Bird Notes from Lefty Arnold
Ash-throated Flycatcher: What’s in a name?

Let’s take a closer look at one of the birds that nests at RGNC: The ash-throated flycatcher, Myiarchus cinerascens. Its genus name is from the Greek words, myia meaning “a fly,” and archos, “a ruler.” It’s species name is from Latin and means “ashy.”

The book Birds of the Great Plains Breeding Species and Their Distribution by Paul A. Johnsgard, notes this about the ash-throated flycatcher’s nesting habits: “During nest-building, the female gathers the materials while the male sings and guards the nesting area. Both parents feed the young, mostly on the soft parts of insects, which are regurgitated but later are fed to the birds directly. For some time after the young birds have left the nest they remain close to their parents, and the adults help train them to capture live prey by releasing slightly injured insects directly in front of them.” The book also notes that the eggs are buff to creamy with brownish to lavender spots, lines, and streaks. The nesting location generally is in tree cavities - usually no more than 20 feet above the ground - that is filled and lined with a variety of materials, often including hair and sometimes snakeskins.

Checking with reports of the ash-throated flycatcher on eBird (ebird.org) since the year 2000 indicates that the earliest date this bird has been recorded at RGNC is April 20 (2008) and the latest is September 30 (2009).

 
I went birding and spotted a red mulberry!

Do you think that Nature has come up with a fine idea in having migrating fruit-eating birds show up in North America about the same time that the Red Mulberry is fruiting? I sure do. And do you know that a fruiting Red Mulberry is growing near the entrance to the Visitor Center?

Heading up to the entrance tube the other day, I saw a female summer tanager fly into a short and slender, green-leafed tree on my right. As I looked up at the bird, I saw it grab and eat a fruit from the tree. It was only then that I noticed that the tree is a fruiting red mulberry. (In the six days since I first found the tree, all the fruits are gone.)

The red mulberry (Morus rubra) is a native to the eastern United States that grows very well in New Mexico. Find a fruiting red mulberry (they are pretty common in Albuquerque) and you should be able to find a variety of birds, from cedar waxwings to tanagers to robins to mockingbirds. In fact, the nifty reference book American Wildlife Plants: A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits lists 28 species of birds that are known to eat mulberries.
 

 An old friend, the Hooded Merganser

Remember that male hooded merganser that spent most of the winter on the Observation Room pond? At the end of the bird walk Saturday, May 28, a couple who had been on the walk mentioned that they had seen a male hooded merganser 100 or so yards north of the bridge that crosses the ditch near the Visitor Center. Sure enough, the male bird was hanging out with a female mallard, the same behavior that had been demonstrated by the male hooded merganser during the winter. Could it be the same bird?