What most people get to see during the hummingbird season are the adult hummers. It may be quite rare to spot babies hummingbirds especially the ones that just hatched from their eggs. Do you ever wonder what baby hummingbirds does look like? We will describe and show you what they look like in this post.
During hummingbird season, they will migrate north to their breeding grounds in the Southern United States. They do this during spring. Hummingbirds commence their life cycle with an egg. When the female hummers breed with the male, they proceed to nest and laying eggs.
Getting to experience hummingbird nests and lay their eggs is also a fascinating scene to watch. In this post, we will be looking at what does baby hummingbirds look like and discuss some interesting facts about them and many more. So, continue reading to gain some knowledge.
Baby Hummingbird
Many of us only get to witness hummingbirds at their adult stage. This is mainly because baby hummingbirds look so small that we may miss seeing them in their early stage of life. However, getting to experience these shimmering birds at their early stage of life is a beauty to behold.
Let’s dive in further to get to know some facts about baby hummers.
Baby Hummingbird Facts
Amongst all the birds known, hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world. There are over 350 species of hummingbirds.
The newborns of hummingbirds are born so tiny and they hatch from eggs laid by female adult hummers.
The female hummingbirds only hatch two eggs during their breeding period. But each egg is laid a day after each other. Even with the difference in egg-laying period, both eggs will hatch at the same time. The mother knows how to make this happen.
The egg can take from 14 to 21 days to incubate and hatch. However, it may take a bit longer during colder climates.
The mother hummingbird protects the eggs by laying over them and giving them warmth while preventing overheating. Unlike other types of birds that share incubation responsibilities between males and females, the female hummingbirds are majorly on their own.
Hummingbirds are the only birds capable of flying or hovering backward. They can as well hover in the mid-air, fly sideways as well as flying upside down.
What Does Baby Hummingbirds Look Like?
Once the female hummers mate with their fellow male hummers, the eggs begin to develop in the female’s body. The eggs will take about 24 to 30 hours to begin developing in the female’s body. Once they are laid, the eggs start to incubate and hatch.
When the newborns’ hatch, they are black in color and don’t have any feathers or hair. Hence, they are born blind and naked and their eyes are closed when they are born. The babies will grow and develop in about a month and about 3 weeks; they are already capable of flying.
Their feet look so tiny and fragile that they aren’t capable of standing. Hence, they totally rely on their mother for food, water, and shelter.
How Big Are Baby Hummingbirds?
Baby hummers are not big as they are born so tiny and are about the size of a penny. Their egg can weigh about 0.62 grams and they are about half-inch long. The eggs are oblong in shape and their size can as well be compared to a jelly bean.
Once the new baby hummers are born or hatch out of their eggs, they will require body temperature regulation. This is because they can regulate their body temperature themselves because of a lack of feathers and hair. Hence, their mother will provide some warmth by spending most of her time on the nest. The mother will spend about 8 to 12 days doing this.
How Do Baby Hummers Develop?
The babies of hummingbirds will develop rapidly and in just about a few days, they would have developed almost double their size.
In about a week to ten days, their beaks begin to turn darker. They will now be covered in fuzzy, prickly small feathers. At this point, they can now work out how to regulate their body temperature. Hence, the mother doesn’t require spending too much time on her nest.
Once they are two weeks old, their real feathers begin to grow and their beaks are much longer now. When it’s about 3 weeks, they will begin beating or flapping their wings in practice. They do this wing-flapping practice by gripping their feet at the bottom of the nest. This way, they don’t accidentally fall off and when they do, this is when you might find one of them on the ground.
Then in a couple of days, they can begin to fly and the mother hummingbirds will show her brood where and how to find food. Once the offspring can be on their own, the mother chases them out of her territory. So they are now ready to journey their way as adult hummingbirds.
How Do Baby Hummingbird Feed?
Baby hummers can’t live off a diet of nectar as their adult would because they will not develop well with nectar. They require optimal protein diet provision so they can grow well and fast.
The hummingbird mothers feed their babies 3 times hourly. The mother finds insects and nectar and uses her long beak to disgorge it down the throat of her babies. The hummingbird babies always know when their mother is coming to feed them. Hence, they will lift their heads ready to receive their food.
What Does Baby Hummingbirds Look Like: Final Say
Baby hummers are born naked generally without feathers or hair. They are hatched from their mothers’ egg and will take from 3 weeks to a month for the babies to be developed to remain on their own.
We do hope we’ve been able to answer the question of what does baby hummingbirds look like and you’ve been properly enlightened.
Read more about Are Hummingbirds In Florida Year-Round?