April 7, 2009

Today I saw an unbanded male and female calling in N2 near the tennis center. It probably is the same pair I saw a few days ago.

BBAG was singing again in M3. Later in the day I saw him in N6 foraging with Gimpy.

In L4 an unbanded male was calling near a big cedar. In L2 ORBA (female) was seen foraging with an unidentified male.

In K2 A-GP was calling very close to the edge of the park. I hope he doesn't decide to nest right there. It is a dense mass of holly in that area. Not very pleasant for nest-searching or tracking fledglings.

An unbanded male was singing right on Rainbow trail in V2. An unbanded female was hiding close by. I think this male will be one of the first adults we try to catch this year because it will be easy to set up a net right on the trail where he was singing. The Rainbow trail hummingbird is still incubating her eggs.

In T5 YGAN was calling. I didn't see PBOA.

In U9 (south) BGAN was calling in one bush for a few minutes. After a bit his unbanded female popped up from nearby. This made me a little suspicious. Sometimes when towhees have an active nest the male perches close by in one spot for a long time. I searched the area where the female had emerged, but I didn't find anything. The towhees did not stick around or seem the slightest bit upset when I searched the area, so I dismissed the possibility of an active nest there.

In V10 (west) I observed RRAP (male) calling. This observation was very exciting, because RRAP was one of our radio tagged fledglings from last year. We had first banded him as GRAP (his father was YARN and his nest was along the fenceline in J10). Later in the season we accidentally caught an unbanded juvenile towhee and mistakenly banded him GRAP, also. When we caught YARN's GRAP later in the season to remove his transmitter, we switched his G band for another R so that if we saw him again we would know for sure who he was. Today RRAP flew from V10 into W11. I observed ORPA (a female) close by. Perhaps she is RRAP's mate. ORPA was carrying leaves, which means that she is beginning to build (or at least thinking about building) a nest. At this stage it is very difficult to find the nest, because they just look like piles of leaves on the ground. Once the female starts adding grass and forming the nest cup it will be easier to find.

In V14 OBAN was foraging and calling in his favorite large holly tree on the corner with a female who just had an aluminum band on her right leg. I wonder if this female is PORA, OBAN's mate last year.

In other news, the Hutton's Vireo nest is still active. One of the vireos was sitting in the nest when I arrived, but then flew off. Was the female laying eggs, or are they still building the nest and forming the nest cup?

A couple of days ago I found a Downy Woodpecker excavating a cavity. Today the cavity looked deeper but there was no sign of the woodpecker.

In T9 a whole flock of Bushtits were busily flying around. Last year they had a nest in this area, but it was either depredated or abandoned.

The Waterleaf leaves are getting bigger each day. Thimbleberry is also starting to emerge.