March 30, 2009

Today in L4 I saw AY-- (male) calling. The two dashes indicate that I clearly saw the bird's right leg, and it did not have any bands. Last year this same area belonged to a male banded AYYG. I believe this is the same bird. He must have lost those bands at some point during the winter. We will try to capture him again this year to confirm his identity and replace his bands.

In J2 and J3 A-GP (a male) was calling and foraging. A-GP had one of the earliest nests last year; in fact we found his nest just before the chicks were ready to fledge. We had to band them right away. It was the first nest we banded last year, and it was a bit of a disaster. The chicks were really past the prime age for banding. They bolted in every direction from the nest as soon as we reached into the nest. We had to run all over to catch the newly fledged chicks (without stepping on them!) to band them. It would have looked pretty hilarious to an outside observer, I'm sure. That's why we try to band the nestlings seven days after they hatch. At that age they are big enough to band, but they haven't opened their eyes yet, and there is no danger of them escaping. They just lay in your hand.

In H5 and 6 BRAN (a male) was singing for a long time (~5 minutes) while perched over a big patch of Himalayan Blackberry. After a bit an unbanded female (probably his mate) appeared from lower in the blackberry. I've noticed that BRAN tends to sing a few different song varieties. After standing there listening to him sing one song for a while, it's a bit startling to hear him start singing a different variety. Perhaps that has the same effect on neighboring towhees as well.

In J9, right along the fence that separates the park from the school soccer field, I saw YARN (a male) singing and foraging. Last year YARN had two nests right in the little strip of weeds on the soccer field side of the fence. A day or so before the nestlings of the first nest were due to fledge, they disappeared, and since YARN's female started building a new nest right away, we assumed that the nestlings of the first nest had been some predator's lunch. YARN's second nest was successful. It was pretty tricky at first to find the newly fledged youngsters. There is a steep hill on the park side of the fence, and the fence is covered in blackberry. We had to go back and forth around the fence to hone in on where YARN seemed to be taking food for his fledglings. After much stealthy creeping around, we managed to catch one of YARN's fledglings, GRAP, and attached a transmitter harness. We were curious how long GRAP would stay near the fence. He ended up staying near the fence for several days. In retrospect, it seemed like an advantageous position to be in. If any mammalian predator had its sights set on catching GRAP, GRAP could simply hop back and forth through the fence, neatly evading the larger predator. It sure worked on us! A few times we would use the telemetry to track him down and he would be perched right on the fence, under a tangle of blackberry!

A little ways outside the park, on Sundeleaf Drive, I observed ANYB, a fledgling from last year, singing high in a tree in someone's yard. We waited for what seemed like forever for him to come down so I could get a better look at him, but eventually we had to move on to catch the bus.