Airbnb for hummingbirds: Bridgeport woman's accidental avian haven

BRIDGEPORT—Discreetly hidden yet in plain sight, somewhere in the city hangs Bungee Cord Bungalow, perhaps one of the more ingenious and delightful seasonal homes around these parts.

The residence in question belongs to a family of Black-Chinned hummingbirds who originally built—and have been returning annually to—their private nursery for the past decade. Their landlord and host, Pat Pittman, said she anxiously awaits the arrival of her—literally—Airbnb visitors.

“I get so excited waiting for them to come,” said Pittman. “They arrive around the end of June.”

Excitement must be reward enough since her lodgers are of the freeloading variety.

Conservationist and author Aldo Leopold described similar behavior in his book “A Sand County Almanac” about the wild birds sharing his property:

“Like other great landowners, I have tenants,” wrote Leopold. “They are negligent about rents, but very punctilious about tenures.

The nest building resulted from a happy accident. Pittman’s late husband, Denny, absentmindedly left an ordinary bungee cord looped from a porch rafter near the kitchen window. Not long after, Pittman noticed a nest forming precariously on the U-shaped cord. Fast-forward and the nest remains, with reinforcing touchups added every summer by the industrious female who works alone.

Pittman suspects that more than one generation of the same family of hummers is using the site since the Black-Chinned has a life span of 3-5 years. 

Pittman said she once thought about selling the house, but the birds will have none of that.

“No, I can’t,” said Pittman. “I can’t leave my hummingbirds.”

“It’s an odd place for a nest,” said retired teacher and bird enthusiast Meredith Spencer who has witnessed the odd lodging. “Hummingbirds will use the same nesting spot every year.” 

Spencer had hummingbird encounters with her students, once challenging her Bremerton fifth-grade class to find the tiny nests in the wild. Two students actually did so, and Spencer visited the sites.

“One was in a pine tree. I’ll bet it was 40 feet high,” said Spencer. “That kid had seen the hummingbird going in and out, in and out. With binoculars, I could see the next.”

Spencer and husband, Mike, organized Bridgeport’s annual Christmas Bird Count until last year’s 25th when the couple finally passed their binoculars to a successor.

Washington State is home to four principal types of hummingbirds:

• Anna’s 
• Rufous
• Calliope
• Black-Chinned

Three other varieties sometimes seen are:

• Broad-Tailed
• Ruby-Throated
• Costa’s

“They are such a joy,” Pittman said, rent or no.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media