It's been a long time......

.....and much has happened.  I've been cautiously going in the field as have my two assistants and we have already found 56 nests.

Fifty-six nests!!   I believe that's some kind of record for this time of the year.  Last year I found a total of 97.  I'm guessing, based on what we have so far, we'll find over 100 by the end of the summer.  Wow.

Nests are in all stages.  Some are complete and I believe incubating.  In fact, we may have a few hatching now.  Others are in the very early stages of building.  They are are either loose sacks or just a whisper of spider web and lichen on a branch.  There have been a few false starts:  nests begun and abandoned for a better site nearby.  Nest material thieves (likely goldfinches or other bushtits) have decimated a couple.  But most are going strong.

This is banner year for bushtits.  It's too bad it's not a banner year for bushtit researchers.  I have had to confine my searches to areas where I can maintain distance and wearing a mask is a problem because my glasses fog up.  But I go out anyway --- with an abundance of caution when I can't maintain 20' or so distance.  I have two fabulous field assistants who have been absolutely essential.  And Gary on the Reed campus has been keeping me up-to-date on the banded birds he sees at his feeder on campus.  So all is not lost.

But the season has one big challenge:  Banding and collecting blood for DNA analysis will be limited to only those nests without much traffic because of the need to social distance.  I always say that every year is different.  Usually I'm referring to the birds.  This time I'm referring to the fieldwork and the challenges we need to face to keep ourselves and others safe.  Sigh.

A cute story:

Three days ago I came in for lunch and sat by my big picture window looking out over the front yard.  The window has a bush in front of it which I like because it's open enough to let in light but also shades a bit and provides some privacy.  Occasionally a pair of bushtits who are building about 2 houses down bop through the bush and then out in a minute or two.

So I was surprised and enchanted when a lone male joined me for lunch one day.  He hopped about in the bush and then made his way to a new branch that was right up against the window only a few inches from my face.  He seemed to me to be just coming over to say "hello."  He hung out long enough for me to eat and was then gone after I got up to put my things away.  Magical.

It happened again yesterday and, again, he left after I was done with lunch.  How sweet!

Or so I thought.  Of course there was a rational explanation rather than some "mystical bushtit coming to commune with the lone bushtit researcher" reason.  Today he showed me why and it was exactly what many of you are thinking:  he was investigating his reflection in the window.  Today, instead of just coming to the branch and looking at me (or so I thought), he was much bolder.  This time he pecked at the window repeatedly as if pecking at another bushtit. Then he'd take a short break, hop around the bush, and come back to do it again.  After doing this for a bit, he huddled up to the window (I am not kidding) as if he was huddling up against another bushtit (they do this often) and....fell sound asleep.  In the sun and leaning against the window.  It was absolutely adorable.  He was so sleepy, he even began to tilt back and hang sideways.  I got a little worried about him and tapped on the glass whereupon he woke up and began to hop around energetically and even came back to peck at the window again.  Quite the little character.

So what was going on?  Why as he alone?  I strongly suspect this little guy is an unmated male who is "lonesome" for flock members that are now associated with nests.  Bushtits are very social but as nests are completed, pairs do take up residence and spend less time in flocks.  That leaves lone males vulnerable and....lonely.  Because of this they often join a pair at a nest and earn the privilege of spending the night there.  Sometimes they even feed the kids (and maybe a few of their own...only DNA will tell).  Such is one of the interesting traits of bushtits, but from the perspective of this little lone male.

I couldn't help but hope he has somewhere safe and warm to sleep tonight.  Perhaps he will even join the pair I see so often and I will soon have 3 bushtits joining me for lunch.