In 2003 we put radios on eight young--two in the
country and six in the city. The two country young were still transmitting
when the batteries in their radios died. All the city young were killed by cars (three) or we lost signal
from them.
In 2004 we followed 10 young birds in the
suburbs and two in the country. Nine were tagged
in or around their nests, while the 10th was a young bird that happened to
be spotted by a neighbor as it wandered through Myers Park. This bird was
trapped and outfitted with a transmitter and thus joined the study group,
even though we don't know which nest it came from.
Of these birds, one settled down in a neighboring
territory and attempted, unsuccessfully, to breed in 2006. She was killed
by a car before the '07 breeding season. A second bird settled down and
appeared to be mated going into the '07 breeding season when the battery
in the transmitter died.
In 2005, a season that was experienced terrible
reproductive output due to heavy rain, we only tagged one young bird (in
Latta Park). We lost the signal from that bird not long after it began to
disperse.
In '06 we tagged two young in the country
(Harrisburg). One of these was found dead in early winter and we lost the
signal on the other. One young was tagged in town. The signal was lost on
this bird shortly after dispersal. These lost signals mean either that the
bird was hit by a car and the radio broken in the process, or the bird
wandered out of the area we covered in searching for it.
In '07 we tagged two young in Reedy Creek Nature
Preserve and two at the Nature Museum in suburban Charlotte. As of 18
October, the two city young have settled down, and the rural birds are
still on the air.
To see where all the city young are now, click
here. To see the travels of each bird, click on their links
below.
The city nests where we banded young were:
Bromley (2 young) Bromley
1 and Bromley 2
Bay St. (2 young) Map "Bay St."
Ardsley, Latta Park (the Berkeley pair), the Nature Museum at Freedom
Park, and Queens Rd East. The movement of the young from these four nests
are combined in the "Nature
Museum" map.
The Cumberland young is still hanging around home, so it doesn't have a
map yet.
