Chronicles

Tips For Beginner Birders With Mike Lushington by: Mike Lushington   6.     Watching for Nests                                                                                                           This is the time of year when many birds are nesting. They are busy laying, hatching, and rearing their young. We are all curious about birds and their nests. Many of us possess digital cameras, which make the whole process of photography - including nature photography - easier than it has ever been before. The temptation to photograph birds on their nests or while they are feeding their young is a strong one. Unfortunately, giving in to that temptation can lead to great stress for the adults and unintended disaster for the young birds. Some birds (robins are obvious examples) are notoriously tolerant of disturbances around their nests. They will build them almost anywhere - in garages, on back porches, near the barbecue pit - seemingly oblivious to the human traffic nearby. They can provide wonderful opportunities for us to watch, study, and learn about the activities of birds at this crucial time in their lives. But even robins have their limitations when it comes to the kinds of disturbance they will tolerate. Taking baby birds out their nests ("Just for a minute, so that I can get this great picture of little Mary holding a baby bird") will inevitably lead to the parent birds abandoning the nest - and to the death of the young birds themselves. Unfortunately, too, paying a lot of close attention to a nest can attract the attention of your pet - particularly your cat - and that can lead to disaster if the cat has any way to gain access to the nest. Many other birds are not nearly as tolerant of our attentions as are robins; therefore the wisest course of action to take, should you happen to come across a nest, is to ignore it. If you really must watch it, do so from a distance. Just how far that should be will be determined by the adult birds themselves. If you approach too closely, they will try to distract you by calling at you from a conspicuous perch, or by flopping away through the undergrowth, or by sounding alarm calls - the particular tactic varies from species to species, but they are all calculated to draw you away from the immediate vicinity of the nest. Go along with their efforts until they stop, and then watch quietly to see where they go when things return to normal. Often you will be able to detect the nest and you might be able to observe proceedings from a safe distance with no further disruptions. You should consider the weather, too, in making these cautious observations. A cool, rainy, or damp day is not a good time to do so because, should you inadvertently disturb the parent bird from its brooding, you may cause the young birds to be exposed to conditions that they may only be able to tolerate for a few minutes, particularly if they are very young, naked, tiny little creatures with very few resources of their own. In the end, observing creatures in nature, under whatever circumstances, should be done with one simple guideline to remember: the observation may well be a great pleasure for you, but if it is intrusive, it can be a very stressful disruption for the bird (or any other creature). Given enough stress, an animal may abandon its young, or, in the case of a very few, become aggressive. Bears, of course, fall into this category, but so do Great horned owls, Northern goshawks, and several other species of birds. These birds will actively attack intruders, and sometimes cause considerable damage to scalps, backs, and pride alike. They do not see your interest as a benefit to them, but simply a threat. We would do well to remember that, and keep our distance.

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