The Breeding Birds of Kansas Part 15

Nests are placed relatively low in forks in trees and shrubs.

=Bell Vireo=: _Vireo bellii bellii_ Audubon.--This summer resident is common in riparian thickets and second-growth scrub. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 16. _Breeding schedule._--Sixty-six records of breeding span the period May 1 to July 20 (Fig. 7); the modal date for egg-laying is May 25, and a little under 40 per cent of all eggs are laid in the period May 21-31. Renesting following disruption of first nests is regular, and the small peak in the histogram in the period June 11-20 is representative of this.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.6, 3-6; 21). Clutches in May have an average of 3.7 eggs, and those in June and July 3.6 eggs.

Nests are placed about two feet high (ranging from one to five feet) in terminal or lateral forks of small branches in elm, hackberry, osage orange, coralberry, dogwood, plum, honey locust, mulberry, willow, cottonwood, and box elder.

=Yellow-throated Vireo=: _Vireo flavifrons_ Vieillot.--This is a rare and local summer resident in deciduous forest and woodland in eastern Kansas. Stations of breeding occurrence fall east of Shawnee and Woodson counties. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 16.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid at least in May.

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

Nests are placed 16 to 30 feet high in forks of mature deciduous trees.

TABLE 16.--OCCURRENCE IN TIME OF SUMMER RESIDENT VIREOS IN KANSAS

=================+==========================+============================= Arrival Departure SPECIES +----------------+---------+------------------+---------- Range Median Range Median -----------------+----------------+---------+------------------+---------- White-eyed Vireo Apr. 23-May 25 May 8 Oct. 5 Bell Vireo Apr. 14-May 20 May 8 Aug. 26-Sept. 27 Sept. 6 Yellow-throated Vireo Apr. 27-May 22 May 7 Aug. 23-Oct. 1 Aug. 31 Red-eyed Vireo Apr. 21-May 10 May 4 Sept. 2-Oct. 7 Sept. 10 Warbling Vireo Apr. 20-May 9 Apr. 28 Sept. 2-Oct. 6 Sept. 9 -----------------+----------------+---------+------------------+----------

=Red-eyed Vireo=: _Vireo olivaceus olivaceus_ (Linnaeus).--This summer resident is common in the east, but is local and less abundant in the west, in woodland and deciduous forest. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 16.

_Breeding schedule._--Eight records of breeding fall in the period May 21 to July 31; most records of egg-laying are in the first week of June.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.0, 3-5; 5).

Nests are placed in forks of mature deciduous trees, usually fairly high--perhaps 15 to 25 feet (Davie, 1898).

=Warbling Vireo=: _Vireo gilvus gilvus_ (Vieillot).--This summer resident is common in woodland and forest edge. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 16.

_Breeding schedule._--Seventeen records of breeding span the period May 1 to June 20, but it is likely that breeding later in June and July will be recorded. The modal date for egg-laying is June 5, and this seems to be a reliable index to the major effort in egg-laying in spite of the small sample.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (3.6, 3-4; 5). Nests are placed three to 25 feet high in a variety of deciduous shrubs and trees.

=Black-and-white Warbler=: _Mniotilta varia_ (Linnaeus).--This local and uncommon summer resident lives in deciduous forest and woodland.

Specimens taken in the breeding season and actual records of nesting come from Doniphan, Douglas, Coffey, Greenwood, Sedgwick, Labette, and Cherokee counties. Temporal occurrence in the State is indicated in Table 17.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid in May and June.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is around 5 eggs (Davie, 1898).

Nests are placed on the ground, in depressions or niches, under heavy cover.

=Prothonotary Warbler=: _Protonotaria citrea_ (Boddaert).--This is a local summer resident in eastern Kansas, in understory of riparian timber and swampy woodland. Specimens taken in the breeding season and actual records of nesting come from Doniphan, Douglas, Linn, and Cowley counties. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 17.

_Breeding schedule._--Twenty-two records of breeding span the period May 11 to July 10 (Fig. 8); the modal date for egg-laying is June 5, and 75 per cent of all clutches are laid in the period June 1 to 20.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (4.5, 3-6; 15).

Nests are placed in holes and niches in willow, red haw, elm, and a variety of stumps, about eight feet high (ranging from five to 20 feet), usually over water. A pair nested once in a gourd under the eave of a house in Winfield, Cowley County, and another pair in a tin cup on a shelf at a sawmill (Goss, ex Long, 1936).

=Parula Warbler=: _Parula americana_ (Linnaeus).--This summer resident in eastern Kansas usually can be found in heavy woodland and flood-plain timber. Specimens taken in the breeding season and actual records of breeding come from Doniphan, Riley, Douglas, Montgomery, Labette, and Cherokee counties. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 17.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid at least from mid-May to mid-June.

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

Nests are placed in debris in root tangles along stream banks, and, presumably, in pendant arboreal lichens.

=Yellow Warbler=: _Dendroica petechia_ (Linnaeus).--This summer resident is common in the east, in woodland and riparian growths. _D. p. aestiva_ (Gmelin) occupies eastern Kansas west at least to Barber County, but it is not known how far west representatives of this population breed. _D.

p. morcomi_ Coale breeds in western Kansas. _D. p. sonorana_ Brewster, a name applicable to Yellow Warblers of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, has been considered a "straggler" (Long, 1940) or probable summer resident (Tordoff, 1956; Johnston, 1960) in southwestern Kansas, on the basis of one specimen taken on June 24, 1911, at a point two miles south of Wallace, Wallace County. This specimen, which is pale, was identified in 1935 as _D. p. sonorana_ by H. C. Oberholser.

Specimens taken subsequently from Cheyenne, Hamilton, and Morton counties in the breeding season can be referred adequately to _D. p.

morcomi_. Probably the specimen of 1911 is a pale variant of _D. p.

morcomi_ within its normal distributional range. _Breeding schedule._--Thirty-five records of breeding span the period May 11 to June 20 (Fig. 8); this probably is inadequate to show the extent of the season, and some egg-laying into July is likely to be found in the future. The modal date of egg-laying is May 25, and this is likely to be reliable.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.2, 3-5; 29).

Nests are placed about nine feet high (ranging from five to 20 feet) in crotches of trees and shrubs including willow, elderberry, cottonwood, crabapple, plum, and coralberry.

=Prairie Warbler=: _Dendroica discolor discolor_ (Vieillot).--This rare, local summer resident occurs in deciduous second-growth. The only breeding records are from Wyandotte and Johnson counties.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid at least in June.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs (Davie, 1898).

Nests are placed low, perhaps about four feet high, in a wide variety of small trees and shrubs.

=Louisiana Waterthrush=: _Seiurus motacilla_ (Vieillot).--This uncommon to rare summer resident in eastern Kansas lives in woodland understory near streams. Nesting records come from Douglas, Miami, Linn, and Crawford counties. Wolfe (1961) reports he found a nest with young near Oberlin, Decatur County, on June 10, 1910, under an overhanging bank of Sappa Creek; Decatur County is some 250 miles west of the present western limit of the breeding range of the Louisiana Waterthrush, and western habitats are not favorable for their occurrence. Temporal characteristics of their distribution are indicated in Table 17.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid in May and June.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 5 eggs (Davie, 1898).

Nests are placed in concealed places in banks or stumps always where it is wet.

TABLE 17.--OCCURRENCE IN TIME OF SUMMER RESIDENT WOOD WARBLERS IN KANSAS

==================+=========================+============================= Arrival Departure SPECIES +----------------+--------+------------------+---------- Range Median Range Median ------------------+----------------+--------+------------------+---------- Black-and-white Warbler Apr. 2-May 12 May 5 Sept. 10-Oct. 14 Sept. 22 Prothonotary Warbler Apr. 24-May 25 May 8 Aug. 6-Sept. 10 Aug. 22 Parula Warbler Apr. 6-May 5 Apr. 23 Sept. 12-Oct. 7 Sept. 18 Yellow Warbler Apr. 21-May 7 Apr. 30 Aug. 28-Oct. 1 Sept. 4 Louisiana Waterthrush Apr. 2-May 2 Apr. 16 Aug. ? Kentucky Warbler Apr. 24-May 15 May 3 Sept. 13 Yellowthroat Apr. 21-May 10 May 3 Sept. 8-Oct. 3 Sept. 17 Yellow-breasted Chat Apr. 29-May 19 May 11 Aug. 29-Oct. 1 Sept. 8 American Redstart Apr. 22-May 20 May 12 Sept. 1-Oct. 7 Sept. 10 ------------------+----------------+--------+------------------+----------