And We Have Nestlings!

The most exciting news of the day is that GORA and ORBA’s eggs have hatched! We have our first nestlings of the season! There were at least three nestlings (they were sort of nestled together, so a fourth may have been buried underneath the others). They are about one day old. Things are going to start rolling very quickly now. In seven days we will band the nestlings, then two days after they fledge we will catch one to attach a radio transmitter, then tracking will begin!

Other nest checks today: GOAN and GPAY’s nest still has 2 eggs. OBAN and - - A-'s nest still has four eggs.


Today I observed a male singing for over 20 minutes in M3/4. His right tarsus is completely missing! I was directly under him while he was singing, and I could see him holding what was left of his right leg out for balance. Either the leg stub is too short to use to balance himself on the branch, or it is a recent injury and is too painful. It was difficult to see his left leg because he was crouched down over it, but I thought I saw an aluminum band on his left leg. I have no idea who this male could be. It would almost make sense if it were BBAG, because he has been missing for a few days, and this male was in his territory, but if I really did see an aluminum band on his left leg it couldn’t be BBAG.

In N2 I saw GABR (male) foraging in his umbrella tree. His female was nowhere to be seen.

In R10 RRAO (male) was singing, but his female was also missing. The females are all probably incubating eggs somewhere.

In M5 I saw AY- - singing, and he had both legs! This was an important observation, because now I know that the male with one leg from earlier today is not AY- -. That narrows it down a bit. A bit later I saw AY- - foraging with RRBA (female) in L7. I also saw the toeless female continuing to bring grass to her nest near the bench. These were also important observations. If BBAG is truly dead, it seems unlikely that the toeless female would continue to build her nest that she started with BBAG in mind. If AY- - and RRBA are still together we know that AY- - hasn’t paired up with the toeless female, even though he has been hanging out in BBAG’s territory. I hope we just find BBAG soon, because that would clear everything up.

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April 29, 2009

Today we found RRAO and an unbanded female in N9, which is quite outside their normal range. I had seen RRAP in N9 two weeks or so ago with an unbanded female. Hm… Today we followed RRAO’s female for an hour and twenty minutes, and she exhibited no signs of nesting behavior.

We found BARO (male) foraging with an unbanded female in P6 and P7. We were able to follow the female for half an hour and there was no sign of nesting behavior. Just south of BARO we found YGAN (male) and a female (probably PBOA) in S4.

In X2 an unbanded male was singing. He did not react aggressively to the playback, just continued singing in the same tree.

In J10 YARN was singing near the fenceline. I am glad that we were able to find him today. This is only the second time we’ve seen him this season.

In C6 we saw an unbanded male perching silently just north of AROO.

Nest check for today: ORPA and - - AN: still four eggs.

Mysterious Behavior in BBAG's Territory and Why Dog Owners Should Always Leash Their Dogs

Today Adam and Laura arrived at the park while I was still stuck at PSU in the Anatomy lab. They managed to catch the unbanded male in X5 and banded him BARN. He must have been stressed because he molted all his tail feathers while he was in the cloth bird bag being weighed. Luckily they will grow back!

In R4 Adam saw PA?? (male) near PARY’s 2008 nest. It most likely is PARY (male) from last year.

Today Adam and I spent about an hour following BGAN (male) and his unbanded female through U9 and V8/9, but the female never stopped at a nest or showed any signs of nesting behavior. We also followed - - AO (male) and PGPA (female) around in U17/18 for a while, but never found a nest.

The strangest part of the day was that we saw A-GP (male) quietly sitting smack dab in the middle of BBAG’s territory in N6. BBAG was nowhere to be found. Yesterday AY- - was invading BBAG’s territory, and today it was A-GP. It was a bit more understandable for AY- - because BBAG and AY- - are next door neighbors, but A-GP’s territory is the J and K 2 and 3 region. I wonder if something has happened to BBAG.

Nest checks for today: GOAN’s nest (#1) still has two eggs. GORA’s nest (#4) still has four eggs. OBAN’s nest (#2) still has four eggs.

As Adam and I were sitting on the bench today, resting a bit before we got on the bus, a dog (unleashed of course!) ran ahead of its owner and peed right on my backpack! As soon as I realized what was happening, I yanked my backpack away, and the dog had the nerve to snarl and snap at me. The dog was probably attracted to my backpack because it smells a bit like fox urine, but still! This is one of the many great reasons why dogs should always be on leashes in the park!

Two Males Banded (RARY and APRY) and Nest Number Five!

Today we set up a net in R17 along the boardwalk to catch the unbanded male we had seen there earlier. He seemed interested in the playback today, but never flew low enough to hit the net. So we moved the net up onto the nearby hill because we had seen him fly up there. As soon as we moved the net we caught him on the first try and banded him RARY.

We also caught another unbanded male today in H3/4 and banded him APRY. Unfortunately he didn’t really fly away when we let him ago, he just hopped away. He didn’t seem to be visibly hurt, but usually towhees (and most other birds) fly away when you release them. Birds can get wing strain when caught in the net or when being extracted, but that is more likely if the net is tangled tightly around one wing and they are left in the net for longer periods of time. This was not the case for APRY. We removed him from the net immediately and he was not tightly tangled. We will keep an eye out for him the next few days.

Today Adam and I found towhee nest number five! It belongs to ORPA (female) and - - AN (male). It is in W10 near a large clump of Indian Plum. This is the same spot where I saw ORPA carrying leaves a week or so ago! The nest has four eggs.

Every two days we move the motion-activated cameras to a new, random location, swap out the memory card, and place a fresh (if it can be called “fresh”!) fox-urine soaked cotton ball in the ground. Today I moved the camera to a new location. The bottle of fox urine does not seem to seal as well as it did last year. Some of the urine is leaking into the Ziploc bag that the bottle is in, and I’m not too thrilled about putting it back in my backpack!

In M5 we observed - - A- (female) carrying leaves to nest number three under the hazelnut root. In between trips to the nest she seemed to be soliciting copulations by fluttering her wings and making soft calls. Either her mate ignored her or we missed the copulation. This female had no toes on her left leg, so it seems as though “Gimpy” (-Y-A-) has indeed lost her yellow band.

Today we also tried playing the towhee song in a few places to determine who the area belonged to. In Q7 BARO (male) appeared after we broadcasted the towhee song. In T16 - - AO responded by calling, but didn’t come close to the trail. PGPA (female) was with - - AO. Both stayed close to the park edge. In Q8 RRAO (male) was calling, so we didn’t try the playback there.

Today we checked OBAN’s nest, and there were still four eggs.

Right before we were about the leave today we saw AY - - (male) flying all around BBAG’s (male) territory and calling. He was calling in M5, N5, O5, and O6. This was very unusual. I’ve never seen AY- - being so openly defiant of BBAG’s territory boundaries. BBAG was nowhere in sight.

Nests Three and Four!

Today Adam found towhee nest number three. He had observed a female towhee very busily carrying grass near the bench in M5. After she brought in a few billfuls of grass he was able to narrow down the nest site, and found the nest under a hazelnut root! The nest was practically subterranean! Very difficult to find. At first we assumed that this female is Gimpy (- Y-A), who we had seen foraging numerous times with BBAG (male) this year. Adam says that he was not able to see a yellow band on the nest-building female’s left leg, but she didn’t appear to have any toes on her left leg, which leads us to believe that it IS –Y-A, and that she just recently lost her yellow band. Luckily this nest is still in the building stage, so there will be time to accurately determine the nest’s owners.

Today I decided to search for the nest of GORA (male) and ORBA (female) around L2 where we banded GORA last year. As soon as I arrived in the area, I found ORBA foraging. She hopped about, kicking up leaves behind her while foraging, then stopped right next to a very suspicious-looking sword fern. She did not reappear. I kept my eyes fixed on the spot for about five minutes, and I still did not see her emerge from the sword fern. I slowly approached the sword fern, and she scuttled out from under it. Nest number four, with four beautiful eggs!

In W12 Adam and I used our speakers to broadcast the towhee song. I had seen ORPA (female) in that area before carrying leaves, but I was never able to get a good look at the male’s bands. Soon after we played the towhee song, a male appeared and sang from a few different perches. His band combination was - - AN. Is this RYAN, ORPA’s mate from last year? We will have to catch him again to read the number on his aluminum band to be sure.

In U9 we saw BGAN (male) and his unbanded female in the same area where I first saw her carrying leaves several days ago. We thought she settled somewhere near a holly, but then I saw her a few feet away from us, and she was not sitting on a nest. We decided to back away and come back later to hopefully flush her off the nest. Later, we searched the area, but there was no sign of a nest or of the female.

In M1 AY- - was seen with RRBA (female), but there was no sign of nesting.

Today we set up our motion-activated infrared camera for the first time this season to estimate mammal abundance in the park. We tie the waterproof camera to a tree about a foot off of the ground, and place a fox-urine soaked cotton ball on a popsicle stick in the ground. Mammals in the vicinity come to smell the fox urine, and the camera takes a short video clip so we can identify the mammal.

Second Towhee Nest!

Today Adam decided that if GOAN (one of our most prolific breeders last year) has a nest, then OBAN (another prolific breeder) must have a nest by now. So we decided to search for OBAN’s nest today. We found OBAN and his female (- - A-, probably PORA from last year) near the fenceline in X13. We thought they were still near the fenceline, so we waited there for a bit. Two towhees flew out of a large bush in the backyard next to the fenceline and into the park. They had somehow evaded us and been in the backyard when we thought they were in the park! OBAN stayed near the fenceline, but - - A- disappeared a bit farther north. We waited around and - - A- did not appear again. We decided she must be on the nest, and even though we didn’t really know where to look, we decided to walk around and hope to scare her off the nest. We were roughly in the area of her first nest last year, so we walked around there, and she popped out from a bush! Success! Adam found the nest in a very dense clump of vegetation. It had four eggs.

GOAN and GPAY’s nest was due to be checked today. It still had two eggs, so it turns out that was her completed clutch. Usually towhees lay three or four eggs.

We decided to try to catch that unbanded male in W5 that we had been unsuccessful with the day before yesterday. This time there was no response to the playback whatsoever. Adam walked west quite a ways, just playing the playback, but got no response. It probably didn’t help that there was some loud construction work taking place on the road next to the edge of the park.

We tried the playback in P8, L9, and J9, but got no response. We tried it in R15, approximately where I had seen an unbanded pair, and we immediately got a response. At first the male was singing ever so softly, barely opening his bill, but Adam immediately paused the playback as soon as the towhee arrived. Then the towhee pumped up his volume, apparently a little more confident since he didn’t hear the intruder anymore. He sang in one spot for quite a while and Adam was even able to get some pictures. We’ll try to set up a net and capture him tomorrow.

Towards the end of the day we decided that if GOAN and OBAN have nests, then A-GP must have a nest, too. Last year A-GP’s nestlings were the first to fledge. I decided to look for A-GP and Adam went off to look for AY--. I had seen A-GP fly with another towhee towards K2, so I headed in that direction. I wandered around for a bit, seeing nothing, then out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird fly off of a stump, so I went to check it out. Lo and behold, there was a nest on the stump with four eggs, partially concealed by dead leaves and Oregon Grape. Unfortunately the owner had flown off the nest, and I wasn’t sure if it was a towhee or not. I decided to sit down and wait for the owner to come back. A minute or so later, a Hermit Thrush appeared about 15 feet from the nest, doing its characteristic wing-shrugging. It really wasn’t clear if the Hermit Thrush was trying to go back to the nest, but didn’t want to because I was too close, or if it was just an innocent passer-by. I decided to leave and come back after the owner returned. A bit later I returned with Adam and a Song Sparrow flew off the nest. Sigh.

A Day of (Unsuccessful) Playbacks

Today we tried playing our recording of the towhee song in a few different places to see if we would get a response. Some places were chosen because we had seen unbanded males there and we wanted to see if they were in the area today and if they would respond to the playback before we bothered setting up nets. We tried this in D3 and F2 because I had seen unbanded males there before, but today we received no response to the playback. In X4 we went ahead and set up the net because we saw an unbanded male singing there today. He responded to the playback by doing the wing-raise display, but he did not seem upset enough to make more than one pass at the net, so we did not catch him.

We tried the playback in V7 because we wanted another chance to look at GA?O’s bands. GA?O responded, and it seems as though he really is missing that one band. I will look at our records and see if there are any other banded towhees besides GAGO with GA on the left leg and O on the right leg.

We tried the playback along the trail in J7 just for the heck of it, but we didn’t get a response.

In M2 GABR (male) and GORA (male) were flying around and chasing each other. GORA chased GABR back toward the tennis center, and GORA stayed on the north side of the trail.