Your Complete Hummingbird Nests Guide

Ever wondered what a hummingbird nest looks like? Or how you’d find one in the wild? The beautiful, small birds make equally intriguing and tiny nests in some of the most unusual places. The following guide will help you identify the nests, where you could go spot them, and what hummingbird nests are made of.

Places Hummingbird Nests are Built

Vulnerable, tiny birds, hummingbirds are extremely picky about where they build their nests. This pickiness allows them to find safer spots for their young to develop and prepare for life in a world harsh to tiny things. Ruby-throated hummingbirds and a few others have more easily adapted to urban and suburban nesting grounds, but most will seek rural shelter more often than not for safety reasons.

Urban and suburban hummingbirds will most likely build on wires and ropes against walls, in plant hangers and under deciduous trees near water. Tiny branches in shrubs and saplings also make for good nesting grounds, as long as they have solid forks. Female hummers particularly prefer poplar, hackberry, and oak trees, when they can find them.

You may also find hummingbirds nesting on or in:

• Clotheslines
• Slender cables
• Tops of porch lamps
• Inside porch lamps or lamppost boxes
• Atop garden decorations
• Atop or inside windchimes
• On ceiling sprinklers
• Atop small pipes
• On security cameras
• Atop cacti

Materials Found in a Hummingbird Nest

Hummingbirds require soft, flexible nests for their eggs and fledglings. They use a wide range of materials to create these. They start with things like twigs and firm leaves to create the bases. Then, hummingbird mothers add in soft mosses, lichens, fluffy plant foliage and fibers, spider web silk and similarly soft, pliable materials to create soft nests.

How Big Are Hummingbird Nests?

Most hummingbird nests only measure about one inch in diameter. The species of each bird, however, could determine slight size variances, with some building deeper, longer, or wider nests than others. The materials they find for making their nests also determines the size overall.

How Do Hummingbirds Build Their Nests?

Females of most hummingbird species spend up to a week building their nests. They use soft, fluffy materials over that time, building first a firm foundation, then adding softer materials to soften the nest. Often, things like spider silk and fluffy plant foliage and flowers may be used for the lining. They start the nests by tucking in the foundational materials in spots like crevices and cracks, branch forks, and on hanging wires with solid backs (like house walls). Then, they add the soft materials as they continue building.

How to Attract Hummingbird Nest Building in Your Backyard

While you can attract many other bird species to take up residence with nesting boxes, most hummingbirds don’t use these human-made options. Instead, you’ll find a number of options can help attract them to your yard, while avoiding others things can help keep them coming back.

• Maintain clean, sanitary hummingbird feeders. Dirty feeders attract pests and bacteria which run off hummingbirds.
• Provide hummingbirds with a water source they can easily access.
• Skip the red dye in your hummingbird food. Instead, make clear liquid and provide it in brightly colored feeders instead.
• Maintain healthy, native flowering plants that produce nectar. These will draw the little hummers in.
• Avoid chemicals like fungicides and pesticides which can harm hummingbirds.
• Provide hummingbirds with forked branches, whether real or artificial, where they can safely build their nests. When possible, shelter these with leafy overhangs.
• Add soft plants that produce fuzzy textures in flowers and foliage like lamb’s ear and ornamental grasses. Hummers love these for building their nests.
• Skip the loud music and noise and rambunctious kids out of control on their own in the backyard.
• Provide as natural a yard as possible, skipping all the artificial decorations that could take over the place of natural, native plants.

What Do the Nests Look Like?

Nests vary in looks, based on the species. The most common species on the eastern half of the United States (ruby-throated hummingbird), for example, builds a lichen covered, downward slanting nest. The Black-chinned hummer, however, builds a cup-shaped nest with inward curving rims.

Different Hummingbird Nest Types

Different species of hummingbirds build different nests and have different nesting habits. To most easily identify the species of nest you spot, knowing the species in your area is helpful. But you can use the following information to determine which are which by species.

• Black-chinned hummingbirds make deep cup-shaped nests with rims that often curve inward.
• Anna’s hummingbird females build a platform as early as December then builds up the nest around the eggs as they incubate.
• Broad-tailed hummingbirds are one of the rare exceptions to returning to the same nest year after year. So, if you see a hummingbird nest being reused, it’s likely a broad-tailed hummer nest.
• Blue-throated hummingbirds often build their nests in or around cabins and on electrical wires.
• Broad-billed hummers build loosely constructed nests on clotheslines and wires.
• Costa’s hummingbirds build as many as six nests in a 100-foot radius.
• Calliope hummingbirds build two, three, or four nests on top of each other, often attached to pinecones.
• Rufous hummers are fierce around their nests, driving away larger birds from the areas where they build.
• Rivoli’s hummingbirds build the largest and highest nests of all North American hummingbird species nests.
• Female ruby-throated hummingbirds build the nests, often attaching them with spider silk to small branches or twigs. The nests typically slant downward, and the outside is covered in green-gray lichen. They often feed one clutch in a nest while caring for eggs in a second nest.

Do Hummingbirds Reuse Nests?

Hummingbirds do not return to the same nests year after year or even from one season to the next. The nests stretch out as the babies mature and the nests become unusable. Each new clutch requires a new nest.

When Do Hummingbirds Build Their Nests?

Both location and species of hummingbird determine when and where they build their nests. Most migratory species build their nests in springtime once they’ve reached their breeding grounds. Once they move southward again, new nests are built where they winter.

How Do You Find a Hummingbird Nest?

Being so tiny, these nests are fairly difficult to spot. They’re well-hidden and intentionally camouflaged to keep the babies safe within. If you want to spot one, though, you’ll want to look for thin, forked branches in short trees and dense shrubs. A few species also build their nests high in trees, well out of reach.

If you spot an oddly shaped knot between small branches, you could well be looking at a hummingbird nest. If you choose to look closer, be sure to keep a safe distance from the nest and, instead, look for an adult hummingbird nearby.

You may also be able to spot a nest and find it by following a female hummingbird’s flight path. Be sure to keep away, though, as it is illegal to disturb a hummingbird nest.

How Many Eggs Do Hummingbirds Lay?

Tucked into these tiny nests, you could spot two hummingbird eggs about the size of Jelly Belly jelly beans. Depending on the species of hummer, these could be laid once or twice per year. Most females lay two eggs each year, though, incubating these tiny eggs for between 15 and 18 days across most species. After the babies hatch, they fledge anywhere from 18 to 28 days later.

How Many Eggs Do Hummingbirds Lay?

Tucked into these tiny nests, you could spot two hummingbird eggs about the size of Jelly Belly jelly beans. Depending on the species of hummer, these could be laid once or twice per year. Most females lay two eggs each year, though, incubating these tiny eggs for between 15 and 18 days across most species. After the babies hatch, they fledge anywhere from 18 to 28 days later.