At the Desert Museum in Tucson Arizona there is an aviary with at least five species of hummingbirds. We visited it in May and I could have stayed there for days!
Broad Bill Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbird
Black Chinned Hummingbird
Costas Hummingbird (I think)
Rufous Hummingbird
The thing that thrilled me the most was that there were two hummingbird nests! What good timing. I have always wanted to see a nest but when they are the size of a golf ball it is nearly impossible to find one in the wild.
Can you see a glimpse of the tiny egg?
The eggs are the size of a jelly bean and when they hatch the babies are the size of a raisin!
I read that in the early days of the Desert Museum Aviary the hummingbirds were having a hard time making nests. The nests were loose and often failed. A "keeper" realized that the new clean facility was missing a key ingredient for a healthy nest, spider webs! So she collected webs on sticks and left them in the aviary. She also collected spiders and left them in there too. Before long the hummingbirds were making more efficient nests and hatching baby hummingbirds!
Click on the photo above to see more images...
When we forced ourselves to leave the aviary we stepped out of the building and there in the plants was a wild hummingbird! So we stalked it and got what I think was the best photos of the day.
If you are ever in Southern Arizona a visit to the Desert Museum is a must. Not just for the Hummingbird Aviary but that is a highlight for sure!