The Avian Housing Market
... is not quite like the human one and is going to be booming here over the next several weeks.In fact some home-building has already started, as this picture indicates.
For others the search is on. One regular sign of spring here has been a two-three day inspection by a pair of house finches (it has been going on for years so it may well not be the same pair each year) of our porch, which has two nice little ledges. However, it has never been selected as a building site. Now this year is the first in 22 years that no cat inhabits the house; though I imagine the much larger mammals that still do might be disqualifying factors. They are however engaged in the inspection once more.
Other creatures are still working on the preconditions for home-building. The morning audio environment at Ashbridge's Bay is dominated by trilling male redwings. (I am not sure I have even seen a female yet this year.) What I am sure I once knew but had forgotten is how thoroughly these little fellows throw themselves into their calls at this time of year - tail and wings spread, chest puffed, beak wide open (click on it to enlarge):
Meanwhile many who did not even bother with home-building during their visit here are on their way to where they will invest in housing. There are still a few oldsquaws lallygagging about here, far out in the water; the buffleheads continue to paddle around in the inner bay.
I don't think they will be here much longer.
One other bit of suspense - will the swans nest again where they have at least two of the last three years? Success has been spotty - no cygnets last year, and initially four the other year, which dropped quickly to one.
Labels: Ashbridge's Bay birds housing nesting robin bufflehead red-wing
posted by Alan Adamson @ 9:53 AM
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