Thanks for sharing!
Jan
Richmond
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Shank [mailto:birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2010 3:18 PM
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; shenvalbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Va-bird] Ovenbird nest story from Union Springs, Rockingham County
This past week on Thursday, July 8, Shaphan, 12, got to observe on ovenbird
"call" a little one from the nest to follow it through the woods. We had
gotten up at 4:00 a.m. to go photograph little brown bats returning to their
roost in the eves of a farmhouse. While Shaphan got some very nice
in-flight shots of bats, what was really special took place a few hours
later after the last bat hung by his toenails.
Shaphan and several brothers had found an ovenbird building a nest several
weeks before. This prompted research that suggested to Shaphan that this
would be the day the sole surviving ovenbird would leave the nest to follow
a parent. While the little fellow didn't look ready to leave, it was the
eighth day.
After his brother Marlin had taken photos from the photo blind we had set up
near the nest, Shaphan took his turn. He got to observe the parent bird
come and call to the little one to follow. He also got some nice shots of
the process.
I suggested he write the story for the "Story Behind the Photo" feature in
Nature Friend. He did, and I am passing it along for whatever interest it
is. At twelve years old, he has been privileged to see some interesting
things that some of us haven't seen in a lifetime.
Kevin
P. S. His photos of the ovenbird leaving the nest are the last ones at this
link: http://www.naturefriendmagazine.com/photos.pl?catid=68
************
Story Behind the Photo
Our Ovenbird Nest
By Shaphan Shank, 12, Dayton, VA
The story behind these photos starts a couple of weeks before
the nest was found. I had been hearing a beautiful bird song in the woods
adjoining our yard-one I didn't recognize. I had been trying unsuccessfully
to find the singer. On one of my early morning bird walks I heard the bird
across the yard. I easily found the bird at the edge of the yard and
watched him sing, and then even bring food to another one that I hadn't
seen. It was an ovenbird. The name comes from their unique nest shape.
Not long after that, my brother accompanied me on a bird walk.
We had heard an ovenbird singing, and since he had yet to see one, we went
toward the bird. We soon saw an ovenbird flying back and forth to and from
the same spots. Soon another brother came to see what we were doing and
took a turn looking through my binoculars. Then I mentioned the unique nest
of the Ovenbird and they both replied immediately, "That's what this is."
The bird was bringing leaves to the nest. After that we went to the nest
several times to see if the bird was around.
We could see the nest from our lane. One morning as Darren and
I were watching the nest, we heard a crashing in the woods behind us. I
figured it was a doe I had seen with her fawn a couple days before, near
where we were. When I turned my head, I saw an adult black bear looking in
our direction. I was glad to have seen it, but since it was only 20 yards
away and between us and the house, I leaped to my feet. I expected it to
run, and got the result I was looking for.
We photographed the ovenbird sitting on the nest a couple of
times. Once when she was off the nest, we got photos of the 4 speckled
eggs. We eagerly awaited the day when the chicks would hatch. Then one day
Darren came back from checking the nest with the report that the chicks had
hatched.
When I first started photographing after the chicks had hatched,
the bird sat in a nearby tree for a while and chirped. Then it disappeared
and I started to hear a fainter chirping. After a while I heard louder
chirping and suddenly saw the bird right behind the nest. It came around
the nest and fed the one chick that was in it. (What happened to the other
chicks, we don't know. We do know that initially there were at least three
chicks in the nest.) It soon flew into a nearby tree and chirped for a
while. Then it flew down to the ground and walked away, its tail flicking
with each step. Soon I heard the soft chirping again, a call I learned they
sometimes made while hunting. The parents did not always chirp loudly just
before coming in. Sometimes we could not hear the soft "hunting" chirp
either.
This morning was the 8th day since the chicks hatched. In
checking The Birder's Handbook I learned that the young Ovenbirds follow
their parents from the nest at 8 days and leave the nest at 8-10 days. We
thought the chick looked a bit young to follow his parents around, but I
figured that today it maybe would anyway.
After a while one of the parent birds came to the nest. It looked in,
probably said something in Ovenbirdish, and walked on. Soon it stopped and
I started taking photos. Then the bird turned and went back toward the
nest. I pointed the camera accordingly. It looked in at the youngster,
said a bit more, and turned back. I took another shot or two of it. Then I
lost sight of the bird and looked up from the camera. There, just outside
of the nest was the chick, trying to follow its mother. It had come upon a
"roadblock". The adult waited a little, but then came back and showed the
little fellow an unblocked path away from the nest. He fluttered and hopped
along behind his mother, heading toward the next meal.
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