I migrated to Portland from Seattle in 2016 for variety of reasons (having nothing to do with my offspring!). I found Discovery Park to be not particularly researcher friendly. And bushtits seemed to prefer the surrounding suburbs for nesting rather than the park. Finding nests became frustrating even though some of those that I did find were very interesting (see previous posts).
I visited Portland in 2015 just for fun and was startled to find bushtits on every corner. Quite literally. Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, in the south central part of Portland along the Willamette River, was a welcome respite from the city and the city was eager to host unobtrusive researchers. Bushtits seem happy to nest in the refuge even though they still hung out in the surrounding city to visit suet feeders in the winter. Other parks in the area and the Reed College campus were also brimming with the little gray sprites. (In 2019, we found 94 nests!!) And Portland itself is an amenable and interesting town. Add to the mix: my two daughters were there. So I decided to make Portland my new bushtit home in 2016 and now, in 2020, I have a nice established population of banded birds to work with and even some local bird enthusiasts keeping track of banded birds and nests. It's been a lovely place to work.
This year I plan to keep daily log here of what is happening in the field. Nestled within and around that diary will be stories and information about bushtit behavior that I have gleaned through the years. For those of you not familiar with bushtits.....you are in for a big surprise. These tiny birds, so common and adorable, have intricate and complex lives.
And that's what this blog is about: the secret lives of bushtits. Hang on to your hats and enjoy! The meerkats, dolphins, and chimps have nothing on these guys. Trust me. Size does not matter.
I am so happy that I found your Bushtit blog. They are numerous in my Seattle garden. Besides hanging around in damp bushes getting sips of water and dangling upside down foraging for insects, they like the suet that I put out in the winter. I have a solar powered bubble fountain that they enjoy too. Only once have a found a nest in my neighborhood. I'll have to be more deligent in my search. (I have seen nests in the central part of Discovery Park.)
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