[wisb] Dickcissel
- From: "K. Hilary Ford" <khilaryf32@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wisbirdn <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Doorcobirding <doorcobirding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 09:50:00 -0500
Yesterday I searched area roads and fields - most of them have been
hay-harvested - for Bobolinks, Upland Sandpipers and Dickcissels. I came
across only the latter - as I had switched my engine off and was looking at
a likely wild field on Waters End Road, about 1/2 a mile from Old Stage Rd.
towards ZZ, I heard the Dickcissel close to the car. It was sitting on a
small evergreen close to me - the tree was about 4 feet high. It stayed
there as I exited the car for a better look - lovely bird singing its
chirpy song.
Orioles are quiet now but the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and the Indigo
Buntings still come to the Feeders and also eat the Oranges and take the
jelly. I still have a pair of Lincoln's Sparrows that feed, and though the
Breeding Bird Atlas does not show them as breeding in Door County they have
been here since very early Spring and I am assuming they are nesting close
by. We have a boggy place where a watershed from the bluff runs through
the woods to the west of our little 5 acre prairie. Perhaps they have
found a spot there away from the walkers and their dogs. I doubt they have
nested on the ground in the short grass prairie as this was mown in late
March and has taken a while to grow out. I have not seen these birds
feeding young or carrying nesting material, but they come to both our
feeders and glean mostly on the ground.
I was pleased yesterday while checking the Bluebird boxes on all three
locations that the Bluebirds are at last having some success at raising
young. At the Ellison Bay Towers where I placed three boxes, all three
have nests - one with young, one with eggs and one with a complete nest
over an unfinished Wren nest. The Ospreys were active on their nest but I
could see no young there - one of the pair flew in while I was there but I
could see not food in its talons.
I have three active EABL nests on my other two locations, but again the
Wrens are laying many eggs this year. Tree Swallows in one box are raising
seven chicks! Can anyone tell me why eggs disappear from EABL nests
without a trace? This happens and then the birds re-lay - if a snake had
taken the first lot out would that not put the birds off re-nesting in the
same box? I have removed the nest when this happens and they just rebuild.
Hilary Ford, Ellison Bay, Door Co.
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