[birding] Re: [mid-valley-nature:192] Re: Nests made of ash
leaves- a hypothesis
Joel Geier
joel.geier at peak.org
Thu Mar 19 10:04:48 PDT 2009
Not so helpful to figuring out Joan's original question, but just as
another example of how adaptable Bewick's Wrens can be:
At our old house northeast of E.E. Wilson, we had access for storage to
an old overgrown farm shed that was originally used for a few dairy cows
in the 1960s, but had started to meld with the Himalaya blackberries, as
old sheds tend to do. There were enough boards missing, gaps between
boards, and blackberries growing in through the cracks that for a
Bewick's Wren it probably seemed like a particularly dry part of the
blackberry thicket.
One year a Bewick's Wren built a nest in the sliding wooden door, on top
of a horizontal board a bit thicker than a standard 2x6 (to which the
outer, vertical boards of the door were nailed) and behind a diagonal
2x6 brace that was nailed to the inside of the horizontal board.
So there was about a 2" wide cubbyhole in the sliding door, and there
this Bewick's wren built its nest. Anytime I had to slide the door open
to go in the shed, the wren would fly out and zip past me. Eventually I
just left the door ajar to minimize the disturbance. The wren nested
successfully and fledged 3 or 4 young. I can't remember the composition
of the nest when I took a closer look after the nesting season, but I
recall that blackberry leaves and I think a few oak leaves were
involved.
Happy birding,
Joel
On Wed, 2009-03-18 at 12:36 -0700, Paula Vanderheul wrote:
> I experienced the same type leaf nest at Audubon Hesthavn Nature
> Center spring of 2008. I watched the nest box which was on a metal
> post near a brush pile. The nest was started before the usual house
> wren arrive to use several of the nest boxes. To my surprise I was
> watching a Bewick's Wren entering and leaving the box. I happen to be
> there the day the young fledge to a nearby brush pile. I also heard a
> wrentit along our oak creek riparian zone a few times Summer 2008. So
> maybe they are nesting near the nature center property, too. I don't
> know their nesting material and where they prefer to place the nest.
>
> Paula Vanderheul
> Hesthavn Nature Center Chair
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Michael Dossett
> To: post to list midvalleybirding ; Mid-valley-nature ; Jamie
> S.
> Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 11:48 AM
> Subject: [birding] Re: [mid-valley-nature:192] Re: Nests made
> of ash leaves- a hypothesis
>
>
> Jamie,
>
> I think that is a good hypothesis. The spread of House Wrens
> in the eastern US by widespread placement of nestboxes has
> been implicated as a possible cause in the decline of Bewick's
> Wrens in the same areas. See:
> http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Bewicks_Wren_dtl.html
>
> Michael
>
> Michael Dossett Corvallis, Oregon www.Mdossettphoto.com
> phainopepla at yahoo.com
>
> --- On Wed, 3/18/09, Jamie S. <woodpecker97330 at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> From: Jamie S. <woodpecker97330 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [mid-valley-nature:192] Re: Nests made of ash
> leaves - a hypothesis
> To: "Michael Dossett" <phainopepla at yahoo.com>, "post
> to list midvalleybirding" <list at midvalleybirding.org>,
> "Mid-valley-nature" <mid-valley-
> nature at googlegroups.com>
> Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 11:26 AM
>
> (I'm forwarding this thread to the midvalley birding
> list as well. Previous messages are below this one.)
>
> Hmmm... As Joan noted, we've never found this type of
> nest before at Stewart Lake (HP). So what has
> changed? Michael Dossett's note suggesting that they
> are Bewick's wren nests inadvertantly gave me an idea
> for what has happened:
>
> -We've always had Bewick's wrens at Stewart Lake but
> not using the nest boxes until 2007 or 2008. (The
> boxes were not cleaned in 2008.)
> -We had house wrens nesting yearly at Stewart Lake
> through 2006. Inexplicably, house wrens did not return
> in 2007 or 2008. House wrens used some nest boxes some
> years and filled some with sticks as well.
>
> Perhaps the presence of house wrens kept the Bewick's
> wrens from using the nest boxes? Once the house wrens
> no longer were present, the Bewick's wrens decided to
> move into 3 of the boxes.
>
> Jamie Simmons
> Corvallis
>
> --- On Wed, 3/18/09, Michael Dossett
> <phainopepla at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> From: Michael Dossett <phainopepla at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [mid-valley-nature:190] Re: Nests
> made of ash leaves
> To: "Joan" <blueoaks at gmail.com>, mid-valley-
> nature at googlegroups.com
> Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 9:58 AM
>
> My guess is that these are from Bewick's
> Wrens. When I lived in Missouri, you could
> always know a Carolina Wren nest when you saw
> it because of it's leaf construction. The
> closely related Bewicks often but builds nests
> mostly or entirely of leaves, occaisionally
> using sticks and moss as well. House Wrens
> are in a different genus and use many many
> more sticks in their nests.
>
> Michael
>
> Michael Dossett Corvallis, Oregon
> www.Mdossettphoto.com phainopepla at yahoo.com
>
> --- On Wed, 3/18/09, Joan <blueoaks at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> From: Joan <blueoaks at gmail.com>
> Subject: [mid-valley-nature:189] Nests
> made of ash leaves
> To: "Mid-Valley Nature" <mid-valley-
> nature at googlegroups.com>
> Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 9:49
> AM
>
>
> Neil and I and Jim Anderson recently
> cleaned out the nest boxes around
> Stewart Lake near the HP campus. There
> are 10 or so nest boxes
> situated around the lake and six of
> the boxes had some kind of nest in
> them. Three of the six nests were
> different from any nests we've seen
> in our career of cleaning these nest
> boxes out (the last 5 or so
> years). These three nests were
> composed entirely of Oregon Ash
> leaves.
> On the bottom, the leaves were
> decomposing, but the leaves on the top
> of the nests were clearly identifiable
> as ash leaves and they formed
> into a cup of sorts at the top. There
> were no other ingredients in
> these nests. Any idea what kind of
> bird might create such nests?
>
> --Joan Newhouse
>
>
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