1st Egg Hatched 18-Mar 16 8-May 16 20-Jun 16
2nd Egg Hatched 19-Mar 15 9-May 15 21-Jun 15
1st Chick Fledged 11-Apr 40 24 30-May 38 22 10-Jul 36 20
2nd Chick Fledged 13-Apr 40 25 30-May 36 21 11-Jul 35 20
Nesting Event 2000-1 DSL DSH 2000-2 DSL DSH 2000-3 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 7-Feb 31-Mar 18-May
2nd Egg Laid 10-Feb 2-Apr 20-May
1st Egg Hatched 24-Feb 17 15-Apr 15 * * Eggs Failed to Hatch
2nd Egg Hatched 25-Feb 15 17-Apr 15 * * Nest Abandoned 6/10/2000
1st Chick Fledged 20-Mar 42 25 6-May 36 21 * * *
2nd Chick Fledged 22-Mar 41 26 9-May 37 22 * * *
Nesting Event 2001-1 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 21-Feb
2nd Egg Laid 23-Feb
1st Egg Hatched Nest Abandoned 2/26/2001
2nd Egg Hatched * * *
1st Chick Fledged * * *
2nd Chick Fledged * * *
Nesting Event 2002-1 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 30-Apr
2nd Egg Laid 2-May
1st Egg Hatched 16-May 16
2nd Egg Hatched 17-May 15
1st Chick Fledged 7-Jun 38 22
2nd Chick Fledged 10-Jun 39 24
Nesting Event 2003-1 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 9-Apr
2nd Egg Laid 11-Apr
1st Egg Hatched 25-Apr 16
2nd Egg Hatched 27-Apr 16
1st Chick Fledged 18-May 39 23
2nd Chick Fledged 18-May 37 21
Nesting Event 2004-1 DSL DSH
1st Egg Laid 24-Feb
2nd Egg Laid 25-Feb
1st Egg Hatched 11-Mar 16
2nd Egg Hatched 11-Mar 15
1st Chick Fledged 2-Apr 38 22
2nd Chick Fledged 2-Apr 37 22
DSL - Days Since Laid
DSH - Days Since Hatched
The 1995-3 nest was actually in a nearby cactus
no more than 50 feet away from the lamp nest.
The 1998-1 nest was actually in a tree/scrub.
The nest was abandoned on March 2nd.
Any comments or further questions can be sent to me at:
Rick Hallowell
-Rick Hallowell