Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- North America; Passeriformes; Wood warblers
Two years later, Philipp and Bowdish (1919) found four nests in northern
New Brunswick. "They were in rather high spruce trees, within two or
three feet of the extreme top, usually as near the top as suitable site
and cover could be secured. All were built in very thick foliage,
against the main stem of the tree, resting lightly on twigs and foliage,
but fairly secured thereto by webs, and were entirely invisible from the
ground, in every case." The nests were from 35 to 40 feet above the
ground, and were not substantially different in size and construction
from that described by Dr. Merriam. They add that the thick lining of
hair, feathers, and a little fur, all smoothly felted, serves to
distinguish the nests from those of the black-poll and myrtle warblers,
and note that the nest tree is usually "fairly openly situated, at least
as to one side, although this is not always the case, since other pairs
watched were very evidently nesting in trees where it was much more
difficult to detect them."
Richard C. Harlow has sent me the data for seven nests of the Cape May
warbler that he collected in Tabusintac, New Brunswick, in 1919. Two of
these were 55 feet from the ground in a fir, and the others were 35, 45,
50, 55, and 60 feet up, respectively, in black spruces. All were in the
very topmost shelters of the trees, and three of them were in heavy
forests, the others being on the edges. In other respects they were
similar to those described above. The females sat very closely until
almost touched, and then dropped down to the ground.
The nest found by James Bond (MS.) on Mount Desert Island, Maine, was
against the trunk of a red spruce 38 feet above ground and about 4 feet
from the extreme top of the tree. In construction it was similar to
those described above. In his published (1937) paper the tree was said
to be a black spruce, but he now writes to me that it was a red spruce
and that there were no black spruces in the immediate vicinity; these
two spruces are difficult to distinguish.
Dr. Paul Harrington, of Toronto, writes to me that he found a nest of
the Cape May warbler in an open spruce forest near Dorcas Bay, Bruce
Peninsula, on June 12, 1934. "The tree was about 35 feet high, a typical
'church spire.' Near the top was a heavy clump, but I could see nothing
that indicated a nest; when I put my hand in the heavy needles near the
trunk a bird popped out and straight down. * * * I carefully groped
about and eventually found the nest, built near the trunk in the
uppermost clump of needles."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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