Bushtit Inceville Los Liones Canyon Los Angeles California 222-1
"Behavior at Nest-leaving.
When the nestlings are ready to fly, the slightest disturbance sends them out of the nest. As one juvenile starts to leave, the impulse apparently spreads rapidly to the others. So quickly do they pop out of the nest, that one has the feeling that the nest has suddenly exploded. There is an incessant medley of juvenal trills. The juveniles fly a little awkwardly and to a lower level when they leave the nest. They scatter in all directions, often alighting in the grass, uttering the trill all the while. The parents immediately become excited, uttering a rapid succession of alarm notes as they dash from one young bird to another in an evident effort to protect them and to get them together. This is quite a task, for the juveniles fly as far as twenty-five yards from the nest tree.
The parents spend from fifteen minutes to half an hour gathering the scattered family in low bushes or in a small tree. In the meantime the young birds try their wings and trill, but the parents are far too busy to feed them. Feeding starts as soon as the brood is in one place. Often three or four young perch along a limb in a fluffy row with feathers interlaced, in the manner of adult roosting birds. The more precocious members of the brood flutter clumsily from one twig to another and seem to find it difficult to maintain a firm foothold and a good balance. Fifteen minutes after nest leaving one juvenile was observed making several attempts to secure insects from the limb on which it was perched. It was very clumsy and almost lost its balance each time. The juveniles of one family interspersed normal location notes with the juvenal trill. Half an hour after nest-leaving the young start following the parents in their search for food, begging with trills as they go. They frequently wipe the bill off on a twig, in the manner of adult birds after feeding. The parents spend almost their entire time searching for food for the young. When an adult approaches a young one, it attempts to put the food into the mouth, but if the juvenile does not take it immediately, the adult passes on to another. In this way a fairly even distribution of food is effected. "
By ALICE BALDWIN ADDICOTT (1938)
Bushtit Inceville Los Liones Canyon Los Angeles California 222-1
"Behavior at Nest-leaving.
When the nestlings are ready to fly, the slightest disturbance sends them out of the nest. As one juvenile starts to leave, the impulse apparently spreads rapidly to the others. So quickly do they pop out of the nest, that one has the feeling that the nest has suddenly exploded. There is an incessant medley of juvenal trills. The juveniles fly a little awkwardly and to a lower level when they leave the nest. They scatter in all directions, often alighting in the grass, uttering the trill all the while. The parents immediately become excited, uttering a rapid succession of alarm notes as they dash from one young bird to another in an evident effort to protect them and to get them together. This is quite a task, for the juveniles fly as far as twenty-five yards from the nest tree.
The parents spend from fifteen minutes to half an hour gathering the scattered family in low bushes or in a small tree. In the meantime the young birds try their wings and trill, but the parents are far too busy to feed them. Feeding starts as soon as the brood is in one place. Often three or four young perch along a limb in a fluffy row with feathers interlaced, in the manner of adult roosting birds. The more precocious members of the brood flutter clumsily from one twig to another and seem to find it difficult to maintain a firm foothold and a good balance. Fifteen minutes after nest leaving one juvenile was observed making several attempts to secure insects from the limb on which it was perched. It was very clumsy and almost lost its balance each time. The juveniles of one family interspersed normal location notes with the juvenal trill. Half an hour after nest-leaving the young start following the parents in their search for food, begging with trills as they go. They frequently wipe the bill off on a twig, in the manner of adult birds after feeding. The parents spend almost their entire time searching for food for the young. When an adult approaches a young one, it attempts to put the food into the mouth, but if the juvenile does not take it immediately, the adult passes on to another. In this way a fairly even distribution of food is effected. "
By ALICE BALDWIN ADDICOTT (1938)