At the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest, we now have our first Prothonotary Warbler nestlings! The cypress knee nest out by the Goodson Lake (#151) has hatched. There are five chicks in the nest and they likely hatched sometime on Sunday. The male for this nest, A026, successfully fledged four chicks last year from the same nest site. Let’s hope he and his unbanded female have similar success this year!
A026 with caterpillar
A026 with caterpillar
Female with insect
We also have another active nest on one of our off-boardwalk properties. It is located in one of our artificial-milk-carton nestboxes. This nest also has five chicks that probably hatched sometime yesterday or late on Monday.
Besides the nests with chicks, we also have at least two nests around the boardwalk with eggs and one nestbox off-site with eggs. With some more scouting, many more nests will likely be discovered. However, the season is off to a great start!
A011
With the expert guidance of Dr. Chris Snook, we have banded 11 new Prothonotary Warblers this season – 9 males and 2 females. And we are now up to 26 previously-banded Prothonotary Warblers that have returned to the swamp this season. Of the returning birds, 9 were banded in 2009 and the remaining 17 were banded in 2010.
Images by Mark Musselman
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