I'm sad to report that the prothonotary warbler nesting at Solitude Swamp in
Arcadia was not successful. Last weekend we found one young that had just
recently hatched and four unhatched eggs. We observed the female leaving
the nestbox and feeding in the area, but did not see it return to the box
for the 20 minutes or so we were there. Today we went back and instead of
the expected five bouncing babies, found two unhatched eggs and decaying
material that contained some bird bones. We could not tell if the remains
were from one or more birds. I confess we didn't spend much time picking
through the nest because of the smell. We did not see any adults. We do
not believe anything killed the young, as there were no marks on the box or
baffle as if a predator had botten in. So either the young died of unknown
causes and the adults left the area, or something happened to the adults and
the young starved. Or maybe it was an inexperienced pair and they just
didn't keep up with the feeding. We'll never know. We'll just have to hope
for better results next year.
Alyce Quinn
Roanoke
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