Mme W close-up

Mme W, the Bahama Woodstar hummingbird nesting at Calypso, our winter home on Eleuthera, is still quietly sitting on her nest, with occasional short trips for snacks. There's a nice big firecracker clump near her nest, whose small tubular red flowers are a good nectar source. She seems more tolerant of human activity near her nest than Gumbo was 2 years ago, and I can stand just 10 feet away with my video camera. However, I still need to zoom a lot and hand-shake is of course a problem, exacerbated by the swaying of the hanging branch. Here's the best I've managed so far.

However, I've now set up a step-ladder near the nest, which I plan to use as a support for the camera. I hope she well get used to this strange looming object. I've thought of trying to camouflage it with palm leaves, but then I decided that she probably doesn't mind whether nearby objects look natural or not, as long as they stay put and don't menace the nest.