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
_Nesting._--The only two nests of Audubon's warbler that I have seen
were shown to me in Washington, near the State University at Seattle.
The University is located on high land at the north end of Lake
Washington, where the steep banks, sloping down to the lake, are heavily
wooded with a mixed growth of large and small firs of at least two
species, as well as cedars, alder trees, and maples. In the more open
part of the woods I was shown, on April 29, 1911, a nest of this warbler
placed about 30 feet from the ground on two small branches and against
the trunk of a tall Douglas fir beside a woodland path. The other nest I
saw in the previously described "prairie region" near Tacoma on May 14,
1911; it was placed only 9 feet from the ground but 10 feet out from the
trunk of a dense Douglas fir growing in the open, and was well concealed
in the thick foliage.
These nests were evidently typical for the region, according to Rathbun.
He mentions in his notes two other nests. One, found May 2, 1909, on
the east side of Lake Washington and along a road, was 30 feet from the
ground in a small hemlock, near the extremity of one of the limbs and 7
feet out from the trunk. The other, found May 11, 1913, was in a small
fir about 30 feet up and about 4 feet from the trunk on one of the lower
limbs. "The nest is a very beautiful structure, constructed outwardly of
very small twigs from the fir or hemlock, inside of which are placed
smaller ones of the same character, with black rootlets, and lined with
feathers, of which a quantity are used, and a few horsehairs. It is a
compactly built affair." Dawson and Bowles (1909) say that the nests are
placed from 40 to 50 feet up, and usually measure 4 inches in width
outside by 2-3/4 in depth; and inside 2 by 1-1/2 inches. They are made
externally of such materials as fir twigs, weed tops, flower pedicels,
rootlets, and catkins, and are heavily lined with feathers of various
birds--including grouse, ptarmigan or domestic fowls--these feathers
often curving upward and inward so as partially to conceal the eggs.
Dr. J. C. Merrill (1898) found a very different type of nesting near
Fort Sherman, Idaho: "Here a majority of the nests I found were in
deciduous trees and bushes, generally but a few feet from the ground.
One was in a small rose bush growing at the edge of a cut bank
overhanging a road where wagons daily passed close to it. * * *
Occasionally one was seen in deep woods by the roadside near where hay
had been brushed off a load on a passing wagon; this was utilized for
the entire nest except lining, making a conspicuous yellow object in the
dark green fir or pine in which it was placed."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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