The Breeding Birds of Kansas Part 11

Nests are placed in crotches, terminal forks, and some on tops of limbs, about 16 feet high, in elm, sycamore, honey locust, willow, oak, apple, and red cedar.

=Western Kingbird=: _Tyrannus verticalis_ Say.--This summer resident is common in the west, but is local and less abundant in the east.

Preferred habitat is in woodland edge, open country with scattered trees, and in towns. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 13.

_Breeding schedule._--The 124 dates of egg-laying span the period May 11 to July 31 (Fig. 5); the modal date for egg-laying is June 15. More than 70 per cent of all clutches are laid in June.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (3.6, 3-4; 8).

Nests are placed in crotches, lateral forks, or on horizontal limbs, about 26 feet high, in cottonwood, elm, osage orange, hackberry, honey locust, mulberry, oak, and on power poles.

=Scissor-tailed Flycatcher=: _Muscivora forficata_ (Gmelin).--This summer resident is common in central and southern Kansas; it is rare to absent in the northwestern sector, and is local in the northeast.

Preferred habitat is in open country with scattered trees. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 13.

_Breeding schedule._--Twenty-eight records of breeding occur from May 21 to July 10 (Fig. 5); the modal date of egg-laying is June 25. The present sample of records is small, and there is otherwise no evidence suggesting that the breeding schedule of this species differs from those of the other two kingbirds in Kansas.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 3 eggs (3.2, 2-5; 17). Mean clutch-size for the first peak of laying shown in Figure 5 is 4.0 eggs; that for the second peak is 2.7 eggs.

Nests are placed in forks or on horizontal limbs of osage orange, red haw, elm, and on crosspieces of power poles, about 15 feet high (ranging from five to 35 feet).

=Great Crested Flycatcher=: _Myiarchus crinitus boreus_ Bangs.--This summer resident is common in eastern Kansas, but is less numerous in the west. Preferred habitat is in woodland and woodland edge. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 13.

_Breeding schedule._--The twenty-two records of egg-laying are in the period May 11 to July 10 (Fig. 5); the modal date for egg-laying is June 5. The shape of the histogram (Fig. 5) indicates that some breeding for which records are lacking occurs earlier in May.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (4.8, 4-6; 6).

Nests are placed in hollows and crevices in elm, maple, cottonwood, willow, pear, apple, oak, drain spouts, and, occasionally, "bird houses"

made by man, about 17 feet high (four to 45 feet high).

TABLE 13.--OCCURRENCE IN TIME OF SUMMER RESIDENT FLYCATCHERS IN KANSAS

=================+===========================+============================ Arrival Departure SPECIES +-----------------+---------+-----------------+---------- Range Median Range Median -----------------+-----------------+---------+-----------------+---------- Eastern Kingbird Apr. 22-Apr. 30 Apr. 28 Sept. 1-Sept. 24 Sept. 13 Western Kingbird Apr. 23-Apr. 30 Apr. 28 Sept. 1-Sept. 26 Sept. 8 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Apr. 15-Apr. 28 Apr. 18 Sept. 21-Oct. 22 Oct. 12 Great Crested Flycatcher Apr. 15-May 4 Apr. 29 Sept. 1-Sept. 21 Sept. 9 Eastern Phoebe Mar. 3-Mar. 31 Mar. 22 Oct. 3-Oct. 27 Oct. 9 Say Phoebe Apr. 4-Apr. 22 Apr. 12 Acadian Flycatcher Apr. 30-May 19 May 9 Sept. 3-Sept. 17 Sept. 4 Eastern Wood Pewee Apr. 2-May 28 May 19 Aug. 30-Sept. 18 Sept. 6 -----------------+-----------------+---------+-----------------+----------

=Eastern Phoebe=: _Sayornis phoebe_ (Latham).--This summer resident is common in eastern Kansas, but is local in the west. Preferred habitat is in woodland edge and riparian groves, where most birds are found near bridges, culverts, or isolated outbuildings of man. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 13.

_Breeding schedule._--The 136 records of breeding span the period March 21 to July 20 (Fig. 5); the modal date for egg-laying is April 25 (for first clutches) and June 5 (for second clutches); this species seems to be the only double-brooded flycatcher in Kansas.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 to 5 eggs (4.2, 3-5; 58). The seasonal progression in clutch-size can be summarized as follows:

March 21-April 10: 4.0 eggs (2 records) April 11-May 10: 4.4 eggs (37 records) May 11-June 10: 3.9 eggs (10 records) June 11-July 20: 3.6 eggs (9 records)

Nests are placed on horizontal, vertical, or overhanging surfaces of culverts, bridges, houses of man, earthen cliffs, rocky ledges, and entrances to caves, at an average height of 7.8 feet.

=Say Phoebe=: _Sayornis saya saya_ (Bonaparte).--This is a common summer resident in western Kansas, breeding at least east to Cloud County, in open country. Occurrence in time is listed in Table 13.

_Breeding schedule._--Ten records of breeding fall in the period May 1 to July 20; the modal date for egg-laying is in late May.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 5 eggs.

Nests are placed under bridges, in houses, or on cliffsides and earthen banks.

=Acadian Flycatcher=: _Empidonax virescens_ (Vieillot).--This is an uncommon summer resident in eastern Kansas, in woodland and riparian habitats. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 13.

_Breeding schedule._--The available records of breeding by this species in Kansas are too few to indicate reliably the span of the breeding season. Information on hand suggests that Acadian Flycatchers lay most eggs in late May or early June, and this places their nesting peak some 10 to 20 days earlier than peaks for Wood Pewees and Traill Flycatchers.

_Number of eggs._--Five records show 3 eggs each.

Nests are placed about six feet high on terminal twigs of oak and alder.

=Traill Flycatcher=: _Empidonax traillii traillii_ (Audubon).--This flycatcher has only recently been found nesting within Kansas; the species is not included in a.n.a.lyses above. Twenty-three nesting records are here reported, for the species in Kansas City, Jackson and Platte counties, Missouri. Most of these records are from within a few hundred yards of the political boundary of Kansas. The Traill Flycatcher is a local summer resident in extreme northeastern Kansas (Doniphan County), in wet woodland and riparian groves. Temporal occurrence is not well-doc.u.mented; first dates run from May 19 to 25; the last dates of annual occurrence, possibly not all for transients, run from August 14 to September 24.

_Breeding schedule._--Twenty-three records of breeding are from May 21 to July 10 (Fig. 5); the modal date for egg-laying is June 15.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 3 eggs (3.4, 2-5; 22).

Nests are placed in forks, crotches, and occasionally near trunks, chiefly of willow, from 4.5 to 12 feet high (averaging six feet).

=Eastern Wood Pewee=: _Contopus virens_ (Linnaeus).--This summer resident is common in the east, but is rare in the west. Preferred habitat is in edge of forest and woodland. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 13.

_Breeding schedule._--Nineteen dates of egg-laying span the period June 1 to July 20 (Fig. 5); the modal date for completion of clutches is June 15, and more than half of all clutches are laid in the period June 11 to 20.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 3 eggs.

Nests are placed on upper surfaces of horizontal limbs of oak, elm, and sycamore, about 22 feet high.

=Horned Lark=: _Eremophila alpestris_ (Linnaeus).--Breeding populations are resident in open country with short or cropped vegetation. _E. a. praticola_ (Henshaw) lives in the east, and _E. a.

enthymia_ (Oberholser) in the west.

_Breeding schedule._--Twenty-one records of breeding span the period March 11 to June 10 (Fig. 6); the modal date for egg-laying is March 25. The histogram (Fig. 6) is constructed on a clearly inadequate sample, and records of breeding both earlier and later are to be expected. The peak of first nesting activity is probably reasonably well-indicated by the available records.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 3 eggs (3.6, 3-5; 16).

Nests are placed on the ground, usually amid short vegetation such as cropped prairie gra.s.sland or cultivated fields (notably soybeans and wheat), and occasionally on bare ground.

TABLE 14.--OCCURRENCE IN TIME OF SUMMER RESIDENT SWALLOWS IN KANSAS

===============+===========================+============================= Arrival Departure SPECIES +-----------------+---------+------------------+---------- Range Median Range Median ---------------+-----------------+---------+------------------+---------- Tree Swallow Apr. 5-Apr. 30 Apr. 24 Sept. 30-Oct. 21 Oct. 8 Bank Swallow Apr. 9-May 19 May 7 Sept. 3-Sept. 20 Sept. 10 Rough-winged Swallow Mar. 29-May 30 Apr. 22 Sept. 23-Oct. 21 Oct. 10 Cliff Swallow Apr. 14-May 27 May 11 Sept. 3-Oct. 25 Sept. 11 Barn Swallow Mar. 31-Apr. 29 Apr. 21 Sept. 22-Oct. 25 Oct. 7 Purple Martin Mar. 5-Apr. 9 Mar. 26 Aug. 28-Sept. 23 Sept. 3 ---------------+-----------------+---------+------------------+----------

=Tree Swallow=: _Iridoprocne bicolor_ (Vieillot).--This is a summer resident in extreme northeastern Kansas; nesting birds have been found only along the Missouri River in Doniphan County. Habitat is in open woodland, and in Kansas is always a.s.sociated with water. Temporal occurrence in the State is indicated in Table 14.

_Breeding schedule._--Eight records of breeding span the period May 21 to June 20; the modal date for egg-laying is May 25. The small sample may not accurately reflect the peak of nesting activity.