Hummingbirds rarely reuse their nests, it’s normally a one and done thing as the nests aren’t really designed to hold over the multiple brooding seasons. Although very rare, hummingbirds may reuse the exact spot on which they laid their initial nests but, they won’t reuse it as is. Instead they will fix it up to accommodate better for the newborns.

After all, hummers don’t go through another clutch cycle immediately after they’ve raised their previous bunch which is why the nesting area needs to be fixed. However, often times the nest itself breaks down as the materials used such as spiderwebs and thin sticks aren’t necessarily the strongest and won’t hold overtime.

In other instances birds among other animals may have taken reigns over the nests local area. Maybe the area in which the nests initially existed might not be available anymore, maybe it was cut down or a natural disaster may have torn it down.

The remainder of this article will dig a little deeper into these points so you have a thorough understanding of when a hummingbird may reuse a nest and when the will not.

Why Don’t Hummingbirds Reuse Their Nests?

This can be broken down to a multitude of reasons some of which I’ve discussed briefly above. The most obvious reason being that the nest itself might just have broken apart.

Bear in mind that nests aren’t built up using strong, durable materials. It’s simply a collection of leaves, plants, twigs and plants with of course the secret material that holds everything together and is flexible enough to a baby hummingbirds size increases, spider silk.

Nests aren’t built like brick walls therefore, a good number of factors will stop a hummingbird from reusing their nest.

These factors may include :

• Animals or other birds overrunning the nests location
• Natural disasters like strong winds, lighting, rain damaging or even completely destroying the nests function
• Tampered with nests won’t be used either as hummingbirds rarely use man made birdhouses to raise their young

What Happens To The Nest Once It’s Been Used?

Often they’re simply left there and no one goes back to touch or reuse it. Occasionally if the nest is robust enough other birds may use it for their clutch period but, they’d rearrange the entirety of the nest to suit their needs and would not use it as it was initially left behind.

If it hasn’t been raided by squirrels, crows, domestic cats etc. then theoretically another bird could use it again.

Do Hummingbirds Use The Abandoned Nests Of Others?

Once again this is possible but, very rare. If for example the nest is located in a very good place for brooding, hummingbirds may use the location in which the abounded nest was.

Of course they’d try to make it sturdier and more robust to maintain its strength when the babies begin to grow but, it’s definitely a very rare thing.

If you find a nest that’s abandoned and are thinking about fixing it, the chances in that case would be even slimmer as hummingbirds don’t really use man made nests unless it’s a special circumstance where a specialist is looking after the mother and the baby birds.

Predatory birds like hawks and eagles are known to reuse nests however, smaller birds like hummers or orioles don’t do so as much. As for the area in which the nest was built, it’s entirely possible for the hummer to wait for the old nest to fall apart before creating a new one to take its place.

Robins in particular are known for doing this.

What Should You Do With An Abandoned Nest?

Nothing, just leave it as is.

It’s possible the nest might be usable so another bird might swoop in. Some states have even made it illegal to move birds as a parent bird may not go back to it (Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918).

For all you know a nest that looks abandoned might be in the process of being built therefore, if you tamper with it or move it around, chances are the hummingbird or any bird for that matter, won’t come back and the situation would be far worse than your good intentions were initially gunning for.

There are instances when you can move the nests, mainly if it has barely been made, maybe the hummingbird may have mase the nest on a bike that’s not in use, or on an unused open umbrella, in which case it’d be fine to relocate the nest.

Summary

Notwithstanding the odd situation where a hummer goes through brooding immediately after raising newborns or if somehow the twigs and spider silk remains intact as a result of the location. Even then hummers still won’t completely use the old nest, they’d rebuild it by bringing in more twigs, changing the silk, adding more leaves and so on.

All in all hummingbirds do not reuse their own nests or even the other nests of other bird’s. A lot of the reasons why are down to the reliability of a previously built nest as they simply aren’t built to last.

References

https://abcbirds.org/blog21/hummingbird-nests/#:~:text=Like most birds, hummingbirds start,, however, is spider silk.

https://www.hummingbirdsplus.org/best-hummingbird-houses/

Do Birds Reuse Nests? Which Birds? Which Nests? Why and When!

https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/birding-basics/move-bird-nest/