Chuck on a nest

Every now again we accidentally stumble upon a nesting Chuck-will's-widow.  These nests are difficult to come by in Ohio because it is a rare bird in the state.  But the numbers of these birds have been increasing since the 1930's.  On May 24, 2018, I flushed a female Chuck, which flew about 30 feet and landed on a branch, swinging its wings to keep my attention.  From her lift-off spot I found 2 mottled eggs, placed directly on the ground since Chuck's do not build any kind of nest. 

Female Chuck-will's-widow swinging it's wings after leaving the nest to draw my attention to her.

 

Chuck-will's-widow eggs on the ground.

Since it has been a few years since I have found a Chuck nest, I thought this would be a fun place to set up a game camera.  I went back the next day, took a couple pictures of the Chuck-will's-widow now back on the eggs, then set up a camera facing the bird.

Cell phone picture of a Chuck-will's-widow through a spotting scope.

If all goes well, I should be able to watch these videos and see how long this bird sits on the eggs, how she or he tends to the eggs, when the chicks hatch, and how long they stick around after hatching.  I have now watched the hundreds of videos the camera captured, and am surprised how few interactions occurred with the Chuck on the ground and other animals.  There was one video of an adult and baby Eastern cottontail rabbit hopping by one night, and only one other interaction. An odd event happened with another bird.  Watch the video below of a wild turkey that enters the scene on May 27th, while the Chuck was still sitting on eggs.  The turkey obviously knows the Chuck-will's-widow is there.  

 

 

 



The wild turkey circled the motionless Chuck for 10 minutes and was not threatened by the bird on the ground.  I believe it was trying to make the adult Chuck flush.  Who knows what would have happened next.  Would a wild turkey eat those Chuck eggs??

I set up the camera on the 25th of May.  Turkey visited on the 27th.

On May 30th, there were no videos taken, and the first chicks were viewed on the 31st, so I believe they hatched out on May 30th.  This was 7 days after the eggs were discovered. 

Over the next 7 days, the chicks are fed in evening after dark, and early morning before the sun comes up.  Interestingly, both male and female Chuck's tend to the chicks.  This video below shows interactions of both adults and the tiny chicks on the ground.  Most of the video is in the dark, but if you watch the middle of the video, you can see the small chicks feeding from the adults

 

 

June 7th reveals last video of a chick hopping away, and there are no more videos of the birds.  The birds were still in the vicinity when I picked up the camera on June 11th.  The adult was making a guttural call which gave away the location of the birds. 

So the female sits on the eggs for at least 7 days, and the male and female feed the chicks for another 7 days before walking away from the nest (if you want to call it a nest). 

Two days after the birds left, I started getting videos of raccoons and squirrels walking by.  Odd that I never saw them enter the scene while the bird was on chicks, but it is possible the adult flew away from the chicks while a potential predator was approaching to lure it away, just as it did when I first approached.

 

Posted by: Mark Zloba 



Chuck Island, The Northern Range of Chuck-Will's-Widows

It's almost Memorial Day, which reminds me that chuck-will's-widows, Caprimulgus carolinensis, are sitting on eggs or have possibly already left their "nest" with fuzzy chuck chicks.  Its really not much of a nest since they simply lay their eggs on the leaf littered ground.  Soon after hatching, the chicks are on the move.  This leaves very little time to observe these large nightjars, kin to whip-poor-wills, while sitting on eggs. 


Chuck-will's-widow on eggs.

Chuck-will's-widows are a rare breeding bird in Ohio. The only place it annually breeds in Ohio is in or near the Ohio Brush Creek valley of Adams and possibly Highland County.  Occasionally, these birds show up elsewhere in the state, but for some reason, this valley bordering the preserve, supports a large population which is the only reliable place in Ohio to hear, or if you're lucky, see a chuck.


Amazing camouflage of a Chuck-will's-widow on the ground.

 Even though they are large birds (up to a foot long), they are incredibly difficult to see while on the ground.  So difficult, that the few times I've stumbled upon one on eggs, I almost stepped on the bird before he/she flushed.  I say he/she because a few years back, a student named Ryan O'Conner was researching chucks on the preserve and captured this video of a male flying in and swapping duties with a female already sitting with chicks.  Until then, it was unknown that males played this role.  The video below shows the male flying in and the chicks moving underneath the male.




Typical "nest" and 2 eggs of chuck-will's-widows.  (Photo by Rich McCarty)

Chuck-will's-widows feed on moths at night.  Its mouth is very large and the beak is rimmed with bristles that act as a basket to help catch moths as they intercept them in mid air.  There are even reports of chuck's being able to catch and eat small birds with this large mouth.  The video below, also captured by Ryan O'Conner, shows the size of the birds open mouth.  If you've never heard the song of the chuck's, I added the song to this video of a bird I recorded this 4th week of May in the Ohio Brush Creek Valley.



Never wanting to disturb the chuck on its eggs, photos can be taken through a scope from a safe distance.

Roosting near the barrens during the day, if you're lucky, you might find one sitting on a tree. Can you see the bird in the middle of the picture? (Photo by Rich McCarty)

It is somewhat of a mystery as to why chucks choose this valley over the rest of southern Ohio.  Why haven't they been breeding in the hills surrounding Scioto Brush Creek of Scioto County for example?  I have one theory and it has to do with their nesting preferences. These birds almost always seem to nest around the same kind of habitat.  This habitat is about the same elevation due to the geology of the area.  It seems they are always near a post oak (Quercus stellata) or blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica) barren, and they lay eggs somewhere near the edge of these barrens.  There are a lot of these barrens around the Ohio Brush Creek valley, but not around valleys in the surrounding counties.  In fact, if you go across the river, south into Kentucky, you would have to travel at least 100 miles before you get into chuck-will's-widow breeding territory.  So we really do have a small island of chuck-will's-widow's breeding in southern Ohio. 

Posted by: Mark Zloba