The Birders Report

Pygmy Nuthatch photos by Larry Jordan

I enjoyed our annual Audubon outing at Lassen Volcanic National Park this last weekend.  The first spot I went to check out was at Manzanita Lake where we saw a nesting Pygmy Nuthatch back in 2008.  The snag occupied for the past two years was vacant but just across the trail, about thirty feet away, was another snag with several holes, one of which was occupied by a pair of Pygmy Nuthatches.

The Pygmy Nuthatch is a non-migratory bird that lives primarily in Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pine forests.  These adult nuthatches were bringing food this early morning, shortly after sunrise, about every five minutes.  They would bring an insect, sometimes stop briefly at the entrance, then go inside and peek out the entrance with the insect still in their beaks.

Many times the adult would come back out carrying a fecal sac

This is a common practice of cavity nesting birds and many passerines to keep the nest clean.  The fecal sac is a mucous membrane, generally white or clear with a dark end, that surrounds the feces.  The nestling usually produces a fecal sac within seconds of being fed and the adult bird takes it from the nest and discards it some distance away.

One of the interesting facts I learned while researching the Pygmy Nuthatch on Birds of North America Online is that they don’t drop their fecal sacs but deposit them on a high limb, wipe their bill, then rap vigorously on the limb.  I didn’t know this at the time I took these photos so I didn’t observe this behavior.

I did notice that the nestlings were being fed, as I said, about every five minutes, sometimes with both adults returning to the nest with food at the same time.

Little did I know that the Pygmy Nuthatch is one of the few cooperatively breeding passerines in North America and that a third of the breeding pairs have 1–3 male helpers, usually progeny or other relatives.  These helpers feed incubating females, nestlings, and fledglings and participate in defense of the nest site¹.

This little guy stuck its head out of the nest after feeding the nestlings and posed for quite some time, allowing me to get some good expressive photographs as the sun began to shine in on the snag entrance.  He or she then flew up to a sunny branch above the cavity entrance where I took the opening photo.

More information on this very intersting species:

“The Pygmy Nuthatch roosts in cavities, which it selects depending on season and weather. It picks roosts based on insulation and ventilation provided by roost cavities and relies on hypothermia to survive cold winter nights. Although a few other North American birds are capable of controlled hypothermia, only the Pygmy Nuthatch links hypothermia with protected roost sites and communalism.

Pairs roost together; juveniles roost with parents, and collectives of several flocks roost together. Stacks of 6, 8, and 10 birds, and more, roost together in formations of squares, oblongs, triangles, diamonds, wedges, and tiers. Two articles report more than 150 individuals roosting in one tree.”²

I will be writing on more of the birds of Lassen Volcanic National Park coming up as we counted 60 species during our two day outing!  In the meantime, go check out more great bird photos at Bird Photography Weekly!

References: ^{1, 2} Birds of North America Online

Western Bluebird With Worm photos by Larry Jordan

Last week was a pretty great week for me.  I had the pleasure of leading a bird outing for Wintu Audubon, teaching folks about cavity nesting birds and how to monitor a bluebird trail.  It was very exciting and rewarding for me to share this experience with some folks who had never before seen baby birds in their nests.

There were nest boxes full of Tree Swallow eggs and some with Western Bluebird nestlings on my Lema Ranch trail.

The very next morning, on my home trail, I took these shots of the bluebirds feeding their nestlings

But that wasn’t the most exciting thing for me on my birthday.

It was discovering this Violet-green Swallow in one of my nest boxes.  The first Violet-green I have had nest on my property!

Almost a week later, as the weather warmed, the female finally got off the nest long enough for me to see the eggs.

One reason that this just thrills me to no end is that I love swallows.  I love watching their incredible acrobatic flights.  Another is that Violet-green Swallows often return to the same breeding site in successive years, as do bluebirds.

So, if this wasn’t enough to make my week, as I watched the Western Bluebirds feeding their nestlings, I noticed that the young were coming to the nest box entrance often and looking out as the adults brought the treats.  This means that they are close to fledging.

I was unable to watch this pair’s nest box very long on this Sunday as I had other duties awaiting my attention, but I went back at sunrise the next morning hoping for the first time to witness the Western Bluebird nestlings fledge.

I took my digiscoping setup and shot this video of the young bird’s first flight.

You will see the adult male come to the nest box as if to feed the chick but bringing no food, followed by the female who displays the same “mock” feeding.  The adult bluebirds then flew up to a nearby tree.

You will hear the nestlings chirp and the adults call back, enticing them to leave the nest.

What a great week!  For more great bird photos, check out Bird Photography Weekly!

Green Heron Nesting photos by Larry Jordan

The Green Heron (Butorides virescens) is a very interesting bird.  They stalk fish in shallow water or dive on them from a perch above.  They are also one of the tool-using birds, baiting fish with various items including bread, mayflies and feathers (see video).

So when I got an email from Norm saying he had a bird that looked like a Bittern nesting in his backyard, I asked if I could come over and take some photographs.

Sure enough, he had a pair of Green Herons nesting in one of his Black Birch trees.  This is not that unusual considering Norm lives a short heron flight from Mary Lake.  These first photos were taken May 18th when the three nestlings were still in the nest.

I returned a couple weeks later to see how the young ones were doing.  In the interim, we had some pretty severe weather, with high winds and rain.  One of the nestlings had presumably fallen out of the nest and died, leaving two.  We found it in the vegetation below the nest.

The remaining two nestlings were hanging out together, waiting for the adults to bring them something to eat.

They were rearranging the sticks around the nest and at one point, one of the chicks snatched this fly that got too close.

They still have their down but their feathers are beginning to develop and they are stretching and flapping their wings.

I thought this was a rather prehistoric pose.

As the time for the nestlings to fledge grows near, I only waited a week to go back to Norm’s for another look.  After all, how often do you get to watch Green Herons raise their brood?

When I arrived, the nestlings were no where to be found.  We scoured the trees in the yard.  Nothing.

Finally we saw some movement, way up in the higher, outer branches of the nest tree.

The nestlings are at least 18 days old at this point.  They were partially flying and hopping from branch to branch.

According to Birds of North America Online, at this age, the young will fly all around the nest tree while the parents forage, then fly back to the nest tree when the parents come back to feed them, two or three times a day.

I have, so far, been unable to get photos of the young being fed.  My second visit to Norm’s, the adults came in to feed the nestlings while I was there but they snuck around the back side of the nest and it was just a flash of wings and beaks and was over before I could see anything.

Norm has been very gracious with his time and his backyard, allowing me to record this experience and I hope to update this post later this week with, most likely, the last photos of this brood before they leave.

In the meantime, go check out more great bird photos at Bird Photography Weekly!