[CT Birds] B-t Grackle Question

[Frank Mantlik]

And here are some of mine.  I've been doing breeding
bird surveys for Fish & Wildlife on this and other
units of the McKinney Refuge for a number of years. 
And the most nest sites I've found in a year is two. 
So it's puzzling where the other bulk of the wintering
flock goes, unless they take nest sites in other as
yet determined sites throughout the marsh.  (Up to
four or so birds have been seen in past springs in
other places such as the Milford Point marsh, Sherwood
Is.,, etc.) Until late summer/fall when a number of
offspring join the adults & swell the flock size into
a larger feeding group (15+).
It's possible that the bulk of the wintering flock
heads south to the marshes on eastern Long Island.

Frank Mantlik
Stratford

--- greg hanisek <ctgregh at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Tim:
>    
>   I'd love to hear other thoughts on this. Here are
> some of mine:
>        The population seems pretty stable at the
> moment to me. For several years now the high count
> in winter up until breeding starts has been in the
> mid-to-high 20s. I'm not sure what the dynamics are
> between the wintering birds and the breeding
> population - i.e is this a self-contained year-round
> population or do some head farther south in winter
> and some return in spring? I don't think anyone has
> figured how many active nests there are or if
> they've increased recently. Since the species is
> polygynist, you can't speak in ters of numbers of
> pairs. So far there doesn't seem to be any strong
> sign of the breeding colony spreading away from
> McKinney, but things can change fast. Maybe this
> year they'll  be found breeding somewhere else. I'm
> pretty fascinated by the whole thing. The consistent
> size of the winter flock is kind of amazing.
>    
>   Greg Hanisek
>   Waterbury
>   
> Tim Antanaitis <timant123 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   >From Tim Antanaitis:
> 3/22 - Bridgeport, Seaside Park, 6-6:30pm -- male
> EURASIAN WIGEON along
> Sound shoreline
> Stratford, Sikorsky Airport entrance, 7-7:15pm -- 26
> (21m+5F) BOAT-TAILED
> GRACKLES
> 
> I didn't rush to get this report in, as these
> species were sent in yesterday by
> another birder. I took a few bad pictures:
> 
>
http://picasaweb.google.com/TimAntanaitis/EurasianWigeon
>
http://picasaweb.google.com/TimAntanaitis/26BoatTailedGrackles21m5f
> 
> The Eurasian Wigeon was with 47 American Wigeon.
> 
> The Boat-tailed Grackles were in the trees next to
> the tall tower at the entrance
> to Sikorsky at sunset. I try to get exact counts
> every time I see these guys.
> On 4/7/07 I saw 23 (14m+9f) on the railroad trail
> off of Long Beach Blvd. Does
> anyone know if the population is growing? Does a
> bigger group break up into
> smaller groups at different night roosting sites?
> How many females have been
> seen together recently?
> 
> Tim Antanaitis
> East Hampton
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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