In July, the female Rufous Hummingbird has fledged her first two nestlings and is just about to fledge another. The chick is now as big as its mother, making the walls of the walnut-sized nest bulge outwards at maximum capacity. It takes about 40 days to fledge each brood, from egg-laying until the young begin to fly. They learn to feed on their own through trial and error, until they finally figure out which flowers offer the best nectar. By the end of August, they will all probably have migrated south.
