FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Golden-crowned Kinglets' nest found again

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

For the second consecutive year, an active nest of the Golden-crowned Kinglet 
has been found in Smyth County, Va.   A nest was located in the same small 
stand of Red Spruce where Ron Harrington and Wallace Coffey located a nest on 
June 11, 2003.    
Today (25 June) we located a pair of birds carrying food near a typical nest in 
the lower elevation plantation. The birds were constantly active within six 
feet of the nest and often right above it.  Neither bird would go to the nest.

The breeding adults are disjunct from the local population of the species found 
in the  spruce-fir belt of Whitetop Mountain (6.5 miles SW)  and Mount Rogers 
(4.0 miles S). 

We found the kinglets and their nest in the
headwaters of Hurricane Creek on the lower slope of Iron Mountain at
elevation 3,500 feet.  Hurricane Creek is a second level tributary of the
South Fork Holston River in the Tennessee River drainage.

Last year the nest contained at least 6 young.  It was suspended from a low 
branch of the spruce about 7 feet above the ground.  The nestlings were 
advanced with eyes open. The parent birds were observed carrying food to the 
nest.

This year's nest is about 30 feet above the ground and we could not get to it 
to check the contents.  The fiberous outer material of the nest indicated it 
was apparently the same material as last year's nest.  This nest is rather 
exposed.

This Red Spruce plantation features about 18 trees, nostly about 100 feet
tall.  They are planted in alternating position in two rows adjacent to
Forest Service Route 84.  The nest is 30 feet from the road and on the edge
of an apparent wildlife clearing.  The trees must be 70 years or more of age.

We first became aware of the plantation while running a breeding bird
mini-route to sample populations on May 29, 2004.  We were resampling the route 
when we heard the adults in the spruce.

Kinglets have been expanding their range into low elevation spruce
plantations in the Northeast, according to the Pennsylvania breeding bird atlas.

Let's go birding.....

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN  

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