ML358340521
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Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
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- Playback
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Observation details
At least four males heard singing, two in the northern field and two in the southern field. One bird close to the road was periodically visible as it made short, fluttering display flights. This individual was observed carrying grass stems several times. We twice saw low flights by a bird in the same vicinity carrying rounded, conspicuously white objects that appeared to be fecal sacs. The wren emerged from the same clump of dense vegetation both times and I didn’t observe any legs, antennae, wings, or other little appendages sticking off of these tidbits, so I’m fairly confident they weren’t some sort of plump, pale invertebrate prey. Either possibility indicates that there is an active nest on site. Scientific literature states that the female is responsible for almost all parental care of the nestlings, and that males continue to build extra dummy nests throughout the nesting period. This means the sac-carrying bird was likely a fifth individual tending to chicks while her mate was constructing additional dummy nests nearby and singing to defend the territory. It seems a bit early for nestlings of a presumed secondary brood since the singing males were only detected last week, but the carried morsels were distinctly not plant material used in nest construction. I heard secondhand that subsequent observers reported seeing fecal sac carries at this site as well. Hopefully additional documentation of breeding will follow as others continue to monitor this site
Technical information
- Recorder
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 1.38 MB