Unusual Nesting Site Research Articles

The Dry-forest Sabrewing Campylopterus calcirupicola (Aves: Trochilidae) nests in limestone caves

ABSTRACT The Dry-forest Sabrewing Campylopterus calcirupicola is a recently described species of hummingbird endemic to the seasonally dry forests of eastern Brazil. In this paper, we describe for the first time the nest of the species based on seven breeding attempts recorded in the municipality of Montes Claros, state of Minas Gerais. The nest is cup-shaped and built with plant down strengthened with arthropod silk, with abundant moss and some lichens on its exterior. The clutch size is of two white eggs. Nests are placed within limestone caves or arches, close to watercourses. We suggest that this unusual nest site is a possible adaptation to breed in the hot and seasonally dry habitat of the species.

Atypical Nest Site of a Semipalmated Plover

Abstract We report on an unusual nest site of a Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) at La Perouse Bay, Manitoba, Canada. The nest was located at the base of a 41-cm-high willow (Salix spp.) in a dense willow patch surrounded by coastal mudflats. Vegetation height and percent visual obstruction at the nest site were unusually high compared to height and cover previously described for Semipalmated Plovers. The nest was successful (≥2 eggs hatched). The discovery of this unusual nest site in dense vegetation suggests that some Semipalmated Plover nests may be overlooked, emphasizing the need to conduct thorough searches even in non-traditional habitats among shorebird species that typically nest in open habitats.

FIRST REPORT OF A GROUND NEST OF CANYON TOWHEES

Canyon Towhees (Pipilo fuscus) normally nest in trees, shrubs, and cacti. I found a nest on the ground under an octagonal road sign in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, on 14 May 2001. No young were fledged, but the eggs were incubated for ≥10 days. Additional records of Canyon Towhee nests in a building and an enclosed trailer are indicative of a plasticity in their nest site selection process that led to use of this unusual nest site.

Bill-Sweeping Behavior of a Mexican Chickadee

Although hole-nesting may reduce predation as compared to open-nesting, predation pressure may still be of sufficient magnitude to have selected for similar defensive behavior in unrelated hole-nesters (e.g., Haartman 1967). Here we describe bill-sweeping, a probable anti-predator behavior, at an unusual nest site of the Mexican Chickadee (Parus sclateri). Bill-sweeping had been previously reported only in the White-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis (Kilham 1968). We observed a Mexican Chickadee nest at Rustler Park in the Chiricahua Mountains (Cochise County), Arizona, for several hours a morning for 4 days. This nest, apparently excavated by the chickadees, was in an approximately 25-m tall ponderosa pine (Pinusponderosa). The nest hole was approximately 15-m high and was unusual in its location about 6 m from the trunk on the underside of a nearly horizontal branch (about 20-cm diameter) that angled about 200 downward. We observed the nest with Leitz 10 x 40 Trinovid binoculars. On our first day of observation (15 May 1986), both parents brought small insects. By 17 May larger caterpillars were being brought. However, no fecal sacs were removed even on the final day of observation (19 May), indicating that the young were probably only about I day old when we discovered the nest (Hinde 1952). On 15 May we observed bill-sweeping three times by the presumed female (so judged because this individual followed bill-sweeping by entering the cavity and remaining inside at least 15 min, probably indicative of brooding, a behavior absent in male parids). She perched in the nest hole, leaned forward so that her whole body was suspended below the nest hole and swept the area immediately below the nest with the object(s) in her bill in an arc of about 1200. On two subsequent mornings, despite several hours of observations on each, no sweeping was observed. On 19 May, however, five bouts of sweeping occurred in 75 min of observations. Two of these bouts involved dabbing movements, consisting of rapid jabs with the insects immediately under the nest cavity; the remaining incidents entailed sweeping with the insects in an arc. In all cases the area below the nest (toward the trunk of the tree) was anointed with numerous small insects that appeared to be beetles. Few detailed accounts of the nest sites of Mexican Chickadees occur in the literature, but Brandt (1951) noted that the nests are often high and in dead limbs. ' Received 29 September 1986. Final acceptance 22 April 1987. SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 901

Unusual Nesting Site for the Great Horned Owl

Unusual Nesting Site for the Great Horned Owl

Duplex Nest Construction by Hooded Oriole Circumvents Cowbird Parasitism

On about 24 January 1970, Thomas Young collected an old nest (MLZ NE-574) of the Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus) that he found suspended from a splintered beam of the overhanging eave of a house in Whittier, Los Angeles County, California. He brought this nest to me at the Moore Laboratory of Zoology. The nest is seemingly unique for this oriole in that it has two approximately equal-sized nest chambers and foundations interwoven side-by-side and suspended by a single group of strands attached to a splinter of the roof beam. The nest, as reported for the Hooded Oriole by many authors, is woven entirely from fibers of the Washington palm (Washingtonia filifera) and is sparsely lined with other plant fibers and down. The unusual nest site has been reported once before by Bent (U.S. Natl. Mus., Bull. 211:228, 1958). Usually the nests are suspended from palm fronds. One compartment of the present specimen contains an egg of the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater obscurus) and otherwise shows no sign of use. The other compartment has a thicker lining and the outer rim flattened and thickly clotted with a mass of dried defecation, indicating that young were raised in it by the orioles. It is thought that the used second nest represents an unusually complete extension of the tendency shown by many birds to make a new nest lining when interfered with by an external agent, such as a parasitic bird's egg. Friedmann (U.S. Natl. Mus., Bull. 233:36, 1963) summarizes the few instances of reported parasitism of the Hooded Oriole by this cowbird. This oriole is not included in his list (ibid, p. 183) of 29 species of birds that have been known to avoid nest parasitism by burying the eggs of the cowbird beneath new nest linings. Among the 29 is the Baltimore Oriole (I. galbula). There are no previously known instances of the duplex construction as a means of circumventing parasitism. Dr. Friedmann (pers. comm.) knows of no other similar cases. I am grateful to Mr. Young for permission to publish this note.

Unusual Nesting Site for House Sparrows

Unusual Nesting Site for House Sparrows

Unusual Nest Site of a Horned Lark

Unusual Nest Site of a Horned Lark

Unusual Nest Site of Common Crow

Unusual Nest Site of Common Crow

Unusual Nest Site of Common Grackle

Unusual Nest Site of Common Grackle

Unusual Nesting Site of Magnolia Warbler

Unusual Nesting Site of Magnolia Warbler

An Unusual Nesting Site of the Slate-Colored Junco

An Unusual Nesting Site of the Slate-Colored Junco

Unusual Nesting Site of Fairy Martins

Unusual Nesting Site of Fairy Martins

Unusual Nesting Site of Great Horned Owl

Unusual Nesting Site of Great Horned Owl

Unusual Nesting Site of a Black Duck

Unusual Nesting Site of a Black Duck

Unusual Nesting Site of the English Sparrow

Unusual Nesting Site of the English Sparrow

Unusual Nesting Site of the Mallard

Unusual Nesting Site of the Mallard

Unusual Nest Site of the Cardinal

Unusual Nest Site of the Cardinal

Unusual Nesting Site of Kingbird

Unusual Nesting Site of Kingbird