I promised more about 2023 and so I will deliver.  We'll see how long that lasts.  

This year the bushtits made a liar out of me.  I am convinced it was a plot.  In Arizona, young females, as far as I could tell because finding them was hard, left their natal flocks in small groups and then settled in different flocks nearby.  They didn't move far.  But they did move out and to new areas.  

This year in Portland, I had the good fortune of finding all the nestlings from one of the nests that fledged late last summer -- now, of course, full grown and breeding age. BTW, both the parents of these guys nested successfully together again this year...sweet.....but that's another story in itself.  

Anyway.  We found all 5 kids on Reed campus near where they hatched and could identify the sex of them all -- keeping in mind that bushtits all hatch with dark down eyes and only after a few weeks morph into the striking yellow/cream eye that distinguishes females.  Lo and behold, there were 3 males and 2 females.  The females were still not far from where they had hatched when I recaptured them early in the season.  Within weeks two of the males and one female built nests not far from where they hatched.  That was a surprise. At least the female was.  I expected her to be long gone given what I thought I knew about bushtits.  That'll teach me.   

And then there was another female hatched last year who nested -- twice -- just 25 yards or so from the nest she hatched out from.  That was even a bigger surprise.   

Honestly?  Annoying.  So now I need to rewrite that part of the bushtit story.  Females may not be leaving their natal flocks in Portland.  At least some females seem to be hanging out with their bros.  Sigh.  

I do wish they'd be consistent!!  But, alas, that appears not to be in the cards.  Once the DNA gets analyzed, things may become much clearer.  At least one can hope.