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
_Behavior._--Much of the behavior of this friendly little bird has been
referred to in connection with its activities about our homes and
gardens and its nesting habits. Tilford Moore tells me that "these birds
seem to have a tendency toward 'creeperism,' in that they are often seen
hanging to the bark of a vertical trunk or branch, and are usually on
the larger branches rather than among the smaller twigs. They often
flutter a lot when hanging to the bark." And Wendell Taber sends me this
note: "On May 5, 1940, Richard Stackpole and I watched a flock in West
Newbury, Mass. The birds were running about on the grass near a stream.
Again, they would alight at the base of a tree and run up it several
feet. I think all the birds that performed this feat were females. They
were most deceptive, and we kept thinking we were seeing brown creepers
until we put field glasses on them."
William Brewster (1938) writes of the behavior of a female about her
nest, 35 feet from the ground in a hemlock: "The female Yellow-rump was
sitting and for some time she absolutely refused to leave her eggs.
Watrous first shook the branch and then with a long stick poked and
shook smartly the twigs within an inch or two of her head. At length she
hopped out of the nest and stood for a moment or more on its rim looking
about her. Then she fluttered down towards the ground with quivering
wings and wide spread tail, moving slowly and alighting several times on
a branch or cluster of twigs where she would lie prostrate for a moment
beating her wings feebly and simulating the movements of a wounded or
otherwise disabled bird."
Dr. Stone (1937) describes the flight of the myrtle warbler very well:
We soon learn to identify their rather jerky flight as they rise from
the bushes, and with a series of short wing flips turn now to the right,
now to the left, in their zigzag progress, rising somewhat with the
beats, and falling in the intervals. Sometimes a bird will go but a
short distance, flitting from bush to bush, while others will climb
higher and higher in the air, drifting in their jerky way across the sky
like wind-blown leaves. * * *
As soon as a Myrtlebird alights on a bush there is a short, sharp flip
of tin tail, not a seesaw action, but one involving the body as well,
and as it comes to rest the head is drawn in and the plumage ruffled up
making the outline more nearly globular, while the wings are dropped
slightly so that their tips are a little below the base of the tail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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