New Discoveries!

Today was a busy day in Springbrook Park with lots of new observations and discoveries. In G8, along Sundeleaf Drive, I saw a male, --AN, just sitting in a bush. Last year we banded a lot of towhees, adults and nestlings, with AN on the right leg, so unless we were to capture him and read his aluminum band number, it's anybody's guess as to who he is.

In J8 I observed BRAN (male) singing right next to the path in a big holly. The other day he had been near the big blackberry patch, which is right next to somone's backyard. We never did find a nest for BRAN last year. We ended up finding one of his offspring after his nestling(s?) fledged. I wonder if he had nested right next to the backyard and we missed it completely.

In E4 and E5 I observed a male singing. His left leg was AR. His right leg was almost certainly OO, but I didn't get a good enough look to be sure. If this towhee is AROO, it would be very exciting, first of all because AROO was one of our radio tagged fledglings last year, and also because we were never able to find any nests (or territorial males) in the northern part of the park last year. It seemed to be a place that towhees generally avoided. It does make sense, since Country Club Road borders the north part of the park, and it is very loud in that area.

In M5 I observed BBAG foraging with a female. I got a good look at the female and determined that she is "Gimpy" from last year. We called her Gimpy because she seemed to have some problem with one or both of her legs, and never stood up straight enough for us to see her bands. Last year she seemed to be the mate of AYYG, but we never found a nest for that pair. Today I was able to get a few good looks at her legs. Her left leg has a single yellow band and her right leg has an aluminum band. Her left foot has no toes, which is probably why she had trouble perching last year. I'm a bit surprised she made it through the winter, but she actually seems to be doing better this year. She can use the toeless foot to balance herself, and stands up straight more often, which is why I was able to see her bands today.

In L4 and M4 I observed an unbanded male calling. It is important to keep track of unbanded males so we can determine where their territories are and find a good place to set up a net to catch and band them.

In R9 I observed BABY (a male) calling loudly and repeatedly while an unidentified male sang from across the path (between the bridges). Another exciting discovery! BABY was one of our fledglings that we radio tracked last year. It's always nice to know that they made it through the winter and are now establishing territories of their own.

In W13 I heard a male singing. It was most likely OBAN, but I wasn't 100% sure about the O band. I saw it from far away and it could have been Y. Last year OBAN had two successful nests, and we had put transmitters on BONA (from his first nest) and ARBY (from his second nest). BONA survived the first 2 weeks or so of the tracking period, then mysteriously his signal went dead for a few days. We thought we would never find the transmitter, but mysteriously again we started hearing his signal again a couple days after it went dead. We tracked it down to U12 or so, where we had never seen OBAN or BONA spending time before. It was maddening! We knew the transmitter was extremely close, based on the signal. In fact, we knew it was on the ground under the leaves right in front of us. After digging through the leaves for a while and probably stepping on the transmitter a couple times, we managed to find it. It had a few small body feathers stuck to it, and the antenna was slightly bent, but it was otherwise intact. We were pretty pleased that the receiver and antenna were so sensitive that we were able to find a tiny transmitter under the leaves, even though it did take a bit of time. We assumed that BONA had been killed because we had never seen him or his father (OBAN) range this far, and at BONA's age he would have still have been dependent on his parents to bring him food. Also during the entire 2008 breeding season, we never had any instances of a towhee wiggling out of its transmitter harness. ARBY survived the entire tracking period. I wonder if we'll see him again this year.

In Q17 and Q18 I saw PAPO (a male) and an unbanded female calling and foraging. They were very close to the edge of the park, right next to someone's backyard. Lo and behold, there was a cat stalking them! The towhees (and the other birds in the area) did not seem to be aware of the cat. Outdoor cats are extremely detrimental to wildlife, especially birds. I used to be a cat person, and I still enjoy being around cats, but cats should really be kept inside houses, or at least outdoor enclosures. The Audubon Society has some staggering statistics about the number of birds that are brought into their center each year because they were attacked by cats. Last year PAPO's nest was in the same area. On the day that the nestlings were due to be banded, we discovered that the nest had been depredated.

In R16 an unbanded male and female were foraging silently. They seemed to be very close to PAPO. I wonder if towhees tend to be more stealthy when they know they are getting close to the border of someone else's territory. A few minutes later I saw an unbanded male foraging in Q14. Could this be the same unbanded male?

In R12 I saw RRAO (a male) and an unbanded female foraging. Last year RRAO's nest was very close to the edge of the park, in Q11. One of RRAO's fledlgings, RGAY, was another of our radio tagged birds. RGAY was one of our most wide-ranging fledlgings. His nest was up in Q11, but then he spent a lot of time in the T/U 11, 12, and 13 area.

A little bit later I found myself in the same area where I had seen BABY previously today. In S9 and T9 I saw BABY again. This time he was singing (a good sign that he has claimed the territory) and calling. In S10 I observed RBAN (a male) singing and calling in between the two bridges. This is the same spot where he had his nest last year.

In W4 an unbanded male was singing from high in a big cedar.

In R5 I just happened to see BARO (a male) and an unbanded female just perching, absolutely still, for a few minutes. I looked all around to see if there was a predator nearby, but I didn't see anything. All of a sudden, in unison, the two towhees dove down under a Swordfern.

Along Rainbow trail I found the first Anna's Hummingbird nest of the season! I just happened to see the hummingbird hovering fairly close to me, so I raised my binoculars, and she just sat down on the nest! She settled down into it, and appeared to be incubating eggs. The nest is amazingly close to the trail. I will check the nest every few days. I'm sure Adam would love to film the nest when he gets back from Hawaii.