10 replies to this topic

[jhauser42]

Pic is from mid-May.


Not sure if these count as "immature", but they are the eggs of the bird in the first pic

[eripma]

Yes, it is a Yellow Warbler.

[blackburnian]

confim yellow warbler!

[cestma]

How wonderful to find and get such a good picture of the nest! Where was it located, if you remember? (I.e., height, type of tree/bush, etc.)

[jhauser42]

The nest was about 5 feet from where I park my car at work and no more than 4 feet off of the ground in a bunch of bushes. I have a series of pics of the nest as it was constructed and then as the eggs were laid. Unfortunately, I never saw the baby birds. I was away from work for a week and when I came back the nest was empty. I do not know of they fledged while I was away or if something got them.

[cestma]

The nest was about 5 feet from where I park my car at work and no more than 4 feet off of the ground in a bunch of bushes. I have a series of pics of the nest as it was constructed and then as the eggs were laid. Unfortunately, I never saw the baby birds. I was away from work for a week and when I came back the nest was empty. I do not know of they fledged while I was away or if something got them.

What a wonderful observation opportunity, and how frustrating to have lost track of what happened. I would think a week would be a little fast to have gone from hatching to fledgling, no?

I find the nest fascinating. Wonder what the white soft lining is made of? Thanks for the elaboration!

[psweet]

A week is too fast to go from hatching to fledging. The sad fact is, a large percentage of small bird's nests serve as lunch for other critters.

[jhauser42]

I do have a feeling this one was lunch. It did seem too fast for the birds to leave the nest and when I saw it again there were just a few small shell fragments. The series of pics is available at http://s218.photobuc...w Warbler Nest/ if anyone is interested.

[cestma]

jhauser, that is a really interesting series. I hope psweet has a look at it!

It looks to me as if the warblers might possibly have been fighting cowbird parasitism. One way birds do so is to "bury" the invading egg by building the current nest upward. Your nest seems to go thru several stages of completion, then a rebuilding phase, then completion...See how the lining appears, disappears, reappears, not to mention how the eggs seem to be getting buried in some pics?

I did Google image searches on both cowbird and yellow warbler eggs, and there are eggs that resemble both in a few of your pics, I believe. The warbler eggs are smaller and the spotting tends to be concentrated around the large end of the egg (which is true of most of the eggs in your picture above), whereas the cowbird eggs are larger and more evenly dappled overall. One of the images I saw led to this thread about YEWA/BHCB nest parasitism:

http://www.bwoodphot...590351947_3Yv6e

I wonder...?

[psweet]

I agree, cestma. Those earlier eggs are Cowbird eggs -- cool series of photos. (Looks like those cowbirds were a bit too eager, didn't even wait for the female to start laying!)

[cestma]

I agree, cestma. Those earlier eggs are Cowbird eggs -- cool series of photos. (Looks like those cowbirds were a bit too eager, didn't even wait for the female to start laying!)

Thanks, psweet. It's good to get the expert confirmation!

Despite the negative effects of cowbird parasitism, the biology wonk in me remains fascinated by the whole system. . .