The Artistry of an Anna’s Hummingbird Nest

This Anna’s Hummingbird nest is from the collection at the California Academy of Sciences. It’s part of my Nest Project, currently on display in the gallery at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Visitor’s Center. The project was inspired by Scott Weidensaul’s wonderful book, Living on the Wind, in which he documents the heroic journeys and survival challenges of birds. Galvanized, I started to learn as much as I could about bird habitats and began photographing their wild beauty. Using nests from museum collections, I printed photographs that were large enough to show the details and diverse materials of their structure. Viewers who might never have picked up a pair of binoculars are now curious about the nest creators.