Twin Beaks -- The Hummingbird Saga Part 3

SUMMARY: Apres Nest

Backfill: Added February 20, 2016

(Read the earlier parts here: Twin Beaks Part 1 and  Twin Beaks Part 2)

Feb 24 10:33 p.m. A photo essay on learning to fly

Twin Beaks the final episode: One chick had flown the coop today; this is the only one I saw (who had still been in the nest yesterday). I got lucky to spot him at all.

I looked out the window and noticed that this guy was out. See him by the xmas light in the center?  He's just looking around.

So I went outside calmly, trying not to look like a stalker.  He watched me carefully. This is the best I could zoom in--

I got close enough to get this shot. For some reason using a 100mm prime lens (meaning not a zoom), so for a closer-in shot, I actually have to get close. Therefore, many of these are cropped from the original, hence not so sharp.  He's still watching me.

Even more fun if I crop that photo later, like this. Here he is, waiting for me to move away again.

I moved away again. He tried fluffing up and testing his wings (VERY fast--the motion is frozen here but it was a blur) and puffing up...

...then he settles back in, although feathers are still a little fluffed out (see him in front of the white flowers?)...

...--and then suddenly ZOOM-- He's gone!  Jeez, hummers can move! Even babies just learning to fly!

This was me trying to catch him in flight. I failed. Where'd he go?

I found him again wayyy over here.  (Above the colorful metal thingie.)

We waited a bit and Mommabird showed up. She always looks around carefully before paying attention to her chick clamoring FEED MEEEE! Now you can compare and contrast to an actual fully functionally feathered female.

Feeding; both are moving their heads pretty fast. And, that's it! No one is sleeping in the nest tonight (after both chicks were last night). So hoping that they're both happily on their way!

Feb 25 -- 4:42 p.m

Sigh. Literally suffering from empty nest syndrome this morning. (My palm is touching the nest. Tiny little thing.) So small, to fit those 2 birds in there!

Feb 25 -- 10:56 p.m

OMG OMG OMGGGGG! I heard those tiny high-pitched peeps like they'd been using to call mom, and went out to look--and sure enough, lucky enough to catch movement in this tree as one of the babies fluttered from branch to branch! See him? See him?

OK, here's a close-up--there he is, just to the left of center! OMG! I found one of them!  (And just to left of center, above!)

But wait! More fluttering (they've got the wing speed up, but not so good at darting around like an adult), and here's baby #2!!! O! M! G!

Really! See? Right in the center above.

Zip! Baby #2 flitters gradually (wings zooming but motion not so confident) over to the left towards his nestmate--and past him to perch again.  (Maybe they're sisters. Who knows.)

And here they are together! (#2 in upper left, #1 bottom right). O. M. *****G.*****!!!! I am so happy!

Feb 27, 10:19 a.m.

Hummingbird baby followers--saw them again yesterday in the same tree, still fluttering around, getting the hang of things.

March 3

Saw the babies this morning! I hear that stratospherically high monotone eeeee eeeeee as one called for mom. Found him on the edge of my porch (hummingbird feeder at top); see him very bottom center next to the stub post?

They're still hanging around, hoping that mom will reappear, I guess.  I happened to notice this little guy looking small and alone and forlorn.  Of course, that's just my interpretation--maybe he was simply basking in the sun.

Watching me carefully as I got closer and closer and closer--

He let me get within two feet of him! I wonder whether all those photos that I took of them in the nest made him more generous with my approach.

He gave me one last look--I'm two feet away now and still this photo is cropped in--and just after this shot, streaked away to that nearby unleafed tree.

I saw both of them a couple more times after that, together, right in this area, then after that, who could tell which hummer was which?

Update Post-Vet Visit

SUMMARY: Anemic.

Yes, Tika's breathing is labored as I noticed at home particularly last night. But the doc says that her lungs sound clear, despite still having a lot of fluid in her abdomen. Means that probably the right side of her heart is doing worse that the left side, because the left side more likely causes fluid in the lungs.

Her heart rate is much better than it has been in recent visits--I said that's probably because she's out in the car having the vet check her instead of in the office.

No, there's no sign of infection in her mouth--in some ways, darn it, as we could have thrown antibiotics at it.

When he took her inside for a blood draw and brought her back out immediately, he said that she was very good and probably the sedation contributed--I said, there is no sedation, I didn't give her a pill this time, that's all her deteriorating health.

Yes, her gums are pale. OMG they're almost white this morning; last night they looked pale to me, but not white.  So--very anemic.

And now, back home, I'm realizing that I'm recognizing the symptoms of anemia from when Rem had his cancer and it would rupture and start bleeding out. Lethargy, staggering when trying to walk after first standing up, lying there and looking around as if in a fog.

So we're doing a blood test. It might give us something useful. For example, if her organs are closing down, then that could cause the anemia and there's not much that we can do--it's been a long time coming.

But if all it shows is that she's anemic, we're back to the question of--how much testing do we do to figure out what exactly is causing it? On a 14-year-old dog with congestive heart failure who has outlived her predicted lifespan by two years?

But also, how quickly will the results come in, and will it be too late by then?

Vet says that he looks particularly at four things: Can the dog eat, drink, pee, and poop on their own or with minimal help from me? Then they might not be done yet. But it's becoming an observational game, I think, as in, is her quality of life good?

She has yet to miss greeting me at the garage door when I get home (except when she's been somewhere where she couldn't hear it.) That includes last night, even after not wanting to eat much, not wanting to walk much, and mostly just lying there. One of the other dogs bumped into her, though, and she droopped to the ground-- but, still, she was there.

I'm not sure whether that's enough. As of yesterday, she hasn't wanted to come up the steps to the couch where I spend most of my home time now, so she's a bit isolated--although she was always pretty independent and often spent her time outside or in another room anyway.

Soooooo,waiting for blood test results, some of which might be available this evening.

Worried

SUMMARY: Tika not doing well

She hasn't gone up any stairs since Wednesday evening (it's now Friday morning).  Wednesday evening (before yesterday's post), she didn't want to eat much. At a few mouthfuls of juicy canned dogfood. Ate a couple of teaspoons of Gerber baby chicken/veggies. Ate several Treats and several more of a different kind of treat, then vomited up the latter.

To summarize yesterday's food:

Morning: Most of a watered-down tiny jar of baby-food chicken. A few treats.

Evening. The same.

She's moving herself around--she stayed out on a far corner of the lawn last night, and when I checked on her during the night, she had moved inside to the den, near the stairs. Don't know whether she tried to go up and gave up or didn't even bother. I suspect the latter.

And this morning she's back out into the yard.

I have a vet appointment to see whether there's anything obvious like an infection, maybe do a blood test to see what state she's in-- renal failure? Something else? -- it's just that it has been such a fast slide from 2 weeks ago.

My long-time vet (multiple dogs, 30+ years out of that clinic although he's younger than that--at any rate, his whole career spanning a good portion of that) has agreed to come out and look at her in the car so she doesn't have to go in to the vet, which has always overwhelmed her (gave her tranquilizers until recently).  The receptionist told me that he never does that. So I'm grateful, but who knows what he can really check there.

Feeling: Scared.

I love you, Teek; hold in there.

Modifications for Tika, who is flagging

SUMMARY: Floors and stairs

Some amusement and some downers.

Over the last couple of weeks, Tika has had a harder and harder time getting to her feet, particularly on slippery floors. And has been giving me a "you can't really mean that" look when she's needed to go up or down the 4 steps on my deck or split level--and I could see why, watching her going up and down and seeing her feet slip as she goes.

So I've spent a few days poking around at Home Depot and Bed, Bath, & Beyond looking for solutions that are useful but not too drastic or expensive to help.

New treads for the steps up the deck leading to the doggie door and kitchen:

After I installed those, Tika put her foot on the first step, took it off again, and glared at me. Still, she managed to accept the change and to continue to go up and down them on her own.

On the stairs between my office/den at ground level and the main floor:

I figured that she needed these carpet mats only on one side of the stairs and I could continue to walk up and down the side with the railing. When she started to go up the carpeted side, she glared at me, veered off to the slippery tiled side, and slipped her way up to the top.  Maybe I should've gone with the light-colored one even though the colors and pattern were uggghly.

Dinette floor (doggie door feeds in here, and this leads into the front entryway where I have additional carpets that I already had, and from there into the carpeted living/dining area):

I decided to go ahead and get a 5'x7' gray carpet and some new runners with light rubberized backing to which I added sturdier no-slip backing. She seemed to be OK with that, as the next morning she was sleeping on the gray carpet when I came downstairs, instead of on a bed or the little mats that had been there before.

However. I hope that it's not in vain.

Her appetite has flagged more and more over the last two weeks. I began to worry when she started refusing her Guard The House Goodie (a Milkbone treat) over the last week. She went from eating nearly 2 cups a day of kibble just 2 weeks ago to eating less and less of anything. I thought that maybe it's because I stopped going for walks (with her or anyone) during February--before that, I'd been walking her slowly for about half an hour about every other day for the previous month and a half or so.

So I vowed that I'd start walking her again. This morning, she seemed semi-interested in going for a walk, but hesitated in the doorway. I encouraged her. Hesitated at the top of the porch stairs, and again I encouraged her. Walked very slowly down the driveway, staggering a bit. (She has been doing that off and on for maybe a couple of months, but so much more yesterday and this morning.)

We got past the house next door, no sign of sniffing at anything or looking at anything. Then she just abruptly collapsed. Head down. Didn't want to move or raise her head. I knelt next to her and petted her for a while. Wouldn't have been so bad had we not stepped off the curb and been in the middle of the street just around a blind corner. Nice choice, Teeks.

I finally convinced her to stand (by hauling up on her harness) and we walked very very very very slowly back across the street and home. She collapsed as soon as she hit the back lawn and didn't move for an hour.

Today, she doesn't want to eat anything. Ate two treats that are a tiny bit bigger than Zuke's Minis. And gradually, over an hour, a small jar of Gerber chicken baby food, watered down so that she could lick it up.

Won't eat anything else so far that I've offered her. She NEVER turns down treats. Until now.

She finally did come into the house, but just barely--I left the downstairs door open into the office, and she walked in just far enough to be on the carpet and lay down there. Hasn't moved since that I can see.

I stand (sit/lie) corrected: I just checked, and she did move a couple of feet from where she had originally lain, and was sleeping until I walked through to adjust the door. Her head came up, eyes bright, ears perked. Head down again when it became clear that nothing interesting was happening.

She has been on the down side of this roller coaster ride before over the last couple of years, but I think that this is the lowest dip yet.

Oh, come on, Teek, pull it together--I just did all this footing stuff for you; you need to take advantage of it! Pleeeze.

Twin Beaks -- The Hummingbird Saga Part 2

SUMMARY: Babies is all growed up!

Backfill: Added February 20, 2016

(Read Part 1 here: Twin Beaks Part 1)

Feb. 18 7:57 p.m.

Twin Beaks Wed evening update 1: Jeez, the nest is SO tilted! This is not an optical illusion: The ceiling is my slanted porch roof. I used a rope to pull one side of the attached vine so that the nest is less tilted. I hope that this helps rather than hurts.

Dang, these babies are BIG tonight! If they don't fly off tomorrow morning, I'll be surprised. Has to be in the next day or two, max.

Feb 19 9:28 a.m.

It is so hard to get the focus in the right place when you can't see through the camera and are just holding it against the roof and hoping.

The focus is the middle of their backs, too bad. But this gives a nice idea of their feathering and how adult they're looking.  (And see how the nest is still tilted.)

They hardly move at all, but yet they watch me very very carefully.

They are SO ready to be thinking about flying! [Sobs] Babies grow up so fast! (About 18 days, in fact.)

They are such twins!

Feb 20 11:36 a.m.

I've blocked off the deck (much to the dogs' confusion) to give them a chance if by chance they touch the ground when they leave the nest. Usually, they fly right off the bat, being proud hummers. It has been 13 days since I first knew there were chicks in the nest. They sure look pretty grown up, though.

Feb 21 4:43 p.m.

Saturday's babies are still here. They're moving around now, feeling more confident or wary or both, when I move around to take their photos, whereas previously they've frozen. If anyone missed yesterday's link, here's a summary of egg to independence:  Baby Hummingbirds from World of Hummingbirds.

Continues being tough to get them in focus--

Oops, just the feathers are in focus.

Oops, just the face is in focus. Mostly. 

Oh, yeah, pretty close!

I don't know how both birds fit in here!  I can't stop taking photos! I love the pattern on his neck/chin!

Feb 22 11:25 a.m.

I was way off on when the chicks would be flying. But that's OK, I get to see more activity. They sure are moving around a lot now--stretching, scratching, looking around, moving around in the nest. Haven't seen any wing stretching yet, though.

Mama continues to feed them regularly. I don't know where she sleeps. Hard to get a shot of her because she is very aware of motion or changed things in her environment.  So all shots of her are through the window, after standing there for minutes on end, trying not to cramp up while holding the camera against the window.

And speaking of windows--there is a downside to having a hummer nest right next to your windows.  The nest is in the very upper left corner. Check out my sliding glass doors.

Yes, this: Hummer poop everywhere. And I washed them not long ago to get rid of the poop that was already there so it would be easier to take photos. Didn't take long for the 3 of them to propel their waste everywhere once again.

From Understanding Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds (mine are likely Anna's):

Housekeeping, Hummingbird Style 

With two nestlings eating and growing in the nest, how does the mother keep the nest clean? What happens to the fecal droppings of the nestlings? 

At one nest that was observed, the mother had lined up the nestlings’ fecal sacs in a row on a branch just above the nest. But generally, the mother either eats the feces, or she removes them and drops them at a distance from the nest to avoid attracting predators to the nest area. When the nestlings are mature enough, they back up to the nest’s edge and expel their feces over the side. Most species of perching birds manage nest sanitation in a similar fashion.

Feb 22, 12:16 p.m.

Twin Beaks, Saturday a.m. -- Still here, but looking more ready every day even though mamabird is still coming in every 20 minutes to cram food down their eager throats.

Live View on a DSLR: *Perfect* for all the hummer photos, as the nest is pretty much up at the ceiling, so I hold the camera also against the ceiling, where obviously I wouldn't be able to look through the normal viewfinder. (I tried holding the camera upside down to be able to, but that was a no-go.)

But, oh, my, I think the poop & holding the camera are worth it!

Feb 23, 10:39 a.m.

Tired of hummerchicks yet? Three photos today--this is about the best that I can get through the window looking up into the light coming through the roof.

I've been saying for a few days now that this HAS to be their last day in the nest! Look at these gorgeous birdies!

Hooooh, wowwww, hummingbirds have eyelashes!

These are my babies as seen from outside looking towards the house. FINALLY got both of their faces in focus together. I can't believe that they're not flying-look at the one perched on the edge there! (You can see that they turned around in the nest to keep an eye on me when I came outside.)

Feb 23, 4:16 p.m.

Hummingbird chick's first flights!

Hummingbird baby is flying!   (This is a long video with a lot of me talking and very little of the baby flying)  I managed to get two very quick flutters from one spot to the next. Then Mommabird coming to feed him. Then it gets a bit dull after 3:00. Around 4:30, momma feeds him again, then from 5:00-6:00 roughly he's stretching and preening and trying out his wings. Not great video, but I saw him taking one of his first flights! By the time I emptied my camera card and returned to the window, he was already back in his nest.

... And there's more to come!   (Read Twin Beaks Part 3)

Twin Beaks -- The Hummingbird Saga Part 1

SUMMARY: Originally posted on Facebook (and ongoing); reposted here for posterity and those who aren't on FB.

Feb 6, 8:23 a.m.

I guess that I shouldn't fret so much over my hummingbird. I mean, if she weren't living on my porch, I'd never know one way or the other what happened to her. But her nest last year blew over twice on the decorations on which she built it,and then she gave up. She moved over a couple of feet, but it's on a precarious end of a wire and it's sooooo windy out there..... Fret fret fret even though really there's nothing I can do about it. I did so enjoy watching her 2 previous years worth of twins grow up.

Feb 7, 9:40 a.m.

The hummer nest survived this storm--and I'm SO glad because this morning I caught a glimpse of her feeding a chick! (She has always bred pretty early--I'll have to check my previous years' notes to see whether this is even earlier.)

Feb 9, 9:02 a.m.

Struggling with a hummingbird possible tragedy.

I've been so worried about the hummingbird nest--so windy and it's been looking as if it's tilting slightly. When I first came downstairs this morning, I looked out at the nest. Mama hummer not there, but not unusual for her to go look for food.

I happened to glance down and there was a tiny piece of something on the carpet underneath--I bent down, and it was a baby! Crap! I touched it gently and it moved--still alive! It was very hard to pick it up (and it struggled in its very tiny underdeveloped way) as it has very long, thin claws that had become tangled in the carpet fiber (and this is a very flat, tightly woven outdoor carpet). I was afraid I'd break something so I was as gentle as possible. We're talking a baby who's just about the size of a finger joint and delicate talons thinner than a hair!

Managed to pick him up, got up on a stool and gently tried to tumble him into the nest--but I'm guessing that his claws must have gotten caught on something because I could see him above the edge of the nest struggling and struggling. I can't see into the nest--it's only a few inches from the ceiling. Mama came by briefly and I could see her feeding--I don't know whether she has one or 2 babies this time, so don't know whether it was that baby. She then sat on the nest for a minute or so, doing something very busily--I'm guessing that she was trying to get him better adjusted. But I can still see his little back about the edge of the nest, and if his tiny claws are stuck higher up, where his back is still exposed to the weather and he can't move around, he may be doomed. I don't know what to do. :-(

Feb 10, 8:45 a.m.

Oh em gee-- I really should just let things go their own way and not worry so much. Remember I said yesterday that the tiny tiny thing that I held in my hand looked like it nearly filled the nest? Well, I forgot this one thing about hummingbird mamas: Once the chicks get to a certain size, she no longer needs to sleep there to keep them warm and won't fit anyway! So apparently the little guy fell out at just that point in his life. He is alive and well this morning!

I'm still not entirely sure what's going on--is there another chick in there under him somehow? what's the bare spot on the lower right--can't tell what body part I'm looking at there. The feathers don't seem to be going in the right direction for him. And as I've also noted there have always been twins before. Well, if there were twins and one is still there, I'd say that it's a goner. I don't THINK there is, but I can't make out what's visible here.

But, anyway, here you go--a hummingbird chick that's just a bit more than the size of my finger joint and growing like crazy daily.

Feb 11, 9:02 a.m.

Hummer twins! All is right with the world!

Feb 12, a.m.

This is  what I can see from below--two little bills pointed upward, waiting for mama hummer.

Feb 12, 8:48 p.m.

This is this morning's photo--2 babies hanging out in their slightly tilted nest.

People asked about their size.You can see how the nest is listing to starboard.

Hummer update: For those watching this soap opera, I really do have to warn you that this might not turn out happily.

Thursday evening, Feb 12, just got home, and *&*@#, one of the babies is on the carpet again!

Yes, again one has fallen out of the nest. Again I have to disentangle his tiny fragile claws from the carpet, and this time he's struggling mightily, too. I don't know whether I've hurt one of his feet as he struggles. I gently dump him into the nest from my cupped palm, and he starts to fall out again. I catch him and then I ever ever so gently try to hold him upright between my fingers to drop him in feet first, and he lets out a tiny fragile high-pitched squeak, which I've not heard from the babies before.

Oh, lord, I hope that I didn't kill him--their bones are so tiny and fragile! But he's in the nest, gasping for breath from the terror and hopefully not from pain. Then I did some rebending of the wire near the nest again, trying to get it straight--and SO scared I'm going to break the wire. An hour later, still seems to be in the nest. But I can't check them all the time--so I fear for the worst long-term.

Feb 13 9:00 a.m.

Friday morning--two chicks still in nest but apparently aren't speaking to each other.

Scary--now I'm leaving town for 3 days. Who will check for babies falling out of the nest while I'm gone? No one. Sigh.

Feb 16 11:27 a.m.

The latest drama from Twin Beaks--The Hummingbird Saga: I left town for 3 days, and what a delight to look up this morning at home and see this!

This cracks me up.

Not a great photo (i'll try again later). But you can see the start of the green irridescent feathers on the nearest one. (Does the farthest one look a little scraggly? Not sure. Definitely calls for a better photo later.)

To be continued-- (Read more here: Twin Beaks Part 2 and Part 3 )

Agility weekend come and gone

SUMMARY: It was the best of times, it was the not best of times.

I did it again. Agreed a couple of months back to drive down to Turlock for 2 and a half days of agility to work the score table, because I love going down there, despite my better judgement telling me that it was a bad idea.   Waffled all the way up to closing on whether to try entering Boost in a couple of things again as long as I was going anyway, but since I'm still not running, decided not to.

I thought it would be a good weekend, anyway, seeing good friends and doing a necessary job, plus they have that big fenced back field in which Chip could run around and meet lots of dogs and I could play lots of frisbee with Boost and Boost could get to run after other Border Collies playing frisbee, her favorite game, and Tika could wander around sniffing at things to her heart's content.

Here's what really happened:

I thought Tika was going to die right on the spot, all weekend.

Boost got only about 3 minutes of BC chasing, although we did get a lot of frisbee together.

Chip did not run at all. And got to meet only a couple of dogs only briefly. And mostly ignored me when I did let him off leash. And hated being in the crate for such a long time.

I sat, and leaned, and adjusted, and stretched, and supported, and made all kinds of awkward positions of my body, and got more and more and more and more sore. And so tired and sore that the preceding post of Chip was the only photo I took at the trial all weekend.

Today, home again, I am very very very sore.

And that is because (a) Sitting is a very very bad thing for me to do, and I know it. I can't even work full time as a result. But surely it would be different at the score table, since I hardly have to do any writing at all, just a quick few marks on each scribe sheet, and I can stand up any time I want. Ha!

(b) I just forget how many things have to be lifted and carried to & from the car, and set up, for an agility weekend. And I forgot how much more lifting and carrying Tika's condition entails--getting her in and out of the car by lifting her or by lifting & setting in place her ramp, then taking it down, then putting it back, then taking it down, then putting it back... etc.

(c) And how much bending is involved in having dogs in crates & like that.

(d) Not realizing that having Tika restricted to a crate in the car all the way down and then all day would really tighten up her entire body so that she had a terrible time trying to stand up and then half the time couldn't stay standing up after she got up. Walking--"just a little walking" around this site was way way way way too much for her. She slumped. She sagged. And I had to work to get her up and keep her moving. She refused to eat much of anything for two and a half days.

Oh, right, she ate people food mostly ok.

The hotel room looked cheap--broken safety latch on door, plaster coming off wall, laminate coming off the table. I paid extra for microwave and fridge and didn't realize until I arrived back at the room at 10pm with my leftover dinner that there was no fridge. And, oh, when I made the res online, they forgot to mention that there's a pet charge. $10 per night per dog. For 3 dogs, 2 nights. Are you effing kidding me? They did agree to charge me only one night's fees, but I'm done with that place. ("We've always charged a pet fee." "Oh, no, you haven't, because I've been staying here more than a dozen years, and I didn't used to pay a pet fee.") Compare and contrast to the Disneyland Hotel two weekends previously. (Oh, did I not get around to posting about that yet? Heh.)

But:

Weather was gorgeous. Mid-70s F (23ish C) in mid-February, can you believe it? Near-record temps for the dates.

Friends were wonderful to be around.

And I had a great show on my way home.

Dog notes of shame?

SUMMARY: Or not. Chip. Really.

"I ripped a hole in the door and tore the zipper of the brand new softcrate that mom put me in this weekend [ELF notes: see background] and then ripped holes in her ground mat [lower right] after she locked me up in a borrowed wire crate. And I'd do it again, dammit!"