The bushtit nesting season begins.......

I'm back from hot and humid Puerto Rico where I was visiting my daughter in the steaming jungle near Utuado...and it's the dry season.  I can't imagine what the wet season would be like.

In bushtit-land (re Portland, Oregon),  on Reed campus it seems that GYYX and LLRX are still hanging out together with one of GYYX's sons from last year and a female (GEEX....and that can only be pronounces Geex!) who was banded early in the season and at a nest that LLRX was a frequent curious visitor at.  That nest was destroyed by a crow when the poor kids were well along.  Sadly.  And I didn't find out what had happened to GEEX until just this week.  I'm happy to hear she's alive and well.  

I am pretty excited to see how things play out this year between GYYX (the good dad) and LLRX (the cad) with a young male in the mix.  If you're confused, see my earlier blog about LLRX and his shenanigans in 2018.  That year, I might add, GYYX was a "monogamous" (at least in appearances) father who lost his first nest to the dastardly crows, divorced wife #1, and rebuilt in another part of Reed campus to raise a healthy brood by the end of the season.  Interestingly, his final and successful nest in 2019 (he lost at least one early in the season) was only 2 feet from the remnants of his 2018 nest.  So, why didn't he just build there in the first place??

On a side note:   That's something I've seen over and over again.......bushtits building nests near successful old nests.  And it's not always the same birds.  Remember that bushtits live in highly social  flocks where everyone knows everyone else's business and nests are often fought over.  So it makes sense that a successful location would be remembered and reused.  Why not?  Location, location, location.

I'll be back in Portland mid-March and will hit the ground running to find nests.  In the meantime, thanks to Gary and Pat, I have an inkling of which old friends will still be around for me to learn more from.

Off I go.......

......on a 12 day trip to Puerto Rico.  So I probably won't be adding to this Blog until I return on the 20th.  And, BTW, bushtits are most certainly building their nests now :-)

Stay tuned!!!

Banded bushtits at Reed feeder

Gary Granger, whose office is right on the Reed College campus, has been a huge help in keeping me abreast of color-banded Reed bushtits over the winter.  Here are some wonderful pictures he sent to me from his feeder last winter.   Thank you, Gary!

Great photo with some of the color bands I mentioned in my last blog.
The bird on the upper left is GYYX.  You can just see his left leg under
him.  The bird next to him has two F bands and we can't see the other
leg.  So it would coded as FF??. I happen to know this is a female:
FFFX who we call "EffEx."

In this photo (on the left), you can see a YX on one leg (I happen to know this is GYYX).  On the right is a male with a bit of suet and two striped bands (AA).  He would be coded ??AA.  See?  Those striped bands aren't that bad, are they?  I know him and he is AXAA (affectionately referred to as Captain America)  

I'm posting this one because it's the best photo of an aluminum band.  You can
see that it looks white, but is longer than other bands

There are three banded birds in this photo!  Two are already in photos above: GYYX and AX?? (probably AXAA).
But the third, at the very top center, is a female banded XWRL ("ExWhirl"). She was paired with GYYX that year.  

Identifying banded bushtits

If you live anywhere in Portland, Oregon (or anywhere else on the Pacific coast) and have a suet feeder, you undoubtedly have bushtits arriving in elfish swarms during the colder months.  If you live near Reed College or Oaks Bottom or even Westmoreland Park, you may have even noticed some with color-bands.  Those little guys have been banded by me over the last few years and they each have their own private life stories.  Some stories are long and complicated and others are simple.  But they are all insights into interesting bushtit lives. Or at least I think so.  But I'm just a tad prejudiced :-)

I mentioned in a previous blog that I have two people who have been regularly sending me updates about banded birds at their feeders:  one on the Reed campus and the other near the edge of Oaks Bottom.  And I am delighted every time I hear from them!   Because of their interest and reports I know who is happily surviving the winter and who they are hanging out with.

But there are more of you out there!   Just yesterday, a woman I know who lives a few blocks from Oaks Bottom noticed, for the first time, a banded bird at her feeder.  And several times I have received notice from the Federal banding lab that someone has reported banded birds near Reed.  Occasionally birders give me updates and even pictures of banded birds they have seen.  I appreciate them all!   Last year a birder send me a picture of bird I hadn't seen since the previous year.  That was nice surprise!

I gave a brief primer about how to read bands a few posts ago.  Today I'm going to give you the colors and their symbols so that when you do see banded bushtits (there may even be some left in Discovery Park in Seattle), you will be able to read the bands.  If you can do that, I can let you know who you saw and what their life history is:  where they had a nest and who they were paired with and who they hang out with.  Chances are they'll be back and you will soon be friends :-)

Here are the colors I use and their symbols.  BTW, a few birds (hatched last year) only have two bands:  one on each leg and one of those is aluminum.

X = aluminum  (This is the Federal USGS band.  It is slightly longer than the others and silver.)
R = red  (I have two slightly different reds, but they are both coded "R.")
L = dark blue   (This is a very dark blue that is easily told from the lighter versions.)
O = orange  (Very bright and very rare.)
B = black (This is a color I try to avoid because bushtits have black legs!)
Y - yellow (Very bright!)
W = white (The one most often mistaken for aluminum, especially if soiled.)
P = purple (In some circles this is also called "mauve."  It is isn't a deep purple.)
G = avocado green  (I have several greens.  This is not dark or bright. A deceptive color.)
E = dark green (Almost evergreen, but brighter.)
N=  neon and lightish green
U = light blue


Striped (two-color) bands (You may think I'm crazy.  Bushtit bands are small enough without being striped!! ):
A = striped red and dark blue ( This one isn't too bad.)
F = striped avocado and purple (Very hard to read.)
C = striped orange and yellow (I don't know why I bothered!)
M = red and white striped (candy cane!)

So there it is (almost all).  If you see color-banded bushtits, please let me know who and where.  I would love that information.  BTW, this is NOT easy, so don't feel bad if all you see is "yellow on one of the legs."  That may be all I need if I have a location.

YYXP:  A male in Discovery Park.  Terrible picture!  But in this picture you can see  his X over P

YYXP:  And in this picture you can see the Y over Y (and a beakful of nesting material.)