Is this a humming birds nest? & butterfly in my flower bed..

I bought a bird feeder, humming bird feeder, and double shephards hook for near my flower bed yesterday, almost right after I set it all up a cute little humming bird was hangging out and enjoying the new feeder!

Later yesterday evening we were all outside and we saw a nest up in one of our trees and my husband lifted a neighbor kid up to look inside she said there was nothing in there but today I lowered the branch down and saw 3 eggs! They are tiny and blue are these humming bird eggs and nest??? If it is do you think it would be ok for me to keep lowering the branch to take a peek insde and pictures??? (of course not touching the nest). How long does it take for the eggs to hatch?

I also have some pictures of a pretty butterfly on my butterfly bush this morning. What kind is it? It had some blue on its wings and under it had some orange/red markings. My flwoer bed isnt looking its best right now since I never mulched it! The grass is growing back in I need to fix that this weekend I guess :)

Here are the pictures!

And here is the butterfly....

Awwwwwww how sweet, what great pictures! Keep them coming!

Julie

I think your butterfly is a female Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/703.htm
The females often appear in a dark phase, quite unlike the yellow males.
It also looks quite like the Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/716.htm

Lovely eggs and pics. how did you get more than one photo in a message frame?

Thanks,

Maggie

Greetings from N.C. Kennedyh is right on the butterfly but of course he is always on the money when it comes to butterflies and moths. I am sure though that the nest is not a hummers, It looks more like a finch or a sparrow's next. Hummers nest are very very small and often hard to see.
Most birds take 12 to 14 days to hatch. Keep a eye on the nest I am curios to know if I'm right about the Finch/Sparrow. Keep us informed.

Gary


This message was edited Aug 9, 2005 7:36 PM

This message was edited Aug 9, 2005 8:14 PM

nice collages and watch the nest to see who's sitting.

Thanks everyone! I have been trying to sneek to the front yard un noticed but whenever I go up there nobody is ever home! I am also thinking it isnt a humming bird because everything I read said humming birds have white eggs not blue.

I read Robins have blue eggs but I believe the nest is pretty small for a robin I dont think one could sit on this. Only other bird I read of with a blue egg speckeled with brown is a eastern blue bird....Not sure though we will see. We have alot of little birds around here chickadees, sparrows, finches... I cant wait to see what they are!

Also thinks on the info about the butterfly! Usually we just have those very small ones that are a burnt brown color, so t his guy was a fun thing to see flying around my bush!

Hummingbird nest are about the size of a quarter. They usually lay 2 eggs.

Here is the link I made this A.M. and it has the size of the nest on the very last pic I posted...more like the size of a penny lol...the exact size of the nest is there with a toothpick and penny to size it up. :-)

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/536331/

Hello agian I can for sure tell you that the nest is not a blue birds either. Blue birds are cavity builders, Birde houses old holes in trees, fence posts ect. The common house sparrow lays blue eggs speckled with brown if this helps. The blue birds eggs are a solid blue in color.

Your eggs in the nest you have posted look just like the eggs from a Sparrow. I had a couple in my azalea bushes this past Spring. Right below my height so I could watch them :-) Lovely

Thanks everyone!! I think I did see a sparrow hangging out on the electric wires right near the tree..she probaly went to hide out when I opened the front door but I coudl see her watchign me! Still will be fun to see the babies! And thanks everyone for letting me know what you thought it was!

How are things going with the nest of eggs? Any Babies yet? Keep us posted!

I will look again today but I havent seen any yet. Wonder if the eggs have been abandoned?? One of the eggs I am not sure if it is fertile or not. It seems to have some sort of line in the middle if that makes any sence. The line isnt from the shell but seems to be coming from the inside like maybe the insides have settled.... So it makes the bottom half of the egg look darker then the top part.

I will keep checking.