Ink and watercolor on Arches paper, 10×8″ drawn from actual nest
To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes
I’ve been watching some little brown birds make a nest under my neighbor’s eaves the past few days and this morning I pointed it out to them. It was fun to see the smiles on the little kids’ faces. Then they showed me this hummingbird’s nest that they found in a tree they were trimming last week.
Yessie, their little girl, had brought it to school for sharing but since their house is very tiny, with no room for anything extra, they’d just put the nest in their recycling bin. It was nicely packaged in a thin plastic container with holes that originally held 4 pounds of red table grapes–just the right size for the little branches and nest to fit into. They were happy to give the it to me and I will treasure it.
The nest is a marvel of engineering, only 1 1/2 ” (3.5 cm) in diameter. The inside is wonderfully padded with what looks like dryer lint and a few downy feathers. The outside is made of tiny pieces of moss and lichen. I can’t tell how they attached it to the branches but it’s firmly attached. It looks so cozy I wish I had one my size to curl up in.
Here’s a photo of a similar hummingbird nest with babies in it and a link to a site about hummers.
Jana Bouc, Artist 
24 replies on “Hummingbird nest”
Oh, how wonderfully delicate – what a treasure – I can’t imagine a house with no room for even a humming bird nest!
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OH MY GOSH!! SO SO TINY!! and beautifully beautifully done, Jana! I can’t imagine FINDING such a tiny treasure! What a gift!
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Wow, I just love the colours you’ve painted it with, lovely illustration! Bird’s nests are so cute, I’d treasure it too. Seems to be amazingly well made and cosy!
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Beautiful drawing again, Jana.
Isn’t there just so much perfection in imperfection…we should take our cue more from nature.
Ronell
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I love the nest you’ve managed to capture on paper. You’ve chosen some lovely colors to describe the nest, branch and leaves. What a wonderful find you came across. Lovely job.
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This is wonderful – and reminds me of when I was growing up. We used to watch a hummingbird couple move in to my mother’s hanging planter – every year the couple (or perhaps a new couple) would choose the location, build their tiny nest, lay their tiny, tiny eggs, and soon tiny, tiny little babies would appear. I have to say, mama hummingbirds are so fierce when they percieve a threat, and my own mother taught us to respect their space (“dont’ use the back door, you’ll upset the family!”).
Thank you for the art and memories! Cheers!
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Lovely delicate sketch, Jana, and thanks also for the description and photo. How cute and cosy it looks!
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Thank you for this post, I really enjoyed it. Your painting is great, and it was a wonderful idea to include a photo. I’ve never seen a hummingbird’s nest, but now I’d recognize one.
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Jana, what a lovely painting and story. You make me wish I had a nest too!
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Stunning and graceful, lovely colors. I’ve come back several times to look at this again and again.
I have the same “What?” reaction to learning sweatshirts are now hoodies. made me laugh to read it on your blog! Rachel
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Oh wow! I’ve never seen live hummongbirds… I’m not even sure they are native here in UK – but how wonderful to see a nest of them. ( We do have a mama and papa Robin in the garden doing their thing, though!) jules.
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What a cool thing! And a great sketch of it. We have hummingbirds, but I’ve never seen a nest. Never even thought of it really, but of course they have them. Lovely.
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What a lovely rendering of springtime at its best, and a link too – I have hummers visit and they are such a marvel.
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I love your colours (and your use of watercolours). You somehow manage to make them strong and delicate at the same time.
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Lovely sketch. It’s very delicate and gentle.
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Beautiful sketch, Jana. It’s so amazing to see an actual hummingbird’s nest—you can imagine them born in midair, midflight. It’s kind of nice to see they, too, have downtime.
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Once again, Jana, you’ve nailed a great watercolour! And isn’t that nest beautiful. We have Sunbirds who construct a nest that resembles a sock which lost a battle with a washing machine! But they are amazingly tough and the parent birds do a splendid job.The chicks fledge in no time at all and next thing we know, batch #2 is being incubated in the nest.
I have an old, fallen nest which I try to draw…need more practice!
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beautiful watercolor jana. I love hummingbird nests. They are so amazing. Your study is great.
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Precious…so delicate. Lovely!
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Stunning painting. The colours are wonderful. And the nest itself as well as being a marvel of engineering is also really beautiful. Amazing.
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OMG OMG OMG! I absolutely loved this, it’s sooooo adorable! I think that is great what you did even though there wasn’t anything i would look for but it beautiful!!!!
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wow there soo liltte
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This is really beautiful. The nest actually looks soft inside the way you painted it. Lovely work 🙂
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I found a humming bird fledgeling yesterday. it was cold and shivering on the stone pathway. so i picked it and warmed it in my palm. it seemed to get better and i took it home with me. then it flew in my room and i was so happy that it was fine. i didnt know what to do with it. i’d rather have birds and animals in their natural habitat so i called the rehab. the lady asked me to go put it back. so i did. i placed the tiny thing on a lower branch and moved away hoping its parents would come get him. But no one came. Then out of no where he flew, very well…around a tree near by and disappered in the leaves. i went to see it this morning. it was not there. I hope it found its way home. 🙂
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