A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Should I be afraid?

There is a weird thing hanging from a tree in my backyard. I'd love to know if it's just spider webs or something. It looks like a giant cocoon and it's really creepy. There are some flower petals stuck to the outside and what could be fur from all my dogs? I was going to knock it down but I was terrified of what might be in there. Any ideas?

Here is a photo.


IMG_2047 by bobolu1, on Flickr

That actually looks like a bird's nest to me. Have you seen any birds around?

Well, there are tons of birds in our area. I've never seen a bird in or near this thing, but the birds tend to stay away when the dogs are out. If I am out there the dogs are usually out there, so I may just have never seen the bird. But I don't see any type of entrance. It doesn't seem to be supported by much. It's kind of draped upon the leaves. Maybe it was part of a nest and fell? It's seems sort of light and fluffy.

yes, it looks light. I wonder.

Its a Hummingbirds nest.

Oh, that is so COOL...I'm excited!!!

I'll keep an eye on it then, and see if any tiny birds pop out. I'm glad I left it alone. Thanks everyone!

Wondering about an update on your hummingbird nest.....

Thanks for asking. I wish I had something beautiful to report. I never saw any hummingbirds near it, though I do often see them in the front and side yard. Funny though, one day I was at the community garden, bent over looking for squash and a hummingbird got extremely close to my face. It was so loud, it sounded like a helicopter overhead. I was a little worried I might lose an eye! I just stayed very still and it buzzed off. I'm glad I know what the nest looks like now so I'll be keeping an eye out for more.

Be careful with those hummingbirds getting close to your eyes. About 20 years ago I had a huge Mimosa tree that swarmed with hummingbirds all summer. When I would walk down to my paint shop they'd swarm around me. One day I stood perfectly still to see if they would actually land on me...yes, they will. And.....one poked me right in the eye with it's beak during a staring contest. He won.

When hummers are nesting you can walk right up and pet whichever is sitting on the eggs. They will not budge off those eggs. But you better be watching for the mate buzzing around to protect. They will go for your face and eyes every time. I had one bounce off my sunglasses.
My hummer nests didn't look like the one above. They really looked like a nest in storybooks. Tightly woven and nest-shaped and barely big enough for two tiny eggs. And I have watched those eggs hatch and every time only one baby was left in the nest after a day or two. There just wasn't room for both to grow up.

Wow! It would be so cool to be able to see a little hummingbird nest. I watched the Hummingbird Cam on Ustream...pretty awesome...but real life would be much cooler!

Most of my hummers nest low. One was in a palm frond that you could reach out and touch from a second floor balcony. Another was on the end of a bolt that was attaching a gate to a fence. About 4 ft off the ground. I have also seen them in shrubbery. It is fun to watch them. Just wear goggles if you get close.

I've never had one come that close to me before. I thought I had recalled one or two posts here about the birds dive bombing people. That's why I stayed still. I wanted to look, but I like my eyes. If it happens again, I'll be sure to cover my face.

Speaking of dive bombing people, that reminded me of the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. It was last month, and we have this robin that always perches on this one secton of the back fence. Well there are squirrels in the tree right on the other side of the fence; so on this day, the robin was perched there and then flew off and I couldn't see where cuz of the side of the house. Here comes this squirrel runnin along that section of the fence and right when he was almost at the end, that robin came swooping in from somewhere and dive-bombed that squirrel who then did a somersault in the air and fell off the fence.

If I would have video'd it I swear I couldve one the million. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen in person re:animals