To Birth A Hummingbird: Parador Resort & Spa Welcomes Its Newest Family Members

One needn’t venture very far to experience the miracle of wild life at
Parador Resort & Spa. Embraced as we are by verdant rainforest, sightings of monkeys, sloths, tropical birds and giant reptiles is a daily occurrence.

The sudden appearance of an elusive hummingbird nest amidst the concrete jungle otherwise known as the Parador parking lot, however, is a far rarer event.

Despite the preponderance of hummingbirds in Costa Rica – 51 species with a reported 15, including purple-crowned fairies, violet-crowned woodnymphs, white-crested coquettes and blue-throated golden-tails, indigenous to Manuel Antonio – it is unlikely to discover the nesting grounds of these tiny fluttering creatures in such a public arena,
But there it was, surreptitiously perched in the branches of a lone tree beside large transport vans and rental cars. -- a nearly imperceptible nest housing several eggs which would soon give way to the miracle of birth.
With some variation according to species and location, in general a hummingbird's nest is about two inches in diameter and constructed of such natural materials as plant fiber and down, lichen and spider silk. Once providing his service, the male has nothing more to do with the process, the female taking all responsibility for selecting the camouflaged site, construction of the nest, and care of both the eggs and hatchlings. Incubation lasts for around two and a half weeks and hatchlings stay in the nest for around three weeks feeding on regurgitated insects instead of the nectar the mother ingests.

And then one day they were gone, the cycle completed. Off into the horizon, into the jungle or where ever a hummingbird family ventures. But as females occasionally return to a previously used nesting spot, building a new one on top of the old one, we are hopeful that the newest members of the Parador family will return to us next year.