Habitat=Deciduous forest
Area sensitive=yes
Average clutch size=4
Nest building period=6 days
Incubation period=10-14 days
Microhabitat=ground or slightly elevated in shrub/tree
Nest builder=female
Incubation=female
Parasitized by cowbirds=yes
This is the first edition of what will be an ongoing series of nest profiles for breeding bird species of the Frontenac Arch. Searching out and monitoring active nests has always been an important component of ornithology and is also a significant source of data for understanding and tracking changes in demographics and ecology of breeding avifauna all over the world. As part of the Frontenac Breeding Birds program we will be actively searching for nests in select areas to yield valuable information on habitat associations, nest success/failure rates and predation/parasitism rates to name a few. These demographic data combined with vital rate statistics drawn from our three Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship stations will be utilized in concert with standardized population estimates (point counts) to form an integrated approach to avian monitoring.
This Veery nest was discovered on June 6, 2009 at our Maplewood Bog MAPS site. The Veery is one of five members of the Catharus genus of thrushes, which inhabit forests across much of North America. The Veery prefers damp, deciduous forests and tend to favour more successional habitats than the other “spot breasted” thrushes. Nests are built entirely by females in mid-May to early June and are built on or near the ground in 6-10 days (Forbush 1927). This particular nest was found about 8 inches above the ground in the centre of a small juniper in a deciduous woodland clearing. Eggs are laid 4 days after nest completion and the average clutch size is 4 eggs. The female builds the nest alone and incubates the clutch while the male guards the territory until the eggs hatch after 10-14 days after laying. The Brown-headed Cowbird parasitized 19% of nests recorded in Ontario (n=368), making the Veery a sensitive species to habitat fragmentation (Peck and James 1987).
Veery nest site
I was a bit surprised to find this particular nest in such an “open” spot with full sun shining on the nest and the back of the incubating female. Junipers are definitely a key plant for ground nesting birds in this region as the dense evergreen foliage provides an excellent concealer.
Female Veery Incubating (S.Leckie)
This incubating female sat very tight to the nest for most of the morning and was only flushed when approached to within 1ft. Luckily, Seabrooke, with camera at hand, was nearby and was able to get a couple of shots of the female tending to the clutch. I was very pleased to find our first Veery nest for Frontenac Bird Studies, as the species’ nest is notoriously difficult to find. We will be on the lookout for more and will also look for nests of its relatives-the Hermit and the Wood Thrush in the coming weeks.
On Friday, June 5 we successfully completed our first session of fieldwork at our Maplewood Bog MAPS station, which is located on crown lands north of Frontenac Provincial Park. Once again I was joined by Seabrooke Leckie, FBS research assistant and director of photography. Seabrooke and I left the station around noon with a very positive impression of MABO for its abundance of breeding birds and rich habitat. Less enjoyable were the Deer Flies, which were rather relentless but we were armed with some defense for their attacks. The site is more easily accessible than Hemlock lake, which was appreciated and is distinctly more deciduous in forest type than the other stations. The first sound we heard after parking the vehicle was that of a Whip-poor-will singing with remarkable gusto from the edge of a nearby bog within the station boundaries.
Oak-Maple forest near net #8 (Leckie)
The name Maplewood Bog is our name for the site and was chosen based on this forest structure, which is dominant in the area. The forest consists primarily of maple and oak sp. with lesser quantities of ironwood, american beech, hop-hornbeam, shagbark hickory, basswood and eastern white pine. The forest is of a mixed age with scattered mature growth and an uneven canopy closure, which is well suited to the habitat requirements of Cerulean Warbler. There is at least one Cerulean Warbler, which sang tantalizingly close to net #10 for much of the morning. Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo and Scarlet Tanager also occupy upper levels of the forest while Veery and Northern Waterthrush are abundant in the understory. An important feature of the site for our research interests is the abundance of natural clearings and wetlands distributed throughout the forest, where birds congregate to bathe and forage and disperse with their young.
Bog wetland near net #3 (Leckie)
The mistnets used to capture the resident breeding birds for banding and study are positioned in a circular fashion around an area of about 7 hectares. The standardized route for checking the nets travels the edges of three bogs containing spongy mats of sphagnum moss. These bogs also feature a dense perimeter of shrubs where American Redstarts and Northern Waterthrushes are nesting. Swamp Sparrow, Wilson’s Snipe, Yellow Warblers and Common Yellowthroats are also found in these habitats.
Upland scrub near net #5 (Leckie)
A small section of upland srub with rocky outcroppings occurs in the northwest corner of the site. This area is host to numerous Eastern Towhees, Field Sparrows and Great Crested Flycatchers to name a few. This habitat is found throughout the region on the tops of ridges where the glacial till is particularly lean.
Another bog near net #6 and #7 (Leckie)Eastern Towhee (Leckie)
A total of 26 birds were captured at MABO during visit 1, which was a little busier than Hemlock Lake just two days previous. On any given MAPS visit we are only going to capture a small sample of the breeding bird community, which is why no less than seven visits in a single season are required to portray adult and juvenile “superperiods”. We caught just one Eastern Towhee on this day but there are many more in the area, which we can expect to encounter on subsequent visits. The instantly recognizable “drink your tea” song is a ubiquitous sound at all three of our MAPS stations, making them one of the most common birds at our sites. This is likely a reflection, in part, of the selection of edge habitats as net sites-crucial for measuring productivity rates in late summer.
Nashville Warbler (Leckie)
Nashville Warbler is another common species at all of the sites, although they have proven to be difficult to catch so far. We’ve only managed to capture two females (both with brood patches) that happened into our nets on the final round of the first visit to Maplewood Bog. The Nashville Warbler is a common breeder in the Frontenac Arch and Ontario as a whole, favouring more open forests with mixed deciduous and coniferous species.
Veery (Leckie)
The downward spiralling song of the Veery, no less distinctive than the song of the towhee, was heard in abundance at MABO during the first couple of hours we were there. The Veery is a regular breeder in deciduous forests with a closed canopy. I was thrilled to stumble upon an active nest of this species at the site and will be posting about that later in the week. We caught two of this species on this day and this particular female seemed happy to take Seabrooke’s offering of a Deer Fly for her trouble.
Northern Waterthrush (Leckie)
No question the bird du jour was Northern Waterthrush as a total of four were banded, all with either well developed brood patches (active breeding female) or cloacal protuberances (active breeding male). An adult was spotted carrying food along the shrubby edge of a small bog, indicating the presence of a nest with young in the area.
Ovenbird (Leckie)
Ovenbirds are more often heard than seen and apparently more often heard than caught as well. Mistnets are usually very good at capturing skulky species such as the interior forest dwelling Ovenbird but we only managed to band a single individual during our visit. There were certainly more than just a couple of Ovenbirds in the area so I’m anticipating that we will encounter them more often as the season rolls along.
Maplewood Bog is looking like a very promising site and potentially the busiest of the three stations we are running in 2009. We both remarked how enjoyable it was to take a moment and listen to the Cerulean Warbler, Yellow-throated Vireo and Scarlet Tanager that sang persistently throughout the day within 50m of the banding station-Frontenac birding at its best!
Maplewood Bog-Visit 1 of 7
Banding Results
American Redstart-2
Nashville Warbler-2
Field Sparrow-1
Common Yellowthroat-2
Black-and-white Warbler-1
Black-capped Chickadee-1
Northern Waterthrush-4
Ovenbird-1
Red-eyed Vireo-2
White-breasted Nuthatch-2
Veery-2
Wood Thrush-1
Eastern Towhee-1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird-1 (unbanded)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak-1 (unbanded)
Notable Observations
Whip-poor-will
Wilson’s Snipe
Yellow-throated Vireo
Ruffed Grouse
Common Loon
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Common Raven
Yellow-rumped Warbler
The first “official” day of the Frontenac Breeding Birds program began with both great anticipation and the sound of the alarm clock at a shockingly early hour! The first day at a shiny new MAPS station is usually filled with a lot of excitement mixed with a bit of drama and perhaps even a bit of anxiety. Stumbling through the one kilometre long “path” through the thick bush at 430am is then followed by a mad scramble to expeditiously locate net sites and erect the mistnets. This can be a trying experience however things always get easier once this procedure is out of the way. Our first visit of the year was to Hemlock Lake, a gorgeous site of mixed forest and wetlands on crown lands in the FBS study area. The most distinctive characteristic of the HELA station is the proliferation of Eastern Hemlock and the lake itself, which is full of drowned timber and a regenerating shoreline of trees felled by the infamous ice storm of 1998. This shoreline is now regenerating with a host of successional shrubs and saplings, which provides excellent edge habitats for sampling both adult and dispersing juvenile demographics. Black-and-white Warbler (pictured above) is one of the most abundant species in the area, although just one male was captured this morning.
Hemlock Lake at dawn (S.Leckie)
Of the three MAPS stations we are running in 2009, Hemlock Lake is definitely the most rugged and arduous to traverse. There is a great amount of deadfall at the site and a lot of ups and downs over rock outcrops and small ridges and valleys. Wild Roses also provide a dense thorny covering for hidden snags and branches. While each of the twelve runs of the mistnets during the morning is an undertaking, the unique ecology, sights and sounds make it worthwhile and enjoyable.
Deciduous forest in northwest corner of HELA (S.Leckie)
The site also has large components of decidous forest at the boundaries of the station where Ovenbirds, Red-eyed Vireos and Scarlet Tanagers are common.
Mixed forest habitat (S.Leckie)
Mixed forest is more typical of the banding area, which is dotted by streams and ephemeral ponds. Gray Tree Frog, Winter Wren and Northern Waterthrush, among others, are found in these wetlands at Hemlock Lake. The most exciting find was of a fast moving Five-lined Skink, which thwarted any attempt to acquire a photograph. The Five-lined Skink is Ontario’s only species of lizard and is a designated Species at Risk.
The Five-lined Skink is Ontario’s only species of lizard, and it is split into two series of populations with distinct habitat preferences. The Carolinian populations, which are Endangered Nationally and Special Concern Provincially, occur in Carolinian forest and prefer wooded habitat with sandy soil and ground cover. They use woody debris as shelter and hibernate by burying themselves in the soil. The Great Lakes/St. Lawrence populations, which are Special Concern Provincially and Nationally, occur on the southern part of the Canadian Shield. Preferred habitat is on rocky outcrops in mixed coniferous and deciduous forests, where they can seek refuge from the elements and predators in rock crevices and fissures.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (S.Leckie)
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were also common throughout the Hemlock Lake station and are a dominant woodpecker species in forests of this type in the Frontenac Arch region.
Juvenile Brown Creeper (S.Leckie)
Brown Creepers are abundant at the site, due in part to the abundance of dead and decaying conifers along the shoreline of Hemlock Lake. We are already monitoring an active nest at the site and today captured this juvenile along with its parent (below). The two were released together at the net location where they were captured. All juvenile birds banded are released at locations where they were captured as they are often still dependent on their parents for feeding.
Adult Brown Creeper
Winter Wren nest in Eastern Hemlock
Speaking of nests, I discovered a Winter Wren nest at the site last week. The nest is located in a most unusual fashion as Winter Wrens typically build their dome shaped nests low to the ground in mossy stream banks and fallen logs. This particular nest was built on the end of a lateral Eastern Hemlock limb about eight feet off the ground! The photo below is of the entrance hole to the nest. The nest itself looks much like a ball of twigs and moss from below. Male Winter Wrens are known to continuously build nests throughout the summer, even after the female is tending eggs and young in one of his nests from earlier in the season. Males can build as many as twelve nests in a single breeding season! This particular nest is unlined and contains no eggs, which leads me to believe that it is one of these unused building projects. I will continue to check on this nest to note any change in occupancy and will begin my search for the active nest next week.
close-up of Winter Wren nest
Bird bag (S.Leckie)
A bird waiting for processing at the banding station. A fabulous set of bird bags for Frontenac Bird Studies was expertly prepared and delivered by Wendy Derbyshire (thanks mom!).
Seabrooke Leckie at the banding station
Research assistant Seabrooke Leckie processing birds at the shore of Hemlock Lake. These MAPS stations are spartan affairs as keeping things light and portable is a top priority! A total of 16 birds were captured during visit one to Hemlock Lake in 2009. Complete results are provided below. Overall, it was a fantastic start to the MAPS component of the Frontenac Breeding Birds and we have twenty more mornings and 251 more net checks at the MAPS stations still to come-a lot to look forward to!
HEMLOCK LAKE-Visit 1 of 7 Banding Results
Brown Creeper-2
Black-and-white Warbler-1
Ovenbird-1
Northern Waterthrush-1
White-breasted Nuthatch-1
Eastern Towhee-1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak-2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker-2
American Robin-3
Blue Jay-2
Notable Observations
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (bounced out of net 2!)
Barred Owl
Pied-billed Grebe
Chestnut-sided Warblers
Black-throated Green Warblers
Hermit Thrush
Red-shouldered Hawk
Crunch time has arrived as we make final preparations for the start up of the Frontenac Breeding Birds program in early June. Establishing the MAPS sites has been the main task on the agenda but we’ve also been delving into establishing over 180 point count stations, getting ready for Project Whip-poor-will and the usual administration duties. Things should clear up by early next week and I should be back to regular blogging by the end of the weekend. I have yet to start nest searching in an “official” manner but have already found nests of a dozen species. I was very pleased to find a Winter Wren nest yesterday evening and have since added Red-eyed Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a second Hairy Woodpecker nest to the list from this afternoon. No sign of a nest yet for the residing pair(s) of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at the FBS headquarters….
Of the three MAPS stations we’re establishing for the Frontenac Breeding Birds project, I’ve definitely had the most difficulty finalizing a layout for the Maplewood Bog station to the north of Frontenac Provincial Park. This particular site seemed to have the most uniformly structured forest and the least number of readily identifiable edges. It was however, the closest thing to pure deciduous forest of the three, which presented our best opportunity to sample species typical of this forest type. My last visit on May 14th, just ten days ago, gave me a bit more confidence that a viable MAPS station could be conducted there but I still had some lingering doubts.
I returned to MABO (station codename) this morning with the hope that I might find some lovely rock outcrops, forest clearings or wetlands that I’d missed on previous visits and also that some new species had arrived since mid-May. Today was my day as I found both! The most notable change since the last visit was the rather sudden appearance of Cerulean Warblers at the site (second only to a mass irruption of Mosquitos!). I hadn’t encountered them previously at MABO but they have been numerous along Canoe Lake Road this spring. In Ron Weir’s latest edition of Birds of the Kingston Region, he makes note of a high count of 25 singing males along Canoe Lake Road on May 15, 1979. Cerulean Warblers seem to have a tendancy to aggregate into colonies, although the reasons for this habit are unclear. Each MAPS station is 20 hectares, inside of which standardized misnetting of breeding birds occurs within an 8 hectare plot. I was delighted to find a total of five singing males within the banding area itself, none of which were audible from the nearby road where the site is accessed. Some of these vocal males may be unmated bachelors but I was able to confirm two pairs and found some evidence of nesting. Ceruleans were located in younger portions of the woodland with an uneven canopy and open understory and seemed to be favouring spots with mature oak sp. protruding through the canopy. The Cerulean Warbler is one of the most heavily declining bird species in North America and is a species of Special Concern in Canada and Ontario.
In addition to the parade of Cerulean Warblers, I also found a great abundance of other deciduous species, the most conspicuous of which were Veery, American Redstart, Red-eyed Vireo and Scarlet Tanager. Other birds of note were Yellow-throated Vireo, Barred Owl, Wilson’s Snipe, Swamp Sparrow, Black-throated Blue Warbler and Magnolia Warbler. The foliage was markedly further along today than my last visit and this was a great help in finalizing the layout of the MAPS station. I didn’t have much time for nest searching but I was very happy to find a Scarlet Tanager nest about 10 feet above the ground at the edge of a blanket bog!
With the layout for MABO now having been properly visualized, we are set to begin site prep next week in advance of our first visit to all three sites in the first week of June. The MAPS work will operate in tandem with an extensive network of on and off-road point count stations throughout the 15,000 hectare study area. An intensive nest-monitoring effort will also commence during the first of June. It will be an eventful and probably very tiring two months of fieldwork but we are in an excellent position to deliver this exciting new initiative. I wonder how many Cerulean Warblers can be found in 15,000 hectares of forest in the northern Frontenac Arch?
Frontenac Bird Studies 