I am very happy to report that nesting has really picked up in the last couple days. That seems to be how to goes. You find nothing... nothing... then suddenly they all start at once. We've now found a total of 16 nests. Most have been Horned Lark nests so far, so I've decided to put them back in my study. I monitored them last year, but we only found a total of 9 nests, so this year I decided to leave them out. Nine just isn't enough for good statistical analysis. But seeing as we're finding more this year (and we have the time to do it), I've decided to start monitoring them again.
Horned Larks typically lay 3 eggs (though we've found 4), light-colored with small brown speckles completely covering them. They like to nest in very open areas with sparse vegetation. Their nest is an open cup with no roof, typically placed next to a tuft of grass or cow patty. Though the nests are easy to see, they can sometimes be hard to find, as the female will often run along the ground for up to 10 meters or more before flushing. That means you're looking for the nest where the bird flushed, rather than where it actually is.
Today, while rope dragging in one of the Mankota community pastures, I was thrilled to have us find 2 McCown's Longspur nests! Last year we only found 5, two of which were outside my study sites. To find 2 of them in the same plot, on the same day, within about 100 meters of each other, is pretty exciting. McCown's Longspurs are classified as a "species at risk" under Canada's Species at Risk Act (SARA). They have seen a 98% population decrease since 1968, mostly due to the loss and degradation of their breeding habitat. They are endemic to North American prairies, so no prairies equals no McCown's. This goes for many other plant and animal species out here as well.
McCown's Longspurs typically lay 3-4 eggs. Their nests and eggs are almost identical to Chestnut-collared Longspurs, as are the females. The only way to tell the nests apart are by the slight difference in markings on the birds' tails. So if you never get a good look at the adult's tail when it's flushing, you can't identify the nest.
Longspur nests are my favorites. Like Horned Larks, they prefer nesting in open, sparse areas. Their nest is an open cup, again usually placed near a tuft of grass or rock. Unlike the larks, though, longspur eggs have less markings on them, some of which are distinct squiggly lines.
Yesterday I gave the nest crew the day off, and Amy and I decided to go adventuring a bit. We ended up taking a road I've never taken before, and found ourselves outside the park. We came to an almost badlands-type area, with strange mounds of barren dirt rising out of the ground.
On the way back, we got some great looks at a (possibly female) pronghorn antelope. Despite their name, they're actually related to goats, and are the fasted land mammal in North America. Apparently they used to be prey for the now-extinct North American cheetah. Pronghorns are absolutely beautiful animals, and it always makes my heart soar to watch them racing across the prairie.
We also found a new friend while crossing a stream... Western painted turtles are pretty common out here.
We're definitely ahead of schedule for finding nests and dragging plots compared to last year. I suppose having twice the number of people on the nest crew doesn't hurt :)
Woo turtle! Recently I picked up a painted turtle I found here and was surprised to see a solid yellow plastron instead of a brightly patterned one. Only after some Googling did I realize that only the western subspecies has that bright red, yellow and black underside.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I am really enjoying your blog; it's the next best thing to being there. (Can't imagine how crowded the house must be with that many people!) Keep it up!