I feel very fortunate that I have a Black-chinned Hummingbird nesting in a pinon tree in my back yard. I have been watching for several weeks now. There are two chicks growing very quickly. I am trying to take a couple photos every few days. My photography seems to bother mom less than when I move the sprinklers around to water the flowers in that section of the yard. I do avoid watering the nest. Mom hummer will be happy I water that area in the end since that garden is full of hummingbird mint. My dog wandering under the nest causes more reaction than my taking photos. I know some contributors on this site have indicated displeasure with photographing nest sites. I am wondering if there is any real danger to the mom and chicks if I don't seem to be disturbing them with the photography any more than other normal backyard activities.
I have seen one interesting behavior. Many parent birds have to remove what I call poop packages (I think they are actually called fecal sacs) from the nest on a regular basis. I watched one of these hummingbird babies raise it bottom and squirt out of the nest. The nest is built perfectly for this and since hummingbird moms do all the baby raising by themselves, it is one less thing they have to deal with.
Cool images, Sally. I think backyard birds are birds that have become accustomed to human activity to one extent or another, or they wouldn't be in the back yard. My wife has maintained, and I find myself agreeing, that a number of species that used to shun more populated areas are actually beginning to adapt to the presence of man-as long as the habitat is suitable otherwise.
There have been a couple of studies in the last year or two on birds learning to recognize individuals, and I suspect it is true of most species. We have a large number of swallow boxes, and they don't mind our presence at all, even though the tee swallows in particular tend to be rather defensive around their nests.
I'm one of those people who is uncomfortable with nest photography, but I do occasionally photograph nests.
The safest action for any nest is to stay away from it. But I know how difficult that can be. So, pay attention to how the adult birds are reacting and back off if your presence is keeping an adult from nest duties and feeding of young. Over time you can indeed acclimate birds to your close approach. A danger you will want to avoid is acclimating any bird to close human approach where you cannot control who else might follow your example and get too close or actually intend to harm the birds.
From your description it sounds like you essentially control the nest since it is in your yard, and you've acclimated the adult to your activities.
What you don't want to do it ant case is "grown" the setting to make it easier for photography, as this can also expose the nest to the elements and to predation.
Discussion
4 repliesI have seen one interesting behavior. Many parent birds have to remove what I call poop packages (I think they are actually called fecal sacs) from the nest on a regular basis. I watched one of these hummingbird babies raise it bottom and squirt out of the nest. The nest is built perfectly for this and since hummingbird moms do all the baby raising by themselves, it is one less thing they have to deal with.
There have been a couple of studies in the last year or two on birds learning to recognize individuals, and I suspect it is true of most species. We have a large number of swallow boxes, and they don't mind our presence at all, even though the tee swallows in particular tend to be rather defensive around their nests.
The safest action for any nest is to stay away from it. But I know how difficult that can be. So, pay attention to how the adult birds are reacting and back off if your presence is keeping an adult from nest duties and feeding of young. Over time you can indeed acclimate birds to your close approach. A danger you will want to avoid is acclimating any bird to close human approach where you cannot control who else might follow your example and get too close or actually intend to harm the birds.
From your description it sounds like you essentially control the nest since it is in your yard, and you've acclimated the adult to your activities.
What you don't want to do it ant case is "grown" the setting to make it easier for photography, as this can also expose the nest to the elements and to predation.