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
P. M. Silloway (1901) found a nest of Audubon's warbler near Flathead
Lake, Mont., that was 18 feet from the ground in a fork of a willow.
"The fork containing the nest was in a main stem, upright, a number of
feet below the leaf-bearing part of the tree, so that the nest was
exposed quite fairly to view." H. D. Minot (1880) found one at Seven
Lakes, Colo., in an odd situation: "The nest, composed of shreds and
feathers, with a few twigs without and hairs within, was built in a
dead, bare spruce, about twenty feet from the ground, compressed between
the trunk and a piece of bark that was attached beneath and upheld
above, where a bough ran through a knot-hole, so compressed that the
hollow measures 2-1/4 x 1-3/4, and 1-1/2 inches deep." Dr. Chapman
(1907) describes a nest from Estes Park, Colo., as "loosely constructed
of weed-stems and tops, and strips of bark, lined with fine weeds and
horse-hair."
Mr. Woodbury (MS.) describes Utah nests as "compactly woven, cup-shaped
structures, usually of fine grasses, plant fibers or shredded bark,
lined with feathers or some substitute, and camouflaged with some fine
stringy material holding bracts or other small particles in place." He
reports nests in such conifers as spruce, balsam, and ponderosa pine,
and in aspen and oak.
J. Stuart Rowley writes to me: "In California, I have found several
nests of this species in the San Bernardino Mountains and in the Mono
County area in the northern part of the State. The nests I have found
have all been beautifully made structures, securely fastened to small,
low hanging branches of lodgepole pine, and placed about 10 to 12 feet
from the ground."
Dr. Grinnell (1908) records three nests, found in the San Bernardinos;
one "was twenty feet above the ground in the thick foliage of a short
drooping fir bough. It was compactly composed of weathered grasses,
frayed-out plant fibres, and tail and wing feathers of juncos and other
small birds. Internally it was thickly lined with mountain quail
feathers, some of the chestnut-colored ones sticking above the rim
conspicuously. This feather feature seems to be characteristic of
Audubon warblers' nests, as it was noticeably present in all that we
saw." Another nest was 25 feet from the ground in one of the lowest
branches of a yellow pine. The third "was snugly tucked away in a small
clump of mistletoe on an alder branch twelve feet above the ground."
J. K. Jensen (1923) says of New Mexico nests: "The nests are usually
placed on a horizontal limb of a pine or spruce, but also among dead
twigs on the trunks of cottonwoods, and even in a cavity of some tree.
All nests found were lined with a few feathers of Bluebirds and
Long-crested Jay."
Nests in tamarack, cedar, and birch have been reported by other
collectors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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