[NatureNS] How early might red-eyed vireos fledge?

From: "John Kearney" <john.kearney@ns.sympatico.ca>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
References: <ACFF1171B3564FEB91A72DEEE7942014@bernard> <00d901c8e5b0$0effd070$1b00a8c0@andrew>
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:53:14 -0300
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Hi Andrew:
Here in northern Nova Scotia which is a bit behind the Valley in breeding
times for many species, I've seen Red-eyed Vireo carrying food for young as
early as June 30th and I've seen recently fledged young as early as July
10th.
Thanks for the interesting description of what you observed on the
Gaspereau.
John

-----Original Message-----
From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca]
On Behalf Of Andrew Steeves
Sent: July 14, 2008 09:50 AM
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Subject: [NatureNS] How early might red-eyed vireos fledge?

After a really active spring, I've found myself
tied to my desk through most of June and July with
only the occasional quick outing by canoe or on
foot in the mornings.

Saturday, my daughter and went for a swim in the
narrows on Black River Lake. I was disgruntled to
discover the Nova Scotia Power has locked the road
gate at the top of the access road and I had to
park on the Methals road and carry the 200 m to
the lake. The water was wonderfully warm and we
had great fun gunneling and swamping the canoe and
sliding off its overturned canvas belly like seals
off a rock. Canoe wrestling, my kids call it.

Sunday morning, I got up early and went out to
visit on of my regular haunts, the White Rock
headpond on the Gaspereau River. In the canal
below the powerhouse the chickadees, red-eyed
vireos and eastern phoebes were busily fluttering
about in the trees, singing their hearts out. The
activity of a pair of robins revealed a nest in a
red pine branch overhanging the water which I
hadn't know about. How had I missed it all the
other mornings?

After a brief turn on the pond, I went to the pool
above the bridge, where upstream navigability
terminates, and I beached the canoe and walked up
the riverside trail a ways to see what could be
seen. I climbed up on a tangle of eye-level
deadfalls that overhang the trail and sat for a
while, listening and watching. There were
chickadees, robins, crows, goldfinches, northern
parulas, song sparrows, eastern phoebes, and
red-eyed vireos singing and fluttering along the
riverside; a bald eagle and belted kingfisher flew
downstream.

After a while, I slid off my perch and returned to
where I'd beached my canoe. High overhead I could
hear a single-note call repeated over and over,
and I eventually spotted a the fluffy white
underbelly of a fledgling straight overhead in a
maple tree. There was no better vantage point from
shore, so I launched my canoe out into the pool to
see if I could get a better view from there. It
took a while to find it again with my binoculars,
but finally I located the little guy. After a few
minutes an adult bird arrived, and after feeding,
greeting or grooming the fledge (I couldn't see
well enough to say) the two took off together.

Then things really got interesting. As soon as the
pair left the shelter of the maple a blue jay
screeched in from nowhere and struck the fledge,
and the three of them dropped out of sight in the
foliage. There was an incredible racket and
commotion, and I could see two adult birds now
darting in and out making a great deal of noise.
When I regained my wits, I paddled back to that
side of the pool and creeped up the stream. The
trees were alive with many birds now -- robins,
chickadees, sparrows -- all, like me, closing in
to discover the cause of the ruckus. As I inched
up the stream along the bank, I discovered the jay
perched not eight feet away in the low crotch of a
maple sapling with the dead fledge in its
clutches, digging in with its beak, the two adults
repeatedly mobbing it and retreating, screaming
"Murder! Murder!" all the while. I watched until
the jay fled further into the woods, the outraged
parents following. Watching this unfold, I was
filled with wonder.

I want to say that these were red-eyed vireos,
given the habitat, and their shape, colour and eye
bar. I had also heard vireos singing here when I
had been sitting upstream on the deadfall. But I
never got a really clear look at them during this
episode, they darted so quickly, and they only
screamed and never sang their tell-tale song.
Actually, I felt sure that they were vireos until
I got home and looked at some books. Everything I
saw suggested that they would not have fledged
young this early in the season.

So, is it possible that red-eyed vireos would have
hatched and fledged by mid July?

____________________________________

Andrew Steeves ¶ Wolfville, NS


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