duncankitchin
Member
A very long time since I last posted, but I thought I would post what's been going on under my bedroom window for the past week and a half or so.
This starts a week ago last saturday morning, when I heard my wife yell something I didn't quite catch just outside the window. I was still in bed (she'd got up early to do some pruning...). It turned out that, while pruning a large rhododendron bush just under the bedroom window, she had inadvertently uncovered a nest, and found several open-beaked chicks staring up at her. She quickly put back what branches she could and moved away, but was pretty despondent for the rest of the morning, thinking that she had disturbed the nest enough that the parents would abandon it.
We couldn't see much from outside, but I then realized that, by standing in exactly the right spot indoors, it was possible to see the nest through the window. Later that day, I saw adult birds in the nest, alternately leaving and returning with food.
I was able to ID the birds as rufous-sided towhees, of which we've seen quite a few in our yard. Both the male and female were seen returning with food, and, particularly late in the day the female would occupy the nest for long periods.
I did try taking some pictures, but it proved very difficult even with a DSLR with a 200mm lens, mostly due to glass reflection and the very narrow view; as I said, you have to stand in *exactly* the right spot to see the nest. I did manage to get a few pictures over the past week, and I'll see if I can post some later.
We were very concerned, though, about the location of the nest; it's actually on the ground (apparently that's normal for this species), and looked very exposed. Luckily, the existence of Purdy (our 9 year old German shepherd mix) causes the neighborhood cats to generally steer well clear of our house, and the few raccoons that risk Purdy's wrath are usually more interested in the trash cans at the opposite end of the yard. Still, we've been keeping a nervous watch on the nest all week.
Sunday morning I found one of the chicks dead just outside the nest, leaving three. I can't say I was that surprised; I guess there's only so much room and the chicks had been getting pretty big and boisterous. Still kind of a bummer, though. I'm assuming that they just kicked one of the chicks out. I also noticed that the parents seem to be returning to the nest much less often than they were, although I still saw them around in the yard.
At one point on Sunday afternoon, something a little odd happened also: there were several towhees around, more than just the two nesting parents that I had seen, and they appeared to be engaged in what can only be described as yelling at each other. They can be quite noisy at times, and have a distinctive call (a kind of rising screech that can be heard from some distance) and they must have spent about 15 minutes calling at each other from quite a close distance. Some kind of territorial dispute?
This morning, though, I found the nest empty when I checked first thing. Not only that, but the dead chick was gone. I had no idea what to make of that. I didn't think that a cat would have got them, because the nest was completely intact, and there was none of the typical mess that I have seen when a cat catches a bird. No feathers or obvious disturbance, just an empty nest.
This evening I'm pretty sure I saw one of the chicks. An adult towhee was out in the yard, and had an obviously juvenile bird that appeared to be "tagging along". No clear markings, just brown feathers with some white flecks, and a fluffy head. I was able to see it from only a few yards away. I'm fairly convinced that must have been one of the chicks. On checking, apparently 10-12 days is the typical time to fledging, so that would actually be about right.
Still no obvious explanantion for what happened to the dead chick, though. Still scratching my head about that.
I'll keep watching out, and see what I can see. I'll post some pictures if I can get anything reasonable off the camera also...
Duncan
This starts a week ago last saturday morning, when I heard my wife yell something I didn't quite catch just outside the window. I was still in bed (she'd got up early to do some pruning...). It turned out that, while pruning a large rhododendron bush just under the bedroom window, she had inadvertently uncovered a nest, and found several open-beaked chicks staring up at her. She quickly put back what branches she could and moved away, but was pretty despondent for the rest of the morning, thinking that she had disturbed the nest enough that the parents would abandon it.
We couldn't see much from outside, but I then realized that, by standing in exactly the right spot indoors, it was possible to see the nest through the window. Later that day, I saw adult birds in the nest, alternately leaving and returning with food.
I was able to ID the birds as rufous-sided towhees, of which we've seen quite a few in our yard. Both the male and female were seen returning with food, and, particularly late in the day the female would occupy the nest for long periods.
I did try taking some pictures, but it proved very difficult even with a DSLR with a 200mm lens, mostly due to glass reflection and the very narrow view; as I said, you have to stand in *exactly* the right spot to see the nest. I did manage to get a few pictures over the past week, and I'll see if I can post some later.
We were very concerned, though, about the location of the nest; it's actually on the ground (apparently that's normal for this species), and looked very exposed. Luckily, the existence of Purdy (our 9 year old German shepherd mix) causes the neighborhood cats to generally steer well clear of our house, and the few raccoons that risk Purdy's wrath are usually more interested in the trash cans at the opposite end of the yard. Still, we've been keeping a nervous watch on the nest all week.
Sunday morning I found one of the chicks dead just outside the nest, leaving three. I can't say I was that surprised; I guess there's only so much room and the chicks had been getting pretty big and boisterous. Still kind of a bummer, though. I'm assuming that they just kicked one of the chicks out. I also noticed that the parents seem to be returning to the nest much less often than they were, although I still saw them around in the yard.
At one point on Sunday afternoon, something a little odd happened also: there were several towhees around, more than just the two nesting parents that I had seen, and they appeared to be engaged in what can only be described as yelling at each other. They can be quite noisy at times, and have a distinctive call (a kind of rising screech that can be heard from some distance) and they must have spent about 15 minutes calling at each other from quite a close distance. Some kind of territorial dispute?
This morning, though, I found the nest empty when I checked first thing. Not only that, but the dead chick was gone. I had no idea what to make of that. I didn't think that a cat would have got them, because the nest was completely intact, and there was none of the typical mess that I have seen when a cat catches a bird. No feathers or obvious disturbance, just an empty nest.
This evening I'm pretty sure I saw one of the chicks. An adult towhee was out in the yard, and had an obviously juvenile bird that appeared to be "tagging along". No clear markings, just brown feathers with some white flecks, and a fluffy head. I was able to see it from only a few yards away. I'm fairly convinced that must have been one of the chicks. On checking, apparently 10-12 days is the typical time to fledging, so that would actually be about right.
Still no obvious explanantion for what happened to the dead chick, though. Still scratching my head about that.
I'll keep watching out, and see what I can see. I'll post some pictures if I can get anything reasonable off the camera also...
Duncan
