Part 28

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs.

Nests are placed within a few feet of water in cattail, rush, sedge, and willow.

=Red-winged Blackbird=: Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus).--This is a common summer resident in marshes, wet pasture, and scrubby parkland throughout the State. A. p. phoeniceus (Linnaeus) occurs in most of Kansas and A. p. fortis (Ridgway) occurs in the west, east to about Decatur County. A few birds can be found in eastern Kansas in winter; the full breeding population is present between April and October.

Breeding schedule.--The 109 records of breeding in Cloud County span the period May 1 to July 30 (Fig. 8); the modal date for laying is May 25, and 71 per cent of all eggs are laid in the period May 11 to June 10. Eighty-eight records of breeding from northwestern Kansas make a histogram almost exactly duplicating the one from Cloud County.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size at Concordia, Cloud County, is 4 eggs (3.7, 3-5; 48); in northeastern Kansas mean clutch-size is 3.7 eggs (3-5; 46). For the total sample, mean clutch-size in May is 4.0 eggs, in June, 3.7 eggs, and in July, 3.3 eggs.

Nests are placed about four feet high (one to nine feet) in willow, cattail, sedge, grass, elm, exotic conifer, elderberry, coralberry, buttonbrush, honeysuckle, smartweed, ash, osage orange, and yellow clover.

In central Kansas red-wings are host to the Brown-headed Cowbird in a frequency of one parasitized nest out of nine; in northeastern Kansas the ratio is 1:25.

TABLE 18.--OCCURRENCE IN TIME OF SUMMER RESIDENT ICTERIDS IN KANSAS

=================+===========================+============================ | Arrival | Departure SPECIES +-----------------+---------+------------------+--------- | Range | Median | Range | Median -----------------+-----------------+---------+------------------+--------- Bobolink | May 4-May 21 | May 11 | Aug. 28-Oct. 1 | Sept. 12 Yellow-headed | | | | Blackbird | Mar. 31-Apr. 29 | Apr. 19 | Sept. 19-Oct. 18 | Sept. 24 Orchard Oriole | Apr. 25-May 14 | May 4 | Aug. 5-Sept. 15 | Aug. 9 Baltimore Oriole | Apr. 24-May 5 | Apr. 29 | Sept. 6-Sept. 29 | Sept. 10 Common Grackle | Mar. 2-Mar. 27 | Mar. 17 | Oct. 15-Nov. 14 | Oct. 31 -----------------+-----------------+---------+------------------+---------

=Orchard Oriole=: Icterus spurius (Linnaeus).--This summer resident is common in parkland, woodland, and old second-growth. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 18.

Breeding schedule.--The 118 records of breeding span the period May 11 to August 10 (Fig. 8); the modal date for completion of clutches is June 5, and 45 per cent of all eggs are laid in the first ten days of June.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.1, 3-6; 41). Clutches laid at the peak of the season average 4.3 eggs (3-6; 26), and replacement clutches average 3.8 eggs (3-4; 9). Nests are hung about 15 feet high (ranging from six to 55 feet) in elm, cottonwood, hackberry, locust, catalpa, willow, alder, osage orange, walnut, pear, linden, and ash.

=Baltimore Oriole=: Icterus galbula (Linnaeus).--This common summer resident is most numerous in the east, in woodland and riparian timber. The species hybridizes freely with the Bullock Oriole in western Kansas, and individuals morphologically typical of Baltimore Orioles are rare west of the 100th meridian. Evidence of such hybridization can be found in specimens taken in eastern Kansas, but the linear nature of distribution along water-courses to the west restricts gene-flow, and evident hybrids are not yet conspicuous. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 18.

Breeding schedule.--Eighty-three records of breeding span the period May 11 to July 10 (Fig. 8); the modal date of egg-laying is June 5, and 66 per cent of all eggs are laid between May 21 and June 10.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is 4 eggs.

Nests are hung about 24 feet high (ranging from nine to 70 feet) in elm, cottonwood, sycamore, maple, and oak.

=Bullock Oriole=: Icterus bullockii (Swainson).--This summer resident is common in western Kansas in woodland and riparian situations. The species hybridizes freely with the Baltimore Oriole, and most Bullock Orioles in Kansas show evidence of such interbreeding. Almost all records of breeding come from west of the 100th meridian, but the species in recognizable form probably breeds locally at least as far east as Stafford County.

Breeding schedule.--Few nesting records are available, but these suggest that the breeding schedule of the Bullock Oriole resembles those of the preceding two species in Kansas.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs.

Nests are hung about 26 feet high (ranging from 10 to 50 feet) in cottonwood, elm, and other large trees.

=Common Grackle=: Quiscalus quiscula versicolor Vieillot.--This summer resident is common in parkland, and around towns and farms. Most individuals move out of Kansas in winter, and the temporal occurrence of these birds is indicated in Table 18.

Breeding schedule.--The 233 records of breeding span the period April 11 to June 30 (Fig. 8); the modal date for egg-laying is May 5, and two-thirds of all eggs are laid between May 1 and May 20.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (4.5, 3-6; 33). Clutches laid at the peak of the season average 4.7 eggs (3-6; 21), and those laid as replacement clutches average 4.3 eggs (3-6; 12).

Nests are placed in forks and crotches about 22 feet high (ranging from six to 50 feet) in elm, red cedar, cottonwood, oak, box elder, and pine.

=Brown-headed Cowbird=: Molothrus ater ater (Boddaert).--Many individuals of this common summer resident overwinter in the southern part of the State and it is difficult to determine dates of arrival and departure in Kansas. Conspicuous abundance in the north covers the period April to October.

Breeding schedule.--The 141 instances of egg-laying span the period April 21 to July 20 (Fig. 8); the modal date of laying is May 15, and 53 per cent of all eggs are laid in the period May 11 to June 10. Inception of laying is here fairly reliably indicated, but in exceptionally early springs laying does occur earlier; a few eggs were found on April 6, 1963, too late for incorporation into this report other than in this sentence.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size in cowbirds is not readily determined. On the basis of ovarian examination of five females taken in mid-season, the birds here lay about five eggs at a time. There is no question that the birds are "double-brooded" in Kansas, and the season is sufficiently long for as many as five "clutches" to be laid by a given female.

Eggs are laid in nests of some forty species of birds in Kansas; 39 of these are passerines. No preference for any one species is detectable; the most frequently parasitized species are simply the common species, and these are the kinds for which nesting records are easily gathered by man. In the following list of host species, the names marked with an asterisk are the conspicuously parasitized species.