ieee nein se be OrNee ba, ell els LIN, 15 
A Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Family 
By Mrs. GRACE E. LIGHTFOOT 
June 4, 1957: This morning my husband, the Reverend LeRoy Lightfoot, 
called me to the big picture window of our home in Harbor Springs, Michi- 
gan. He pointed to a long, thin maple limb 15 feet above the driveway, 
and said: “There’s a hummingbird building a nest right where you can 
observe it while you are washing the dishes.” 
Sure enough! About 380 feet from the window and ten feet from the 
trunk, the busy female hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) already had 
the nest foundation glued on and was adding a superstructure. She had 
chosen an ideal place for our watching, with plenty of sunshine all morning 
and good light in the afternoon. Other work kept us from our vigil at times, 
but guests, relatives and friends (including Dr. R. M. Strong of Chicago) 
came to observe and jot down notes on the pad left by the window. 
June 13: Since early morning the mother hummingbird has been bringing 
nest material and completing the foundation. (Incidentally, we saw nothing 
of the male until the young made their first flight.) The female shaped the 
upper nest to her body while smoothing the outside with her bill. Each 
load looked as large as a pea. At noon she was away for six minutes and 
returned with a load. When it was placed, she sat for two minutes, then 
flashed away. She would place three loads on one side of the nest, then 
three on the other. She never left the nest in the same direction, but would 
fly up, hover, and dash off. There was a huge maple leaf right over the 
nest, and when it rained, she rested under the leaf. 
June 14: The female gathered nectar from the Wood Betony under the nest 
tree. 
June 18: The mother made only one trip to the nest at 7:20 a.m. and again 
at 7:45. We were away for the next two days. 
June 21: The female hummingbird buzzed at our windows and flew off 
like a flash. We could not see that she was on the nest. The next three 
days we saw no work. Then she buzzed our window, but she was not at the 
nest that day. Two days later, the same visit. That same day (June 26), 
two courting White-breasted Nuthatches came to the bird feeding station 
under a nearby maple. Mother hummingbird appeared out of nowhere and 
dive-bombed until the nuthatches retreated over the house. Then we realized 
she was establishing her territory. We thought she had abandoned the nest. 
July 3: At 8:40 a.m. the mother hovered around the feeding station and 
watched from a high perch on a twig. She flew off without going near the 
nest. 
July 7: Two Robins and a Downy Woodpecker ventured too near, and the 
little bird drove all three away. From July 11 to July 14 we watched her 
making trips and definitely working on the nest. On August 4 the Reverend 
Reinhardt Niemann reported that most of the day she was on the nest five 
minutes and off five minutes. For three days we thought she was gone. 
August 9: We were thrilled to see two little mouths open for food. Just 
when the female laid her eggs and when she ever incubated them we never 
