Hummingbirds are among the fastest and smallest of birds, but they’re attracting a lot of attention online thanks to a B.C. man who has found a way to get up close and personal with the tiny creatures.

Vancouver Island resident Eric Pittman set up a real-time web camera in his Esquimalt backyard five years ago in order to monitor a hummingbird nest here.

And he’s been filming ever since.

“It started in June of 2009,” Pittman wrote on his website. “I saw a hummingbird feeding her chick while sitting on a small branch in our yard. I grabbed a camera and quickly pulled it out and took a few hurried photos.”

The birds flew away, but Pittman discovered their nest when he returned to look for them a few days later.

“I was amazed that the nest was barely four feet from where I sat,” he said. “Upon inspection, there were two chicks in the nest. I grabbed my video camera and began filming.”

With his video camera, Pittman is able to show the hummingbirds’ “entire cycle, from their mating dance in the sky, to the nest building, the eggs being incubated, the chicks being fed and eventually flying.”

Pittman has become somewhat of a hummingbird expert after having filmed about 60 nests, from egg to flight. He says he’s been approached by BBC Wildlife to help film a nature documentary in Alaska.

Watch the Hummingbird Live Cam: