Few buildings in nature exceed nests in their potential for comfort and warmth. These treetop houses are built with love and care to raise your babies.
But a mama hummingbird took love and dedication to the next level, and it was all immortalized in a beautiful series of photos. In particular, she found quite a clever way to make your place even more welcoming.
Conservationist Bianca Caroline Soares, who calls herself “Daughter of the Forest” on Instagram, is no stranger to seeing hummingbird nests on branches in the jungle near his home, in Alto Paraná, Paraguay.
But during a walk last spring, he saw a nest unlike any he had seen before. “I saw five hummingbird nests that day, but this was the most ingenious”Soares told The Dodo. Needless to say, she was impressed.
Thanks to the shade provided by that leafy “roof”, this hummingbird’s house was the best in the neighborhood, and it turned out to be a great place to start a family. In the weeks and months that followed that first sighting, Soares continued to visit the clever bird’s nest, observing the little family. “I had two baby hummingbirds,” Soares said.
And on the hottest days, those babies surely benefited from their mother’s clever planning. Soares said he hopes little mom’s careful planning inspire people to take better care of nature.
The hummingbird’s foresight certainly helped her little family. Over time, all of her babies grew strong enough to go off on their own, and may have taken an important lesson on how to build a cozy and functional nest.
The intelligence of hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are extremely intelligent creatures. In fact, they are some of the most intelligent birds in nature, with larger brains compared to their body size than any other bird.
Several studies have shown that they are capable of recognizing each flower in their territory and even the migration routes. Combined with the natural ability of birds to be exceptional fathers and mothers, we have a recipe for innovative and unusual parenting techniques.
They are also an important part of the ecosystem as they play a great role in pollination. without hummingbirds, some flowering species in the world may become extinct.
There are 338 species of hummingbirds known in the wild, according to the Humminbird Society. But unfortunately they face serious conservation threats. Due to their size, they are very vulnerable to hazards such as being crushed under human feet, extreme weather conditions, predation by bees, wasps, cats, and other larger animals, habitat loss, and invasive plants.
Many of the species on the list are threatened, and losing them all could be more catastrophic for the environment than we think.
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