How Do Hummingbirds Make a Nest?

Ever notice a pregnant woman bustling around her house, trying to make everything just right before her baby arrives? She's nesting. This is what the female hummingbird does while preparing to lay her eggs. She scouts out a safe location for her nest, gathers materials and designs a weather-resistant home to keep her eggs safe.

  1. Finding a Nest Site

    • The female hummingbird searches for the perfect location and builds the nest. According to the website for the Registry of Nature Habitats, a female hummingbird's first concern in finding a nest site is the temperature. Hummingbird eggs are sensitive, and if the nest gets hotter than 96 degrees Fahrenheit, they will die. The mother hummingbird looks for a sheltered spot in a tree or bush to protect her babies from windstorms, predators and sunlight. Often, female hummingbirds will test the strength of a branch by landing on it multiple times.

    Time

    • It takes a female hummingbird five to seven days to build a nest. Female hummingbirds normally work on a nest for four hours a day, making about 34 trips an hour to gather nest materials.

    Materials

    • Hummingbird nests are made from a variety of materials. The female hummingbird gathers lichen, moss, willows, lint, leaf hairs, cotton fluff and soft plant pieces. The hummingbird uses spiderwebs to glue the material together. Using spiderwebs ensures the nest has some give as the baby hummingbirds grow. The hummingbird uses seeds, plant pieces and small sticks in the outer layer of the nest, so it blends in with the tree or bush. By strategically placing the lighter parts of the nest in the sun and the darker in the shade, she makes sure the nest doesn't stand out in its surroundings.

    Building the Nest

    • To create the base of the nest, the mother hummingbird tucks her nest materials into the fork of tree or bush branches. Using her body and chin, she presses the spiderwebs and soft materials together, shaping the nest. Finally, she'll sit inside the nest, pressing her wing against the curve, and she also uses her bottom and feet to mold the nest walls. She makes the nest bottom sturdier by stomping on it. The wind side and bottom of the nest are generally thicker to protect baby hummingbirds from the elements. The thinner sides of the nest keep the babies cool when the weather is hotter by allowing air to flow through the nest. When building a nest in the spring, the female hummingbird will make it deeper than she would in the summer.

    Reusing Nests

    • Not all hummingbird species reuse their nests. Nests may be destroyed during the winter, and some species build new nests each year. Mother hummingbirds have been observed using an old nest as a base for a new nest. Others build more than one nest simultaneously, only to choose one nest and abandon the others. A couple days after the chicks fledge, a different mother will sometimes take over the same nest.