[birdky] RPT: Nests

Have a couple of nest reports from the past couple of days:
 
In 1995, Wayne Davis, retired Biology Professor at UK, published a short
note in The Kentucky Warbler entitled "Indigo Buntings nesting in
cornfields." Having grown up on a farm and having associated Indigo
nests with low, thick vegetation (not the relatively tall and "open"
cover of your typical cornfield), I was really surprised he and UK
researchers had found nests in such a habitat. The main point of the
article was that despite the lack of dense cover, Indigos apparently
*do* find some places to nest in cornfields, and the researchers located
one nest and documented many territorial pairs in this odd habitat.
Yesterday afternoon I was grabbing some ears of sweet corn out of a
small patch on our family farm. I'd noted a scolding Indigo the day
before but hadn't thought much about it, but out in the middle of the
patch I came across an Indigo nest with 3 eggs. It was woven into the
modest "cover" provided by only 3 plant stems (a stalk of corn, a
sunflower that had come up in the patch, and a morning glory vine). It
was also higher than any Indigo nest I've ever seen, I had to tip toe to
look in and see the eggs (most have been below waist height). I think I
was easily as impressed as Dr. Davis had been upon his discovery at the
UK Farm!
 
Much more impressive is the tale of two baby hummingbirds that came my
way Saturday afternoon. I got a call from Emily Rademaker, who lives
with her husband, Steve, and their three sons out in Pewee Valley. Emily
was distraught because Steve had just found two baby hummingbirds
clinging to their nest on a branch he had just cut out of a maple tree
in their yard. Steve was on a ladder, trimming the lowest branches and
had cut off an 8-foot long branch that fell about 8-10 feet to the
ground; he'd then drug it 50-75 yards over to the side of the yard and
cut it into smaller pieces. As he was starting to place the pieces of
the branch onto a brush pile he heard a weird, shrill sound and looked
down to find the two nestlings still clinging for dear life to their
disheveled nest! I instructed Emily to have Steve try to figure out
which tree he'd cut the branch out of and try to secure it back into the
tree in as close a proximity to the original location as possible. She
soon called back saying that the branch was back in place in the tree,
fairly near to what they thought was the original location and that the
young seemed to be fine. I asked her to monitor the nest for awhile just
to make sure mom returned, and within about 10-15 minutes, she called
back to say they did, in fact, see her return to feed them. Yesterday
afternoon my mother and I went by to visit the Rademakers and the two
fearless, pin-feathered kids were tucked back into the nest looking like
nothing had ever happened! Can you imagine anything so fragile surviving
such an ordeal! What a tale they will have to tell ... :o)
 
I realize I'm violating the BIRDKY restriction on attachments again
(having inadvertently done so last week with the avocet picture), but
these two guys deserve some publicity!
 
bpb, Frankfort

Attachment: Brave baby hummers in Pewee Valley Aug 08.jpg
Description: Brave baby hummers in Pewee Valley Aug 08.jpg

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