Eric Pittman first noticed Sweetiebird, a prolific hummingbird in his yard on Vancouver Island years ago.
Over six generations, Sweetiebird had six generations of chicks in his yard. Pittman filmed the last four generations of Sweetiebird’s offspring in HD videos and learned a lot about hummingbirds.
Ever since then, filming hummingbirds has become his passion.
I have been a photographer all my life and I love photographing these birds. The HD Video is really a great way to see them. The image quality is stunning and the process of watching the birth and growth of these hummingbird chicks is fascinating and beautiful. A large part of the joy is watching the day by day growth of the chicks and then the anticipation of flight.
Sweetiebird has since passed on but has been replaced by Flower. Pittman has now filmed about 60 hummingbird nests from egg to flight now and have gathered amazing information about the little birds, like where they nest, when they nest, the mortality rate and even some of their social structure.
He’s now put together a livecam for people interested in watching hummingbirds live. Check it out below and for those interested in helping wild birds and animals, Pittman suggests viewers donate to Wild Arc, the Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre run by the SPCA.
h/t: CBC, Eric Pittman
Photo credit: Hummingbirds Up Close
