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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Saturday, June 28, 2008 Sometimes brains are for the birds when they build nests By Sharon Wootton, Herald columnist Part of the joy of writing this column has been the chance to hear from readers (but if you want me to be semi-coherent, please wait until 9 a.m. to call. I'm an owl, not a lark). Comments and questions are opportunities to learn for all of us. Question: "I have a pair of blue jays that have been trying to build a nest on top of a swallow box that has been nailed to the second story of my house for years … One day they will have quite a few sticks on the roof of the box, the next day all the sticks will be on the ground. They have partially destroyed the wooden roof of the box. They work so hard together and are accomplishing nothing but a big pile of stuff on the ground. Can birds make mistakes about building locations?" Anne Buck Answer: Judging from all the ill-conceived locations of many houses and developments despite all the engineering and experience available to humans, it's a safe bet that bird brains can occasionally lock up. I have heard of a killdeer who insisted on laying eggs on the gravel between railroad rails, a wren nest at the bottom of a downspout, a catbird nest atop an electric meter, a bird nest in the top of a tractor-trailer's vertical exhaust pipe, and a nest on top of an intersection light that sways in the wind. Some birds take infinite care and create safe, intricately made nests. Others have a more laissez-faire attitude. Question: Mike Fuller has had a baby-bird experience. A dark-eyed junco had laid eggs in one of his planters. "After they hatched, we watched them get bigger and bigger and Mommy and Poppy flying back and forth (with food)." After the brood apparently had taken off for good, he looked into the planter. "There was still one little bird in there! And I was amazed at the nest. But why was one bird five days behind the rest?" Answer: A junco makes a nest in a small depression made by the bird in a place where the soil is soft. She then (usually) creates a substantial cup of twigs, grasses, thin stems, moss, bark strips, etc., and lays three to five eggs at daily intervals and incubates them. The young leave the nest in 10 to 13 days. There's an incubation timetable of 12 or 13 days, and the junco eggs hatch beginning with the next-to-last-laid egg (go figure). For some birds, the official incubation is delayed until the last egg is laid. Sometimes the clock starts from the first egg. The incubation timetables for birds refer to the start of incubation and the hatching of a single egg. So it's possible, depending on egg-laying order, hatching order and incubation schedule, and perhaps other factors, for one hatchling to lag behind the rest, although five days is quite the lag. "Eventually the baby junco hopped up on the dead plant and tried to fly but he didn't make it. He landed on the back deck," Fuller said. After hiding in the garden overnight, the junco was seen on the shelf. The next morning it was seen hopping toward a bushy area. "It was all quite interesting," said Fuller, who added, "I've enjoyed reading your column over the years. I just wanted to let you know your efforts were appreciated." Thank you, Mike. And thanks to everyone who has called, written or e-mailed with your questions and stories. On the book shelf: Sasquatch Books has released the second editions of three popular guides in the Day Hike! series that covers the best trails hikeable in a day. Seabury Blair Jr. (Olympic Peninsula) and Mike McQuaide (Central Cascades, North Cascades) have updated the books ($17 each) developed out of their considerable hiking experiences. And "GPS Made Easy" ($17, Mountaineers) is out in its fifth edition. Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.

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