NOTE TO SELF...

5/1/2009 NOTE TO SELF: nest searching in the rain is generally unproductive. In a slow but steady rain I went looking for some of yesterdays finds. Two of the more promising observations yesterday afternoon were a male Nashville warbler on the ground near heavy cover, joined by a second (presumed female). Another was the continued clipping of twigs by black-headed grosbeaks in a small thicket (app. 5 m square).

In the continuous rain nothing was singing and little was moving. I took the opportunity to crawl into the thicket to look for signs of a grosbeak nest. All that I found was what appeared to be an old nest (the spider web draped across it was the clue) that was the right structure and definitely the right height for BHGR (per Harrison’s Western Birds’ Nests - “in fork of shrub or small tree 4-12 feet above ground”).

As I was retreating to the relative warmth and dryness of my house I encountered a male/female pair of Robins picking food from the road in their stop, pick and run manner (reminiscent of a plover). I watched them for quite awhile, hoping for additional indications of breeding. The ‘pair-feeding’ (my term) seemed almost ceremonial in nature. Eventually she flew into a cedar and he to the ground at the base. Moving slowly to where I had last seen her I searched for 10 minutes without a sign of a nest or even another sign of her, so I assume she snuck out the back of the tree (probably to where she really had a nest).