It was a gray misty first day of 2016 at Discovery Park in Seattle, Washington. My two volunteer assistants, Zach and Ashley, and I met at 10AM to see if we could find flocks and banded birds. We also checked some of last year's nests to see how they had faired over the winter.
We, of course, found no bushtits in our 2.5 hour ramble. Even though it was disappointing, it's not unexpected since this time of the year bushtits are hanging out in large flocks. And since their home ranges are so large, running into those flocks is just luck. And we didn't have any.
But we did check a few of last year's nests. Most were just sodden hanging clumps of nesting material. It would have been hard to identify them as having been bushtit nests at all. A few were gone entirely.
But two 2015 nests stand out. The first was "condo nest:" last year's weirdest nest.
After losing their first nest to crows while they were feeding nestlings, BRRX(male) and XPLY (female) began building in a blackberry bush nearby. Rather than building together, they each began separate nests about 6 inches from each other. BRRX built only at his nest and XPLY at hers. It was the strangest thing I have ever seen. Because each was acting alone, progress on both nests was very, very slow. This silliness went on for several days and was great fun to watch. Eventually XPLY seemed to win the battle and BRRX abandoned his nest and they completed hers together.
When we checked the "condo nest" today, surprisingly, both nests were still there. The BRRX nest was a hanging cup with no hood -- about 4 inches long -- and intact, although soggy. The finished nest was complete with hood -- also a soggy mess. It was fun to see them still there together hanging in the leafless brambles.
The second odd nest revisit was one of my favorites last year. It was beautifully made and easy to watch. But it was odd. The male (YYXP) and female (XGLR) were still building when we found them early in the season, but the nest was pretty complete-looking. At some point, another male joined (unbanded) and, while YYXP and XGLR continued to build at the nest, he was madly courting XGLR both at the nest (with his beak filled with nesting material) and away while they foraged. I had great hopes that he would be a third bird at the nest. But after a few days of this trio, not a bird was to be seen around the nest. Weeks went by with no activity and we assumed the nest had been abandoned. I went back for one last watch late in May and.......YYXP and XGLR were back and still building! There was no sign, however, of the third bird.
That was last year. The remarkable thing about this year is that the nest looks completely re-usable. It's in fine shape after a long winter. Every other nest I've ever seen is a sodden mess or gone. This one looks like it was built yesterday. And it is completely dry on the inside. Only the "squashed" condition of the entrance hole tells me that it's inactive. I have only ever had one nest reused the following year in AZ and that was not by the original occupants, but by a young first-year pair who at first had tried to takeover or join at some other nests.
The sad thing about this nest is that YYXP was found dead by a local resident this winter. So the original male is no longer with us. But perhaps his widow will still reuse the nest. Or maybe a young pair looking for a fixer-upper. Regardless........a nest surviving the winter in such remarkable shape is a first.
Epilogue: Of course, after Zach and Ashley had left for the day, I did find a flock of bushtits at the other end of the park. It was large -- at least 25 birds -- but all were unbanded. Near the end of my observations a small group had gathered in a leafy tree and were preening and huddling together on and off. Exceptionally cute.
No comments:
Post a Comment