As it turned out, the rufous Screechie I reported in late April did not nest this year, but did appear virtually every day in the box hole for about 10 days. Over the past week, I was out several clear nights with the telescope and heard 1 or 2 different calling Screechies in the nearby area, one monotone-ing, one whinnying, sometimes together. So I hope there will be a return this winter to the 'known' nest box.
Meanwhile, my efforts were not in vain: a pair of GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHERs are using the owl box for their nest! We've been watching them moving in and out of the box for a couple of weeks at least, and in the last week bringing a continuous series of bugs, beetles, and moths. Up until this morning, the nestlings were dead silent which I thought was remarkable based on the size of some of the insects, thinking that if they were big enough to eat those, they must be mature enough to whine like all the other species' nestlings are at this time of year (we have loud Robin, Titmouse, Chipping Sparrow, Catbird, Song Sparrow nestlings in abundance). Also, I twice traced begging sounds to a Cowbird chick being fed by an EASTERN PHOEBE adult about 2/3's the size of the chick. The cheerful male Cowbird sings every morning in the dawn chorus, and why not! His work is done. For the first time, this morning, I heard the first faint GCFL nest begging sounds, which sound like faint versions of the adult wheeep. (So they aren't Cowbirds at least!) There are a couple of striking observations about how GCFL tends the nest. Of course, being an owl box (deep and 15' up on a tree), I cannot see in. But staking it out for a while showed no obvious incubation hand-offs where one parent replaces the other with no or a short delay, as one might expect in this non-dimorphic species (that is, both should share incubation). Instead, both parents seem to vacate the nest for up to 20 min at a time even on some of the rather chilly days we had in the recent past. Sometimes, they both arrive at the same time from different foraging directions and almost crash into each other. Every feeding has been only seconds long: parent enters nest, less than 10 sec later, emerges, usually perches and looks around from the nest hole, then bolts away. On a few occasions, a wayward bug flies by during the perch and becomes the next dinner. Usually, the parents fly off out of sight. The other striking behavior is how wary the parents are of 'showing' the nest. When they see me (usually I'm 40' away, often sitting still), they NEVER fly to the nest hole but land 10-20' away on a branch, bug in bill, and observe me. If I'm on the path with the dog, even still, they will stay there for 10 min, until I finally move away behind bushes where I can look back and see them finally go to the hole. If I'm sitting dead still sans canine and they return and see me, they will wait less time before finally going to the hole. Occasionally, both will have arrived and neither will make a move unless I remain motionless. We had nesting Red-bellied Woodpeckers a few years ago, and they were largely oblivious to us sitting only 20' below their nest hole with scopes and cameras and stuff, and they always traded positions in perfect synch: calling as they approached so the nest resident knew they were coming, then doing a quick swap of position. By contrast, I have yet to hear a vocalization from the GCFL's except once or twice, a surprised squawk as they almost collide at the hole. This is the second time in a few years I've known GCFLs have nested in my woods. I have video and photos of a family of 6 on a branch from about 5-6 years back, so I'm very pleased they seem to be successful again this year. I think I've had them as a yard bird, but not a breeder, virtually every year since I've kept records, and they remain my very favorite bird for overall plumage and color. Personally I think they should be renamed Myiarchus algorensis for that color scheme. (:-) A RED-EYED VIREO sang a few times yesterday then I saw it picking at something on a low bush that looked like a strand of plant material maybe for a nest. It failed to take the piece and today I found it was a piece of thin almost clear plastic that had blown away probably from the recycling truck and lodged in the bush. Finally, yesterday, a totally unexpected first of year yard (FOYY) bird. I heard the song of a BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER at a distance, thought I was hearing things, but then it came through the woods, sang 4 more times very clearly, but remained annoyingly invisible the whole time. I've recorded these only during migrations in past years, in early-mid May or mid-late September, so this was a nice treat for 2nd day of summer! ______________________ Chris Pelkie Research Analyst Bioacoustics Research Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
