I've said all this before, and I'll say it again: I am a bad blogger. I admit that. The problem is during the bushtit breeding season I am (surprise!) busy out in the field finding nests, banding birds, and watching birds all day long. I come home ready to eat dinner, relax, plan the next day -- not an easy task if there are competing priorities. Which nests desperately need watching because we haven't watched them in a long time? Which nests desperately need watching because there's something odd and interesting happening there? Which nests have birds that need banding -- now? Which nests have babies that need banding -- yesterday? Where are we certain there is a nest but we haven't found it yet? Ad nauseam.
You get my drift. It's a job in itself just figuring out what takes priority the next day. And then, of course, I need to organize the various assistants and myself around that plan for tomorrow. And, finally, sleep.
Repeat. Day after day from March and at least through June. In fact, I have the reputation of thinking a day off involves strolling around and looking for new nests or banded birds. Obviously, I like what I do. But that does mean I have little time to blog during the most exciting part of the year and so......I am a bad blogger. Apologies to those who have dipped into my blog, found it interesting, and been disappointed with the rarity of my posts.
But now I am back in Maine and trying to find a publisher or agent for my book about my 37 years of bushtit research. It's a frustrating and odd process. I somehow have to convince an agent (preferred) that this tiny, boring-gray bird is actually interesting and, even more important, there are people out there who would buy a book devoted to this tiny, boring-gray bird. I have no doubts, given what I know about bushtits and the interest I see in the public about them. But convincing an agent or publisher is another story.
So I am going to try to step up my blogging both because I would like to prove there is an audience and because there are parts of the bushtit story, especially the Oregon story, that haven't been written and this seems to be a good place to do that. Rather than write into the certain void that is my computer, I'll write into this uncertain void that at least has the potential to reach some curious readers.
I'l start with a brief recap of 2023 and move onto some fun stories in future blogs.
Recap: Well, it was an odd year in some ways. The bushtit built their nests at about the same time of year that they usually do, beginning in March and "finishing" sometime in early April. But what stood out this year was the lateness of egg-laying. First egg dates were about 3 weeks later than in most previous years. It's easy to assume that was the result of a cold and wet spring. But last year was a cold and wet spring as well and egg dates were as expected. So...a mystery to be solved. How do bushtits decide when to lay their eggs? I have no idea. Moving on......
Because eggs were laid so late, there were no fledglings at all until almost the end of the season. I verified that this was weird by looking at past year's field notes. In June we usually see fledgling flocks all over the place. This June we saw very few. And these few were "accounted for" fledglings. In other words, they were fledglings from known nests. That verified that we hadn't missed a bunch of earlier nests. They just didn't exist.
Late nesting also meant that no nests were reused for a second brood. Which means only one brood of kids was added to the population. But all was not lost! Maybe because they nested so late, predation on nests was relatively (relatively) low and those kids that did hatch fledged successfully at a higher rate. So a trade-off.
Ok. That was the boring update. As in previous seasons, there are some fun stories to tell about the little guys and I will (try!) to post those over the next few weeks.
So, stay tuned!!
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