Nesting Time

Red-breasted Sapsucker - Sphyrapicus ruber

There's a  Red-breasted Sapsucker making a nest in a telephone pole right down our street!  I've been watching it intermittently from a distance for a week now.  It is in the process of enlarging the nesting chamber.  I can hear it hammering away when it's inside the pole.  At first it didn't fit all the way in, but now it does!  These beautiful woodpeckers are sexually monomorphic, and are impossible to differentiate in the field.  Usually it is the male that does the nest making, which can take from 6 days to 2 weeks.  Both parents will incubate the eggs, brood and feed the nestlings, and care for the fledglings.  The male sleeps in the nest cavity at night, while the female roosts in a nearby tree! 

Red-breasted Sapsucker - Sphyrapicus ruber

As their name implies, these birds mainly eat sap.  They drill horizontal rows of  small "wells" into the bark of  firs and fruit trees, and eat the sap that accumulates as well as any insects that get stuck.  Since we have snow and cold temperatures here in the winter, Red-breasted Sapsuckers do not live here year-round.  They only come up to our neighborhood to breed.  In the winter they usually live in the central valley or coastal areas of California, or east of the Sierra Nevada into Nevada.  Other populations live year-round on coast of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Canada. 

Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus

Another cavity nesting bird in our neighborhood is the Northern Flicker.  I photographed the one above on the same telephone pole a few years ago.  The two flickers on the right I photographed two weeks ago up in the Lakes Basin.  Both of these birds were hammering away together on the trunk of this dead tree!  Apparently mated pairs will excavate the nest, with the male doing most of the work.  Flickers and many other birds are philopatric, and have a tendency to return to the same area year-after-year to nest. 

Robin nest - Turdus migratorius

Nest watching is fascinating but you need to be careful not to disturb the nesting birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology recommends the following protocol.

- Do not check in the early morning. Most birds lay their eggs in the early morning so plan on visiting nests in the late morning or afternoon. Also, most adults will temporarily leave the nest when you are near, and eggs and young nestlings can become cold quickly if left alone in the early morning. 

- Avoid nests during the first few days of incubation. If necessary, observe nests from a distance and approach only when the female leaves the nest.- 

- Do not approach nests when young are close to fledgling. When the young are disturbed during this stage, they may leave the nest prematurely. Young that fledge prematurely usually do not stay in the nest despite attempts to return them, and their survival rates away from or outside the nest are low. 

- When young birds are fully feathered and very alert, only observe the nest from a distance. 

- Avoid nests during bad weather. If it is cold, damp, or rainy, postpone checking nests until another day. Checking nests during this time can be very stressful for birds. 

-Do not check nests at or after dusk, when females may be returning to the nest for the night. The exception to this would be owls, which typically leave the nest at dusk.

Cliff Swallows - Petrochelidon pyrrhonota

Bird nests are made from a wide variety of materials.  Cliff Swallows, Black Phoebes, and even Steller's Jays use mud in their nest construction.  We saw the Cliff Swallows above, on the underside of the bridge at the South Yuba River State Park.  There were hundreds of swallows all coming and going to their nests and feeding fledglings!  It was beautiful to watch!  These birds use hundreds of beakfulls of mud to construct their nests.  Both male and female swallows will construct their nest, in a period of 3 days to 3 weeks. 

Black Phoebe - Sayornis nigricans

Only the female phoebes construct the nest, which may take 5 days to 3 weeks to complete!  Weather is the main factor that determines the duration of construction.  A combination of rainy and sunny weather is the best for mud gathering and drying.  

Steller's Jay - Cyanocitta stelleri

Steller's Jays nests are made of plant fibers, dry leaves, moss, and sticks mixed with mud. Both male and female jays build their nest, with the female doing most of the work. Nest construction takes about 1 week. Their beautiful blue eggs are speckled with brown spots.

Sierra Buttes 5/3/19

 Weather Update!

It was sunny but cooler this week, with temperatures in the 70's during the day and 40's at night.  The snow is still melting, and the river is high at 4,000 cfs.  They have plowed the Gold Lake Road up past Windy Point, as well as the road into Sardine Lake.  I hope to get in one last ski this week!

What's blooming?

How cold is the river?

What other birds will start nesting?

What bugs are out and about?

Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!

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