[birdky] Another Black-necked Stilt Story
- From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx
- To: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, albirds@xxxxxxxxxxx,ARBIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, BIRDCHAT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,marvdavs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 13:37:39 EDT
July 20, 2003
Ensley Bottoms
Shelby Co. TN
Chatters,
For those of you that enjoyed the photos of the flooding Black-necked Stilt
nest, here is another little tidbit of behavior you might look for around
nesting BNS. By the way the nest was saved and both parents are still taking
turns
on the nest.
Another day in the life of a Black-necked Stilt family���..
One saga after another, takes place in the lives of Black-necked Stilts.
Earlier in the week on a quick trip to the Earth Complex Lagoons in Ensley
Bottoms
in Memphis, I saw many Black-necked Stilts with broods of young that ranged
in size from balls of fluff to gangly legged teens. There are now too many to
keep track of as these groups move about and change territories. There is much
mixing and shifting, as good habitat dries and shrink, families have to be
moved. One pair with 3 young, less than a week old, caught my eye. They fed
along
a wet shore out in the open on a very large pit.
On Saturday when I returned to scan the ever-growing numbers of returning
shorebirds, I noted only one young remained. Which of the many dangers had
taken
the others? Was it the weather, Mississippi Kites, turtles or one of the other
predators that abound in the wild here?
While scanning the thousands of newly arrived shorebirds, I kept hearing the
softer calling of a pair of Black-necked Stilts. It was a lower call, unlike
the normal alarm call nor was it attracting any other adults as an alarm will
do but it was steady and relentless.
I finally scanned the far side and located the pair that now had only a
single chick and noted they were flying slowly in a wide circle with their legs
lowered but flexed, hanging below the body. I recognized this flight mode and
knew they were trying to move the young bird to a new location. I guess they
had
decided enough was enough and they had better move the bird to a more secure
location with cover.
Usually it is quite easy to move the young although they are very independent
and will separate to great distances when feeding. The slow helicoptering
flight is used to coax the young to swim across open deep water and evidently a
pretty hairy first time experience for the young. The adults use a couple of
methods in doing this; one adult will stand on the far ground in the line they
want the young to go while the other does the flying with both adults
continually calling. The flying bird will circle the young bird in a wide
circle and
come in from the rear and swoop over the young, sometimes so low as to make the
young bird duck. That gets there attention. It will then fly low along a
straight line toward the other adult. The youngster usually moves in that
direction. The circling continues and some time both birds are in flight but
one
eventually lands on the distant shore.
The young chicks are very buoyant and will float high in water but here at
the lagoons the sludge filled water has a gooey consistency. This has been the
downfall of individuals of many species that have inadvertently fallen into the
goop. The heavier adult shorebirds tend to sink lower and once covered lose
the thermal protection of their feathers and if they can't get to clean water,
they usually succumb to the drying mess that becomes almost cementatious.
This young bird would get to the softer edge material and start to sink and
would struggle back to dryer land and one of the adults would eventually take
pity, land, kneel and take the young one under its wing. I was in the area
almost all day and watched this scenario replayed again and again. This young
one
really did not take to the idea and would rather feed and be cuddled than
swim.
The next day Mike Todd had joined me and on the first pass around the
lagoons, I did not see the adult or young and told Mike about the episode and
wondered how it had played out. Later as we scanned, I heard the calling and
located
the birds at the same location as the day before. I told Mike to watch what
was taking place and to look down the line of flight and he would find a young
bird. We watched the same thing happen that I had watched the day before. The
parents were adamant that the youngster had to move as the Mississippi Kite
numbers were growing as the dragon fly population rose up into the heated air
and
the young bird was just as stubborn and did not like the idea of this new
adventure.
After 20 years of watching these Black-necked Stilts raising their young here
at the pits, just last year, I had confirmed a suspicion. Mississippi Kites
do take the young on occasion and last year at least two of the many kites had
taken a liking to these chicks and I had watched them snatch the young from
the ground.
Just as the day before, one of the adults would brood the young and all would
be quite but within the hour the scene would be replayed again. About noon I
noticed the looping flight was now over the water and I could not see the
young bird. We circled closer and finally in the scope located just a small
head
slowly but steadily heading to the adult female standing on the shore. The
little one would stop and rest and now as it came closer to shore both adults
stood together cheering the youngster on.
We were able to get a few shots of the bird as it approached and a quick
couple as it made landfall and then left the birds to their next task, to move
to
the nearest clean water which was about 100 yards away across a road, then a
ditch and another road.
Late in the evening Mike and I parted the weeds and peered into the pool and
were immediately greeted by the two adults with a great clamor. We saw the
single young fuzzy chick cleaned up and fluffy, dozing in the edge of the grass
line.
Just another day in the life of a Black-necked Stilt family and a task very
well done.
Good Birding!!!
Jeff R. Wilson
OL' COOT / TLBA
Bartlett Tenn.
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