Breeding Bird Studies – Page 13 – Frontenac Bird Studies

June 18, 2009May 12, 2012 danderbyshire Breeding Bird Studies, Nest Monitoring, the Nest Files

the Nest Files – Chipping Sparrow

3608411621_1ccabe97bf — Chipping Sparrow (S.Leckie)

Nidiologicals (from Peck and James 1987 and Middleton 1998)
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)

Habitat=open woodlands, parkland and treed fields
Spring arrival=April-May
Average nest height=0.9-2.4m
Nest builder=female
Average # of broods/season=2 (rarely 3)
Average Egg Date=June 4-June 20
Area sensitive=no
Average clutch size=4
Nest building period=~4 days
Incubation period=10-11 days
Microhabitat=high variable across geographic range; strong preference for conifers.
Egg colour=sky blue (rarely white) with irregular streaks, blotches and spots mostly at larger end
Incubation=female
Parasitized by cowbirds=yes

Nest searching in the FBS study area has been generally productive, although we’ve been forced to reduce the amount of time for dedicated searching due to time constraints in June. I’ve been monitoring about forty nests in the last two weeks and have been pleased with success thus far in finding nests at a good rate when time is available. Yesterday in two hours, I was able to find active nests of Blue Jay, American Robin, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Baltimore Oriole and American Redstart. This post is an in-depth profile of Frontenac nesting species number three (only about 190 to go!).

The Chipping Sparrow is one of North America’s most abundant songbirds, a species that has benefited from the creation of suitable habitat by human settlement and infrastructure from Newfoundland to Alaska through Central America. Unlike most sparrows, the Chipping Sparrow prefers open woodlands and treed edges of waterways and fields. They seem to occur in higher densities in urban settings than undisturbed habitats. I recall my surprise in encountering an abundance of Chipping Sparrows in taiga habitats near the treeline in the Northwest Territories where Chipping Sparrows nested on the ground or slightly elevated in spruce saplings. Here in the Frontenac Arch, “chippers” are abundant in most areas where natural or man-made forest clearings occur. Our point counts are revealing a strong preference for mixed forest sites containing Eastern White Pine and/or juniper.

Chipping Sparrow nest contents (Derbyshire)

This Chipping Sparrow nest was discovered in Frontenac Provincial Park in early June within transitional habitat from young deciduous forest to mixed forest/rock barren. I was alerted to the presence of the nest by alarm calling adults. The nest was easily found at the outer end of a low pine bough, not terribly well hidden. The nest itself is a loosely formed cup consisting of dried grass with a more densely formed inner bowl of animal hair and fine plant fibers. The four eggs are a distinctive sky blue with irregular dark markings, mostly at the larger end. It was recently discovered that male Chipping Sparrows copulate with multiple females in neighboring territories (extra-pair copulations).

These last three shots visually describe the nest position and the habitat. It is unusual for a Chipping Sparrow to select such an exposed location for the nest as this particular one is clearly visible from the sides and especially from below. Not surprisingly, the preference of Chipping Sparrows for wooded edges has exposed them to high rates of brood parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds. Interestingly, of the forty nests (all species) I have discovered thus far, I have yet to find a single case of parasitism. This is, in part, due to the habitat where nests have been found, interior forest sites where cowbirds are rare. I have begun nest searching in a forest plot adjacent to open habitats and will be interested to observe any divergence in rates of parasitism.

June 15, 2009June 18, 2009 danderbyshire Breeding Bird Studies, M.A.P.S

MAPS Visit 2-Maplewood Bog

This will have to be quick update on our MAPS progress as I will be up at 3am in the morning for the second visit to the Rock Ridge site in Frontenac Park. We visited Maplewood Bog (MABO) for the second time this season on June 14th. The weather was splendid and the fieldwork was even better as a total of twenty birds were captured, of which six were recaptures of birds banded during our first visit on June 6. The forest birds seemed a little quieter than last time but activity picked up as the sun rose and the heavy dew was burned off. Perhaps the most interesting of the captures was a pair of Yellow-rumped Warblers in net 2 at about 6am. There is quite a large contingent of Yellow-rumps breeding in a nearby pine forest but we hadn’t noticed any at the station until these two showed up in the nets. Both the male and female showed evidence of active breeding so they likely have or had a nest nearby.

Early morning sun at the banding station

This is the location of our banding station for the duration of the morning. This spot is next to a long and narrow clearing next to the main bog. The clearing seems to be a key “highway” of sorts where lots of adult birds congregate. The three nets along the edge of the clearing should be quite productive later in the season when the juveniles and adults move to more open and successional habitats to forage.

3627390418_31fbc6f6c3 — The largest bog at Maplewood

This is the largest of several bogs at the site, which all have complete rings or moats of deepish water along the perimeter and thick mats of sphagnum moss. Water Arum and irises have started to bloom along the water’s edge. It would be possible to walk on the moss if you could get past the moat but you would slowly sink and get very wet-very quickly (trust me on that one!). I suppose one could stay dry by skittering along really fast like a Western Grebe in courtship display but there wouldn’t be much point in doing such a thing:). The shrubs and stunted conifers in the middle of the blog always seem to have a large population of nesting birds but they are quite inaccessible to the terrestrial nest searcher/bander.

3626576621_1a562b818f — Seabrooke Leckie looking for breeding evidence

In addition to the six hours of mistnetting and banding, we also compile a daily breeding status code for each species recorded at the station. This information helps to weed out the actual breeders from transients and non-breeding residents. Seabrooke and I are often watching for adults carrying food or nest material and also keeping an eye out for recently fledged young.

3627388344_e22e2b2621 — Veery nest now with five hungry chicks!

The Veery nest (detailed earlier here) is located in a small juniper near one of our net lanes, which has given us a convenient window into the world of a pair of Veerys raising a family. Our first capture of the morning was of an adult female with a caterpillar intended for one of these gaping maws. We later caught the male with another green caterpillar! It always amazes me how fast the eggs and chicks develop. Just nine days ago this nest contained five eggs and is now full to the brim with five chicks who already have their primaries coming through. Our next visit won’t be for another six to seven days, by which time these chicks will have fledged. These young Veerys, less than a week old, will begin a perilous southbound journey to central and southern Brazil in just a month or two from now.

A summary of results for our visit is provided below. Lights out…

Maplewood Bog- Visit 2 of 7

Banding Results

Yellow-rumped Warbler-2
Black-capped Chickadee-1
Veery-4
Rose-breasted Grosbeak-2
Gray Catbird-2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker-2
American Robin-1

Recaptures

Ovenbird-1
Northern Waterthrush-2
American Redstart-1
Veery-2

Notable Observations

Chestnut-sided Warbler
Wood Thrush (nest found)
Ovenbird (nest found)
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-shouldered Hawk

June 12, 2009May 26, 2012 danderbyshire Breeding Bird Studies, Common Nighthawk, the Nest Files, Videos

the Nest Files – Common Nighthawk

Although arguably the most studied nightjar in North America, the Common Nighthawk remains poorly known (Poulin et.al. 1996).

Species Abstract
Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor)

Habitat=primarily nests in open habitats such as rock barrens (also gravel roofs in urban areas)
Area sensitive=?
Average clutch size=2
Nest building period=0 (no nest built)
Incubation period=19 days
Microhabitat=on ground on substrates of either rock, sand, gravel, lichens etc.
Egg colour=variable; creamy white to pale olive gray, heavily speckled with greys, browns and blacks.
Nest site selection=female
Incubation=primarily female
Parasitized by cowbirds=no
k

This Common Nighthawk nest was first discovered at our Rock Ridge MAPS site on June 2, 2009. The female was inadvertently flushed from the nest when traversing one of the countless rocky flats at the site. Incidentally, a Whip-poor-will nest was also discovered on this day, less than 1km from the nighthawk nest. There won’t be many days of nest searching where that happens! Both of these species of the nightjar family have been much in the news of late because of their concurrent and precipitous decline in populations. Common Nighthawk was officially designated as a Species at Risk by COSEWIC in 2007 (Threatened) while Whip-poor-will was just recently recommended for listing in April of this year (Threatened). Nightjars are most active at dawn and dusk and are uniquely adapted to a food source of flying insects such as moths. It is suggested that the presence of a tapeta lucidum, a reflective structure of the choroid part of the eye, aids their vision during low light levels (Nicol and Arnott 1974). Relatively little is known about the breeding ecology and population dynamics of these two species, both of which commonly breed in the Frontenac Arch region of Ontario. Project Whip-poor-will will be starting up soon and will be designed to survey all nightjar populations in the FBS study area.

The photo of the “nest” above is typical for Common Nighthawks where the eggs, usually two in a full clutch, are laid directly on the ground without any addition of materials or linings. They will sometime excavate a small scrape to contain the clutch but this activity seems to be determined by the habitat in which they choose to nest. The habitat for nesting nighthawks is quite variable, ranging from gravel rooftops in urban locations to a variety of open habitats adjacent to forests. They frequently inhabit rock barrens as in this particular case but will also nest in recently burned or clearcut forests as well as agricultural fields and grasslands throughout the continent.

g
This short video clip was recorded of a defensive adult just after it was flushed off the nest. The Birds of North American account for the species describes defensive behaviour by both sexes as follows:

Male does not directly guard the nest (Dexter 1952) but may dive and boom over nest sites (Rust 1947); in addition, male may defend nest by wing-beating and hissing with mouth wide open (Dexter 1952). Female may use injury-feigning behaviour (fly away, then hiss at intruder) when flushed from eggs or young (Tomkins 1942).

j
I spent no more than three minutes in the vicinity of the nest as I didn’t want to cause any excess amount of distress to the adult tending the eggs. I have a precise fix on its location and will be able to check on its progress at a distance from now on. The photos below provide a longer perspective on the nest site in terms of habitat. I have flushed several of both Common Nighthawk and Whip-poor-will in the area of our Rock Ridge MAPS station since the initial discovery of this nest but have not yet turned up any additional nest sites. The park has a large amount of suitable habitat for Common Nighthawks, perhaps about 1200 hectares worth, which suggests that the species might be common throughout rock barren areas. I will be traveling through much of the barrens starting next week for point count surveys and hope to encounter more of these fascinating birds.
j

June 10, 2009May 18, 2010 danderbyshire Breeding Bird Studies, Cerulean Warbler, Point Counts

Point counting begins in Frontenac Park

The Point Count is a standard method for gathering data on the relative abundance of breeding birds. This method typically involves a 3, 5 or 10 minute count of all birds detected from a fixed position and is conducted year-after-year from the exact same spot. Annual replicates of point count surveys enable the calculation of population trends and can also infer correlations of temporal changes in relative abundance to specific habitats and many other parameters dictated by survey design. For the Frontenac Breeding Birds project, we will be completing 80 off-road point count stations within Frontenac Provincial Park as well as 120 roadside counts along secondary and tertiary road systems in the study area. This is a big undertaking but will provide a sound baseline assessment of the avian communities in the area. At least for now our point counts will be focused on terrestrial habitats, primarily of the forested kind.

I emerged from the house at dawn on June 8th to begin the first morning of point counts in mature deciduous forest habitat in the park. I heard a Winter Wren singing mightily from the opposite shore of our dock and wondered if I might have a chance to investigate later in the day after the surveys were done. I was about to enter some of the oldest forests in the region and didn’t have any time for dawdling so I carried on to the first station after a short boat trip across Kingsford Lake.

These forests are quite diverse with tree species but the main representatives are Red and White Oak, White Ash and Sugar Maple. The light diffusing through the canopy was quite spectacular and I was pleased to write down a singing male Cerulean Warbler at MH1, the first station of the day! Ceruleans are quintessential canopy dwellers, rarely descending to heights that would afford even a decent glimpse, although they do occur in less mature forests at Queen’s Biological Station.

This is one of the grandparent trees in the forest, easily a century old White Ash that pierced through the upper canopy. My jets hat was used to give a better sense of scale of this monster!

This is a view straight up to the canopy along the trunk of the ash and the Ceruleans like to hang out up near the top somewhere. Fortunately, I’ve been finding that their buzzy songs carry a decent distance through the forest and they are frequent songsters, even well into mid-afternoon.

This particular point count route was about 4 kilometres long in total with twelve stations spaced evenly by 330 metres. The route carried me nearly the full length of Kingsford Lake to the north end of the park and Devil Lake. There was much more than just birds to look at during the trip including this abandoned mica mine, which was established in 1844 and terminated in 1949. The mine shaft was fenced off and all that remained of the operation were piles of mica shards and a heap of old equipment and furniture as seen in the photo below. Mica is abundant in the area, glowing in the soil and exposed rock on sunny days.

The undulating landscape of ridges and valleys is a hallmark of the Frontenac Arch where the Canadian Shield rears up dramatically at its furthest position south. The valleys often contain ephemeral pools and wetlands, which create ideal growing conditions for these ferns that were over a metre and a half tall. Northern Waterthrushes thrive in these areas of the park.

Back to the birds. After completing the first route through mature forest on the 8th, today I finished up the first of three routes to be conducted in younger hardwood forest of the park. An obvious highlight of the two survey routes was the abundance of Cerulean Warblers detected. This little wet clearing in a relatively young hardwood stand contained three males that sang from the confines of their respective territories at the edge of the clearing.

This is a photo of one of my survey forms from this morning, which records no less than three counter-singing Cerulean Warblers! The inner circle has a 50 metre radius and the outer extends from 50-75 metres. This grid is used to keep track of who is where while you are working as it can become quite confusing when there are a lot of birds in your immediate area. The hashmarked lines connecting CERW and SOSP indicate countersinging birds, which helps to confirm that individuals aren’t being double-counted. Birds with small dots were detected in the first three minutes and those with stars and triangles were recorded between 3-5 and 5-10 respectively. There were twelve species within 75 metres at this particular station, including a Yellow-billed Cuckoo (YBCU) and a Scarlet Tanager (SCTA) among the Ceruleans (CERW), American Redstarts (AMRE) and Red-eyed Vireos (REVI). Also present were Northern Flicker (NOFL), American Robin (AMRO), Song Sparrow (SOSP), Great Crested Flycatcher (GCFL), Chipping Sparrow (CHSP) and White-breasted Nuthatch (WBNU).

The first day of point counts finished off nicely with a Louisiana Waterthrush near Crab Lake at the last count and in the last minute! In all a total of 14 Cerulean Warblers were detected along the route through mature deciduous forest. Another 15 were recorded this morning in younger hardwood forests near Birch Lake to the south of Kingsford for a total of 29 singing males in two mornings of point count surveys in Frontenac Provincial Park! The 24 surveys completed so far are at best a slice of what is there and I still have two more routes of twelve counts each in the younger hardwood forests.

Lastly, after walking back the four kilometres from Crab Lake on Monday, I checked in on that singing Winter Wren I’d heard singing about seven hours before. After about 60 minutes of quietly watching the male and female in their territory, I was able to locate their nest underneath this mossy old stump. It was pitch black under there and I had to basically lie down in the swamp with my flashlight and pocket mirror to find what is effectively a hidden hole in the ceiling of the stump about the size of a two dollar coin! The nest contains three very small chicks and with any luck you will notice the tips of their bills in the photo below.

June 9, 2009June 9, 2009 danderbyshire Breeding Bird Studies, M.A.P.S

MAPS Visit 1-Rock Ridge (RRID)

Round one of seven visits to all three MAPS was wrapped up on Saturday, June 6 with our first visit to the Rock Ridge MAPS site in Frontenac Provincial Park. Ontario Parks, particularly the staff at Frontenac, have been of great assistance to FBS getting established. Frontenac Provincial Park, a backcountry wilderness park with over 5000 hectares of incredibly diverse habitats is literally at the core of the Frontenac Breeding Birds program. In addition to the operation of Rock Ridge, we have also started conducting point counts and nest monitoring throughout the park, which will provide a rigorous baseline assessment of breeding bird abundance, species richness, distribution and habitat relationships. A big thanks are due to the following Ontario Parks staff for permitting us to run our project and for assisting in the development of the FBS initiative-Peter Dawson (park superintendant), Bert Korporral, Corina Brdar and Chris Robinson.

Our Rock Ridge Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) site feels, in many ways, like a world apart. The site is as unique as it is beautiful with extensive rock barrens and outcrops that tumble down over steep cliffs into deep clear lakes that shimmer aqua-green in the sun. The steep and rugged cliffs are home to Yellow-rumped Warblers, Pine Warblers, Purple Finches, Northern Rough-winged Swallows and Turkey Vultures to name a few. Frontenac Provincial Park underwent a series of burns about 80 years ago or so. At least one fire that the military had to be called in to put out was started by settlers in a dispute over rights to berry picking territory (blueberries and cranberries)! The human history of Frontenac Provincial Park, while rich and fascinating, has also played a key role in shaping what is there today. The burns of the 30’s have resulted in a large swath of what is best described as rock barren habitat with stunted and slow growing plant communities. This is a fascinating habitat and a clear favourite of Field Sparrows, Eastern Towhees and a few specialists of the region (more on that later this week).

The photo above was taken near the banding station during a brief sunny period on our visit. The view takes us over steep cliffs of conifers across to wetlands that include a small Black Spruce bog. The MAPS site also includes some more mature mixed-forest along the northwestern side. The White-throated Sparrow such as the one pictured above are one of the most abundant species at the station and their distinctive voices filled the air from all directions during our visit.

Access to Rock Ridge is at best an ordeal of mental and physical stamina! Waking up at 3am never gets easy and then to undertake a 30 minute drive followed by a 30 minute portage and 20 minute paddle….you get the picture. However, Rock Ridge is worth it. This is the view from the banding station where all of the captured birds during the six hours of mistnetting are processed (banded, measured, aged, sexed and released). There is just something of the untouched about the place that makes it all worthwhile and the birds are terrific as well. Actually, I had an hour or two of panic when we had caught a promising four birds on the first net check, which was followed by three consecutive rounds of absolutely nothing. Fortunately, a total of fifteen birds were captured during the following three net checks!

Speaking of birds, we ended the day having banded a total of 23 birds and 2 repeat captures for a total of 25. The most common of the lot were American Robins (4) followed by Red-eyed Vireo (3) and White-throated Sparrow (3). Nashville Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Scarlet Tanager and Purple Finch are also quite numerous at the site but all evaded our nets on the first day. There were also a few “singles of things” such as this second-calender year female Eastern Kingbird.

Black-and-white Warblers occur in significant numbers at all three MAPS stations. We managed to catch this sharp male from one of our “scrub” nets that is far from appropriate habitat for this species. They tend to be most common along the more maturely wooded slopes but they do seem to occur in some rather open and stunted habitats as well.

Cuckoos, both Black-billed and Yellow-billed are also found at all three MAPS sites. We captured this Black-billed and narrowly missed another in net 10 around late morning (they are a bit on the large side for 30mm mesh nets and tend to flop out when approached). The incredible abundance of forest tent caterpillars this year may produce a bumper crop of juv cuckoos in 2009!

Cedar Waxwings are late nesters and tend not to get down to business until late June-early July in Ontario. Wheeling flocks of Cedar Waxwings have been observed on a regular basis at our MAPS sites but this is the first of the species that we’ve caught. Seabrooke must have enjoyed the light of Rock Ridge as these bird portraits are particularly strong. Seabrooke has been a huge help to the operation of these MAPS stations as I’m doubtful that this could have been pulled off on my own. Look for her account of Rock Ridge on her marvelous blog later today!

In the end, our first visit to Rock Ridge was a productive one as we experienced no major incidents in accessing the site and the sample of breeding birds was very strong. I have a feeling that, more so than the other sites, the composition of species in our sample will change most sharply for Rock Ridge as the canopy birds descend and the site funnels a high number of late summer dispersing adults and young. That’s just my hunch…..

Rock Ridge- Visit 1 of 7

Banding Results

Black-capped Chickadee-2
Chipping Sparrow-1
Black-and-white Warbler-1
Red-eyed Vireo-3
White-throated Sparrow-3
Cedar Waxwing-2
Eastern Kingbird-1
Brown-headed Cowbird-1
Eastern Towhee-1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak-1
Black-billed Cuckoo-1
American Robin-4
Hairy Woodpecker-1
Blue Jay-1

Notable Observations

Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Osprey
Common Nighthawk
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Pileated Woodpecker
Common Raven
Purple Martin
Hermit Thrush
Swamp Sparrow
Indigo Bunting