Nature Reflections June 10, 2004
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Breeding Birds
Have you seen recently someone with binoculars standing on the roadside and staring up at a tree? It may have been me! I am taking part in a project to determine what birds are breeding and where they are breeding.
Why? This is an effort to find out whether our feathered friends are alive and well or whether there are problems. Are the Wood Thrushes disappearing? (They have from my woodlot!) Are the Common Loons still raising young on the lakes? Are the jewels of the forest, the warblers, still returning each spring? Are there still marshes where the ducks, rails and moorhens find room to nest? How is West Nile virus affecting the jays and crows?
If we can determine what birds are nesting, the information that is gathered will be used to as a basis for research which may answer the above questions, and many more. And so for the next few weeks myself and others will be out looking for birds. What we see will determine the evidence of breeding - and so we look for a variety of clues.
When we see a bird that is obviously a migrant passing through (Brant or a yellowlegs on the way to the Arctic) - that is not a breeding clue. Clue number one is seeing a particular bird in an area that is suitable habitat (Baltimore Oriole in a tall maple). Then we listen for songs - Clue number 2 (the robin singing its song and establishing a breeding territory). These clues mean Possible Breeding.
But we move on to more important clues - are there a pair (two Mourning Doves on the wire)? Has that robin been singing in the same place for several days? Is the hummingbird courting the female with his u-shaped flight? Has the Barn Swallow been checking out the barn for a nest site? Is the Red-winged Blackbird agitated when you come too close? Can you see a brood patch on a female Mallard? Is the Pileated Woodpecker excavating a nest hole? All these are evidence of Probable Breeding.
How do we confirm actual breeding? Watch for a Killdeer pulling its broken-wing act to lure you from its nest or young. Find an egg shell that the Eastern Phoebe has removed from its nest. Enjoy the sight of the downy young of a Wood Duck following their mother. See an Eastern Bluebird entering a bird house, and its mate leaving. See a kingbird carrying away a faecal sac. Find a Song Sparrow carrying a small green caterpillar as food for its young. Or more important still find a nest with eggs (but do not disturb!) or a nest with young that can be heard or seen.
A few days ago I was in the Coxvale - Ardoch area, and in two and a half hours recorded 44 species. I will be back again (there and elsewhere) a few times to look for the clues that will determine the breeding birds. YOU CAN HELP! If you know of nesting birds, please let me know! Phone 268-2518, or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Observations: Doug Hawley of Mountain Grove has sent me a picture of Yellow Ladys Slippers in his garden - no less than 67! Helm, in Oconto, saw a beautiful Luna Moth on Jun 6.
