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Nuptial feeding... NOT!



Hi Carolinabirders,

I posted recently about observations of Downy Woodpeckers and White- 
breasted Nuthatches feeding each other, which I assumed to be males 
feeding females as a form of courtship. Well, today I was home grading 
term papers in the backyard and observed a male Downy feeding suet from 
the feeder to what appeared to be an immature but fully feathered and 
fledged male, with its extensive red cap! Later, I observed a nuthatch 
feeding not one, but two other nuthatches. These observations lead me to 
believe that I was not seeing nuptial feedings, but instead parents 
feeding fledglings. But how early must these birds have started nesting 
in order to have fully feathered youngsters already? I mean, they're 
cavity nesters, and so have some insulation from cold weather, but still, 
do these two species start nesting in March? Or at least early April?

Other benefits of grading at home: finally got visual confirmation of 
several species which I had previously only heard. Most notable was the 
Cooper's Hawk. I had assumed this bird was nesting nearby, but the 
critter I saw yesterday afternoon was an immature, with bold brown 
longitudinal streaking underneath instead of the fine horizontal reddish 
barring of an adult. Unless the Coops could have fledged a youngster 
already too... Other visual confirmations included a Great Crested 
Flycatcher, a Red-eyed Vireo, a few Northern Parulas, and a Black- 
throated Blue Warbler (although the visual was a female, while I was 
hearing males). New yard birds include Rose-breasted Grosbeak at my 
feeders (just like everyone else), Baltimore Oriole overhead in the 
canopy (nowhere near the orange halves), and an Acadian Flycatcher 
calling nearby.

One shock was a warbler with a dark blue-gray hood. I immediately thought 
"Mourning", then "Connecticut"! However, my next thought was "both of 
those species are predominantly ground foragers; why is this one leaf- 
gleaning 30 feet high in a tree?" When it moved to a better-lit spot, I 
spied a yellow/orange chin patch within the gray "hood", identifying this 
bird as a Northern Parula which just happened to have an unusually 
extensive amount of blue-gray on the throat instead of the usually thin 
line across. A lesson in variability within a species...

Good birding,

Josh



Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/