08-21-15 Bird Field Note

08-21-15 Bird Field Note

August 21, 2015

Kate Stone's bird field note shows a new common poorwill nest, black swift research, and a Orange-crowned Warbler captured durring songbird banding.

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Bird Field Note Kate Stone 08/21/15

On 7/30, while measuring vegetation at Common Poorwill roost sites, Mat stumbled upon an adult poorwill brooding a days-old baby.

The nest and brood sites contained a mixture of native grasses and forbs, sagebrush, and clumps of Douglas-fir. Most of the brood sites had no cover directly above the nestling.

Common Poorwills have two broods per season, but we were unsure of the timing of nesting in Montana. The discovery of this nest suggests first brood attempts begin in late June and second attempts occur in mid- to late July.

We found large pellet accumulations in the nest area, suggesting long-term use by the adults. Since early June we’ve collected over 30 vials of pellets for a diet analysis.

The nestling looked close to fledging. Swifts used this same ledge in 2013.

We used a camera to scan the remainder of the cavern for other swift nests. We found one other nest with signs of recent occupation, suggesting a fledgling recently left the area. We have not seen swifts nesting on this ledge before.

We captured 55 birds of 16 species on our seventh and final day of summer banding. Similar to last week, the majority of our captures (40) were hatch-year birds. New species for the year included a Cassin’s Vireo and Orange-crowned Warbler.