the protection of a mother

For the last month, we have had the most wonderful pleasure of seeing a Hummingbird around our house.  This littlest of birds has been hanging around our front door and I figured she must be building a nest somewhere near.  Well, a couple of weeks ago, I came home late after dinner and a movie with my friends and when I walked up to the front door this darling bird started dive-bombing me and chirping her 'stay away!' chirp as loud as she could--which was soooo not loud coming from that tiny, little voice of hers--but nevertheless had me ducking and banging on the door for Jim to open up.  It was then that I realized her nest must be very close.

Last night, Jim came home after being out with some of his friends and the same thing happened to him; she dive-bombed and was yelling at him!  It was then that we finally spotted her nest, right above the outdoor entryway in the Creeping Fig.

What has us stumped is that during the day when visitors come up to the house she just flies away but at night it's a completely different story--she goes into attack mode, protecting her babes ferociously.

Whatever the case, she is a mother and she has babies to protect.  It's absolutely precious.