Sara Jane treated me to Father's Day by taking me to Oquaga Creek St.
Park for a sumptuous picnic. This park is about 10 miles SSE of
Bainbridge. I, of course, did a little birding. Before that, however,
we played frisbee golf (the course is inside the woods). We often
missed the "fairway" with our tosses and had to traipse in amongst the
trees and shrubs. On one occasion, as I was getting to my errant
frisbee, we were startled by some creature scurrying away from me along
the ground. We were very surprised when this little creature turned out
to be a female OVENBIRD. I was almost standing on the nest (gasp!!).
As we thought about her behavior, it became apparent to us that by her
literally running (not flying) away from the nest along the ground, any
predator's attention would be completely focused on her, thereby sparing
the nest from predation.
As it turns out, ovenbirds were literally everywhere in this park. As I
was hiking along a trail, another female went scurrying away along the
ground. I was able to find her nest as well. How's that for good
fortune. Two nests in one day!! I've only seen one before this, and
that time our son, Chris, found it for me. Unless you're right on top
of a nest, you can be hard-pressed to find one.
Although sorely tempted, we did not touch or investigate the nests,
which to nobody's surprise are in the shape of a dutch oven.
Larry
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W. Larry Hymes
120 Vine Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
(H) 607-277-0759, w...@cornell.edu
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