The Breeding Birds of Kansas Part 17

_Breeding schedule._--The 109 records of breeding in Cloud County span the period May 1 to July 30 (Fig. 8); the modal date for laying is May 25, and 71 per cent of all eggs are laid in the period May 11 to June 10. Eighty-eight records of breeding from northwestern Kansas make a histogram almost exactly duplicating the one from Cloud County.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size at Concordia, Cloud County, is 4 eggs (3.7, 3-5; 48); in northeastern Kansas mean clutch-size is 3.7 eggs (3-5; 46). For the total sample, mean clutch-size in May is 4.0 eggs, in June, 3.7 eggs, and in July, 3.3 eggs.

Nests are placed about four feet high (one to nine feet) in willow, cattail, sedge, gra.s.s, elm, exotic conifer, elderberry, coralberry, b.u.t.tonbrush, honeysuckle, smartweed, ash, osage orange, and yellow clover.

In central Kansas red-wings are host to the Brown-headed Cowbird in a frequency of one parasitized nest out of nine; in northeastern Kansas the ratio is 1:25.

TABLE 18.--OCCURRENCE IN TIME OF SUMMER RESIDENT ICTERIDS IN KANSAS

=================+===========================+============================ Arrival Departure SPECIES +-----------------+---------+------------------+--------- Range Median Range Median -----------------+-----------------+---------+------------------+--------- Bobolink May 4-May 21 May 11 Aug. 28-Oct. 1 Sept. 12 Yellow-headed Blackbird Mar. 31-Apr. 29 Apr. 19 Sept. 19-Oct. 18 Sept. 24 Orchard Oriole Apr. 25-May 14 May 4 Aug. 5-Sept. 15 Aug. 9 Baltimore Oriole Apr. 24-May 5 Apr. 29 Sept. 6-Sept. 29 Sept. 10 Common Grackle Mar. 2-Mar. 27 Mar. 17 Oct. 15-Nov. 14 Oct. 31 -----------------+-----------------+---------+------------------+---------

=Orchard Oriole=: _Icterus spurius_ (Linnaeus).--This summer resident is common in parkland, woodland, and old second-growth. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 18.

_Breeding schedule._--The 118 records of breeding span the period May 11 to August 10 (Fig. 8); the modal date for completion of clutches is June 5, and 45 per cent of all eggs are laid in the first ten days of June.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.1, 3-6; 41). Clutches laid at the peak of the season average 4.3 eggs (3-6; 26), and replacement clutches average 3.8 eggs (3-4; 9). Nests are hung about 15 feet high (ranging from six to 55 feet) in elm, cottonwood, hackberry, locust, catalpa, willow, alder, osage orange, walnut, pear, linden, and ash.

=Baltimore Oriole=: _Icterus galbula_ (Linnaeus).--This common summer resident is most numerous in the east, in woodland and riparian timber. The species hybridizes freely with the Bullock Oriole in western Kansas, and individuals morphologically typical of Baltimore Orioles are rare west of the 100th meridian. Evidence of such hybridization can be found in specimens taken in eastern Kansas, but the linear nature of distribution along water-courses to the west restricts gene-flow, and evident hybrids are not yet conspicuous.

Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 18.

_Breeding schedule._--Eighty-three records of breeding span the period May 11 to July 10 (Fig. 8); the modal date of egg-laying is June 5, and 66 per cent of all eggs are laid between May 21 and June 10.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs.

Nests are hung about 24 feet high (ranging from nine to 70 feet) in elm, cottonwood, sycamore, maple, and oak.

=Bullock Oriole=: _Icterus bullockii_ (Swainson).--This summer resident is common in western Kansas in woodland and riparian situations. The species hybridizes freely with the Baltimore Oriole, and most Bullock Orioles in Kansas show evidence of such interbreeding. Almost all records of breeding come from west of the 100th meridian, but the species in recognizable form probably breeds locally at least as far east as Stafford County.

_Breeding schedule._--Few nesting records are available, but these suggest that the breeding schedule of the Bullock Oriole resembles those of the preceding two species in Kansas.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs.

Nests are hung about 26 feet high (ranging from 10 to 50 feet) in cottonwood, elm, and other large trees.

=Common Grackle=: _Quiscalus quiscula versicolor_ Vieillot.--This summer resident is common in parkland, and around towns and farms.

Most individuals move out of Kansas in winter, and the temporal occurrence of these birds is indicated in Table 18.

_Breeding schedule._--The 233 records of breeding span the period April 11 to June 30 (Fig. 8); the modal date for egg-laying is May 5, and two-thirds of all eggs are laid between May 1 and May 20.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (4.5, 3-6; 33). Clutches laid at the peak of the season average 4.7 eggs (3-6; 21), and those laid as replacement clutches average 4.3 eggs (3-6; 12).

Nests are placed in forks and crotches about 22 feet high (ranging from six to 50 feet) in elm, red cedar, cottonwood, oak, box elder, and pine.

=Brown-headed Cowbird=: _Molothrus ater ater_ (Boddaert).--Many individuals of this common summer resident overwinter in the southern part of the State and it is difficult to determine dates of arrival and departure in Kansas. Conspicuous abundance in the north covers the period April to October.

_Breeding schedule._--The 141 instances of egg-laying span the period April 21 to July 20 (Fig. 8); the modal date of laying is May 15, and 53 per cent of all eggs are laid in the period May 11 to June 10.

Inception of laying is here fairly reliably indicated, but in exceptionally early springs laying does occur earlier; a few eggs were found on April 6, 1963, too late for incorporation into this report other than in this sentence.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size in cowbirds is not readily determined.

On the basis of ovarian examination of five females taken in mid-season, the birds here lay about five eggs at a time. There is no question that the birds are "double-brooded" in Kansas, and the season is sufficiently long for as many as five "clutches" to be laid by a given female.

Eggs are laid in nests of some forty species of birds in Kansas; 39 of these are pa.s.serines. No preference for any one species is detectable; the most frequently parasitized species are simply the common species, and these are the kinds for which nesting records are easily gathered by man. In the following list of host species, the names marked with an asterisk are the conspicuously parasitized species.

Mourning Dove, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Phoebe,* Say Phoebe,* Acadian Flycatcher, Barn Swallow, Horned Lark, Carolina Wren, Rock Wren, Brown Thrasher,* Mockingbird, Catbird, Wood Thrush,* Eastern Bluebird, Yellow-throated Vireo, Bell Vireo,* White-eyed Vireo,* Parula Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Yellow-breasted Chat, Yellowthroat, Eastern Meadowlark, Western Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird,* Orchard Oriole,* Cardinal,*

Black-headed Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting,* Blue Grosbeak, d.i.c.kcissel,* Pine Siskin,* Rufous-sided Towhee,* Gra.s.shopper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow,*

Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow.*

=Scarlet Tanager=: _Piranga olivacea_ (Gmelin).--This rare summer resident in northeastern Kansas occurs in deciduous forest and bottomland timber. Specimens taken in the breeding season and records of nesting come from Clay, Doniphan, Douglas, Wyandotte, Johnson, and Linn counties, but the species probably occupies the entire eastern third of the State. Dates of arrival in spring are from April 29 to May 25 (the median is May 11), and dates of departure in autumn are from August 4 to September 23 (the median is August 10).

_Breeding schedule._--Six records of breeding fall in the period May 11 to June 20.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs.

Nests are placed 20 to 35 feet high in elm, linden, hickory, and walnut.

=Summer Tanager=: _Piranga rubra rubra_ (Linnaeus).--This uncommon summer resident in eastern Kansas occurs in woodland. Specimens taken in the breeding season and records of nesting come from east of stations in Doniphan, Shawnee, and Montgomery counties. Dates of arrival in spring run from April 24 to May 18 (the median is April 29), and the species departs southward in September and October.

_Breeding schedule._--Eleven records of egg-laying cover the period May 21 to July 20; the modal date for laying is June 5.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs.

Nests are situated ten to 20 feet high on horizontal limbs of large trees.

=Cardinal=: _Richmondena cardinalis cardinalis_ (Linnaeus).--This species is a common resident in eastern Kansas, west to about the 99th meridian; west of this line the species becomes local and uncommon to rare. Habitat in the east is found in woodland, edge, second-growth and open riparian timber, and in the west the species is restricted to riparian growths, chiefly along the Republican, Solomon, Smoky Hill, Arkansas, and Cimarron rivers, and their larger tributaries.

_Breeding schedule._--The 117 records of breeding span the period April 1 to September 20 (Fig. 8); the modal date for laying of first clutches is May 1, subsequent to which breeding activity is regular but asynchronous.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 3 eggs (3.5, 3-6; 65). Seasonal variation in clutch-size is as follows:

Date Mean clutch-size Number of records

April 1-20 3.0 6 April 21-May 10 3.8 25 May 11-May 31 3.3 15 June 1-June 20 3.6 11 June 21-July 20 3.3 7

Nests are placed about five feet high (ranging from 10 inches to 40 feet) in osage orange, elm, grape, rose, red cedar, coralberry, willow, cottonwood, gooseberry, oak, elderberry, box elder, arbor vitae, Lombardy poplar, Forsythia, pines, honeysuckle, wisteria, lilac, red haw, hickory, dogwood, and sycamore.

=Rose-breasted Grosbeak=: _Pheucticus ludovicia.n.u.s_ (Linnaeus).--This is a local and at times common summer resident in eastern Kansas, in woodland, edge, and riparian timber. Specimens taken in the breeding season and actual records of breeding come from Clay, Riley, Doniphan, Leavenworth, and Douglas counties. This species meets and hybridizes with the Black-headed Grosbeak west of the Flint Hills. Temporal occurrence in the State is indicated in Table 19.

_Breeding schedule._--Eleven records of breeding span the period May 11 to July 10; the modal date for laying is probably June 5.