Earlier this week, we featured Bella Hummingbird’s webcam on our Facebook page, and the crowd went wild! There were lots of questions about her unusual-looking nest, as well as her nestlings, so here’s a little more information about this cool hummingbird from Pam, the cool human who hosts her webcam.

Tell us a little about Bella.

Since 2005 an Allen’s Hummingbird has been making a nest in my ficus tree on my front porch in La Verne, California. We named her Bella. I enjoyed watching her build her nest, lay her eggs and feed her babies until they fledged so much that I decided to set up a Webcam for the whole world to share in this amazing experience. Currently, we are on “Fledge Watch” for the babies in the nest. Hopefully Bella has another clutch in this tree this season. I had 4 clutches last year. Two of them were an Allen’s and then a very young Anna’s had two clutches.

What about her nest? It looks unusual on the webcam.

Bella is using the same nest as she did for her last clutch of eggs. This nest is quite unusual in that it is about 3 times the size of most normal Allen’s Hummingbird nests. Apparently it has weakened and started to fall. Recently, the nest was sitting almost sideways. After consulting with a couple of hummingbird rehab experts, it was decided intervention was necessary for the survival of the babies as they were pretty much hanging on for dear life. I fastened the nest to the branch with pipe cleaners and then used a rubber non-skid material to lift the nest back up and give it support. The nest is completely upright now and the babies are at ease. Bella didn’t mind the “addition” in the least bit.

What do you know about the current nestlings?

These two current babies in the nest are both female. The rehabber who has been advising me has watched the video and confirmed….two little girls. She has also told me that 90% of the time hummingbirds have a male and female (the female being hatched first always). 10% of the time they will have two females. However, they are noticing a trend with the Allen’s having two females more than 10% of the time recently which could account for why we are seeing more of them.

Do you interact with the hummingbirds?

I do not interfere with any aspect of this hummingbird and her babies. Many hummingbirds also visit this tree even with this nesting mother in it. She only chases them away when they get too close to her nest, which is another thing I find unusual about this hummingbird in that they are usually more territorial than that.

I do provide nesting material (cotton/fluff) for the hummingbirds. I have had it hanging in this tree for a few years and all the local hummingbirds use it for their nests. There was a very scary, but touching incident with the cotton and this hummingbird during her last clutch. During the time that the babies were getting close to fledging, we suspected that this hummingbird was pregnant again as she was refurbishing one of the other nests in this tree from the last season. Bella took some of the cotton and went up to her nest where her babies were waiting to be fed. As you can imagine, the babies opened up their beaks at the approach of momma in expectation of being fed. Bella got confused and fed the cotton to one of her babies (we named Corkie). Corkie started to choke on this cotton. The sibling (Merlot) noticed that Corkie was in distress and tried to help pull the cotton out of Corkie’s beak and throat. I know this all sounds quite incredible. I just happened to be recording at the time. You may view this video on my YouTube channel. The action starts about 2:50 in to the video.

Where can readers find out more about Bella?

• Visit Bella’s website to watch the live webcam, see photos, and learn more about her.
• Join Bella’s Facebook page to get updates and ask Pam questions about what you’re seeing.
• Check out Bella’s You Tube Channel to see highlights of the nesting season.

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