•Vol. X•VIII
1947
FEW
WooD,
FewRobins
Returnto TheirHatchplace
ROBINS
RETURN
TO THEIR
[127
HATCHPLACE
BY HAROLD B. WOOD• M.D.
The subjectof how many birds return to the site or vicinity of •heir
hatchplace
haslongcapturedthe attentionof bird banders. Its solution
comesnot from conjecturebut only from a percentagestudy of birds
banded as nestlingsand subsequently
trapped within a short distance
of their place of hatching. Since birds are not born, they have no
birthplace.The abilityor habitof returnis not sharedequallyby different species,but genericcomparisons
may be interesting. The robin
offersan excellentopportunityfor sucha studybecauseof the easeof
determiningthe four age groupswhich are encountered
during the
breedingseason--nestling,
fledgling,juvenileandadult. Unfortunately
the robin is not as easyto trap as someotherbirds whoseageperiods
are lesseasy,to recognize.
In attempting
to determinethe proportionof birds whichreturnto
their locationof hatching,the.numberof birds of the species
hatched
within the area and bandedas nestlings,and the numberof theseindividualswhichreturn during somefuture year must be reported;the
numbersbandedas adults,or as birds probablyhatchedat a distance,
hasnothingto do with the compilation.Alsothe reporterof records
shoulddefinethe limits of the districtregardedasthe area in whichthe
birds were hatched.
Some localities have a concentration of banders
within a few mileswho couldcooperatein reportingon a species,if
theyrecover
eachother'sbirds. Whena banderis located
manymiles
fromothertrappers
hisnesting
areaof reporting
is muchrestricted,
but
his conclusionsno lesstrustworthy.
The trappingstationat Harrisburg,Pennsylvania,
whence
thesere-
portscome,
is manymilesremote
fromanyotherbirdbander.It is a
residential
yardwithabouta dozen
traps,somewithwater-baths.
From
1928to 1944, I banded647 EasternRobins,Turdusmigratoriusmigra-
toriusLinnaeus,
with30 subsequent
returns(4 per cent.) Therewere
187robinsbandedasadults,giving16 percentreturnsat ,thetraps;317
bandedas fledglings
or asjuveniles,
of whichonly3 returned
to the
traps.I banded
143nestling
robins,
mostly
within500feetofthebandingstation,
andonlytwoevercame
intothetrapsin lateryears.Only
thosetwobandedasnestlings
canbe claimedto havereturned
to their
hatchlocaltity.If the fledglings
andjuveniles
couldbe addedthey
wouldnot raisethe ratio of returns. Other studiesamplyconfirmthe
statement
that birds,at leastrobins,bandedas juvenilescannotbe in-
cluded
in thecategory
of hatch-returns,
unless
thereis a definite
method
of checking
the birdsovera considerable
area.
Nestling
robins
weregivena special
studyin 1935whenI banded
43 in nestsfoundwithin an eigh•thof a mile of the trappingstation,
128]
Bird-Ban•ding
WooDFewRobins
Return
toTheirHatchplace July
and not one ever cameto the traps in any future year, althoughfive
were trappedas juveniles. During 1934 I banded110 nestlingrobins
within 500 feet of the trappingstation; of thesefive were found dead
that sameseason,five were trappedthe samesummer,one returnedthe
followingyear and one was caughtthree yearslater in BatonRouge,
Louisiana.
It wasmy goodfortuneto be invitedto participatein the J. Murray
SpeirsRobinSurvey,1938-1941. This activity,for me, includeddaily
visits to the campusof the Harrisburg Academy200 feet from my
home, to include robin counts,binocularcheckingof color-banded
robins,nestlingbandingandotherobservations.The resultssuggested
the lengthof the fledglingstage,provedthe rapid dispersal
of juveniles
and the lengthystay of someadults. Robinscolor-banded
as adults
wereknownto remainthe followingnumberof daysafter beingbanded:
19, 19, 37, 46, 58, 62, 73 and121 days.Their datesof bandingextended
fromApril 4 to June27, andtherobinbandedApril 4 waslastseenon
August
10. Thejuveniles
didnotremainsolong. Onenestling,
banded
in thenestJuly6, wasseenonthegroundonthe12th,13th,15th,17th,
18th and 23rd, and never later. Another color-bandedJuly 17 was
seenonthegrounddailyafterthe20thuntilfounddeadJuly23. Anothercolor-banded
May 24 wasseenup to June21. Anotherset of
nestlings
specially
color-banded
in a nestin a remotecornerweredaily
searched
for andonlyonewaseverseenoutof thenest,andonthe day
followingthe banding.
The rapiddispersal
of the juveniles
fromthisfour-acres
of college
lawnwasclearlyshown
by thedailycounts
of adultsandspotted
young.
Thenumber
of juveniles
present
borenorelationwhatever
to thenumberof adults.As an example,
onSeptember
17, 1940,•therewerethree
adultsandseven
juveniles,
onthe18th23 adultsand12 juveniles,
none
of eitherthe followingday. Juvenilerobinsduringmigrationdo not
necessarily
travelwiththeirparents:
fromSeptember
8 to 17therewere
counted
52 adultsand74 juveniles;fromSeptember
19 to 30, there
were120 adultscounted
andonlyonejuvenilein the samearea. The
September
dailycountvariedfromoneto 31 adults,
showing
therewas
littleif anyduplication,
andthebirdswereonthemove.In Julythe
dailyjuvenile
count,
afterJuly26,variedas17,13,31,18,17,andnot
oversixonanydayof thenextweek.Thesefigures
attest
thestatement
thatrobinsbandedasjuveniles
cannotbe statedto havebeenreared
nearby.
The habitsand activitiesof onespecies
do not necessarily
explain
thoseof another,but comparisons
of species
are not alwaysodious.
In 15 yearsI banded
42 nesting
House
Wrensandonlythreeadults
returned
in afteryears,
onlyseven
percent.Oftheirnestlings
I banded
77 andnotoneevercamebackto theyard. I banded157adultcatbirds
of which17 returned,and 101 catbirdsjudgedas probablejuveniles
Vol.
XVIII
1947
General
Notes
[ 129
with five returns,and 30 nestlingcatbirdsgiving no returns. During
five yearsI banded136 adult and 87 nestlingBank Swallows,Riparia
riparia riparia (Linnaeus), at the only sand-bankwithin •nany miles.
Not one of thesebirds were mnongthe 49 adultscaught.at the sandbank two yearslater, and during me four previousyears only one of
the 223 Bank Swallowswascaughtas a return. PurpleMartins,Progne
subissubis(Linnaeus),totalling27 adultsand99 nestlings,
werebanded
at a largecolonyhouseduringthreeyears,with no returnsduringthose
years; in later yearsfrequentinspections
revealedonly one bird with
a band. These recordsfrom a small banding station, althoughnot
many,tendto supportthecontention
thatreturnsof birdsto theirnatal
environment
are actuallyfew in proportionto thosebandedas nestlings,
at leastfor the speciesherein considered.
3016 North SecondStreet,Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
GENERAL
NOTES
Recovery of Chickadee Bands from Screech Owl Pellet.--Since October 27, 19zt6a ScreechOwl, Otus asio naevius (Gmelin), has been roostingjn a
large bird box in our back-yard,and I have beenpickingup pelletsbeneaththe
box for examination. All of them seemed to contain the remains of mice, until on
March 4, 1947,a small pellet was pickedup which containe.d
two bands. Upon
checkingmy recordsI foundthat I had placedthesebandson Chickadees,
Parus
atricapillusatricapillusLinnaeus,one 42-57193on August4, 1945,and the other
40-22749on September
18, 1946. Justprior to this,therewasa fairly heavyfall
of snowwhichundoubtedlymadethe owl unableto securemice,so he resortedto
the Chickadees.--Mas. CHARLES
L. SMITH, 75 Westland Road, Weston 93, Mass.
A New Speciesis Added to North American Bird Banding.--On January 18, 1947,I hadthegoodfortuneto adda newspecies
to bird bandinghistory.
The bird that had its name entered for the first time in banding recordswas first
observed
on January12thwithinthe Torontoare.a. On Januarythe 14th a second
of the samespeciesput in its appearance
within two hundredyardsof the first
one'sterritory. On thisdatebothbirdswereobserved
in flightat onetime. The
birds were none other than one of our apparently decreasingspecies:the Great
Grey Owl, Scotiaptexnebulosa(Forster).
The successful
daywasclear,cold,and the newlyfallen snowmadeour footing
silent. We arrivedat our destinationarmedwith a cagedrat in a sack,a number
of paddedand weakened
muskrattraps,our usualpocketfull of variousg.age
nooses,
andgeneralbandingequipment.After an hour'ssearchour quarrywas
sighted,
perched
tenfeetfromtheground
in a largewillow. In orderto put our
firsttacticinto effect,my twoassistants
heldthe owl'sattentionwhileI set the
muskrat
trapsonshortposts
plainlyin viewof thebird. Thecaged
rat wasthen
placed
withinthetrapcircleandI retreated,
takingwithmethesack.Immediatelyhisinterest
centered
on therat, andthethought
of a veryheartymeal.
However,
afterwatching
himturnon the percha dozentimesandseeing
him
almoststrikeoverandoveragain,ourpatience
became
exhausted.Thiscalledfor
tacticnumbertwo. A longwillowsaplingwassecured
anda sturdycoppernoose
afixedto thesmallend. Thefirsttry to slipthenoose
overtheowl'shead•ailed
andheglidedaway.Afteranhourof try aftertry,however,
thefeatwassuccessful andthebirdwastoppled
fromhisperch,andin a splitsecond
wasfirmlyheld