Baxter, Richard J.

Baxter, Sarah De Viney

Risch, Thomas S.

ScholarWorks@UARK

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of ScienceVolume 60 Article 252006Unusual Prey Item Found in an Eastern BluebirdNestSarah De Viney BaxterArkansas State University, sarah.baxter@smail.astate.eduRichard J. BaxterArkansas State UniversityThomas S. RischArkansas State UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaasPart of the Zoology CommonsThis article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able toread, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking priorpermission from the publisher or the author.This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the ArkansasAcademy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu.Recommended CitationBaxter, Sarah De Viney; Baxter, Richard J.; and Risch, Thomas S. (2006) "Unusual Prey Item Found in an Eastern Bluebird Nest,"Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 60 , Article 25.Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol60/iss1/25168i2Correspondence: Sarah.Baxter@smail.astate.eduAdult Eastern Bluebirds consume small fleshy fruits in thewinterbut switch to terrestrial arthropods during the breedingseason (Gowaty and Plissner 1998). Prey delivered to chicksalso consists mostly of small arthropods (Gowaty and Plissner1998). InMichigan, Lepidopterous larvae (moths and butterflies)made up 32.4% of the chick diet and included individuals fromthe families Noctuidae, Arctiidae, Pieridae, Geometridae,Notodontidae, Pyralidae, and Sphingidae. Orthopterans(grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids) made up 25.6% of thechick diet and included individuals from the families Acrididae,Tetrigidae, Tettigoniidae, Gryllidae, and Mantidae. Arachnids(spiders) made up 11.3% of the chick diet, Coleopterans (beetlesand weevils) made up 11.0%, and several other insect ordersmade up very small percentages of the chick diet (Pinkowski1978). Other studies have found similar results (Pitts 1978,reviewed by Gowaty and Plissner 1998).From March 2002 to July 2006, graduate students atArkansas State University have monitored approximately 200nest boxes. The boxes are located inBrookland, Arkansas in amixed habitat ofopen pastures and woodlots. Nest-monitoringmethods follow those outlined by Robinson (2005). In brief,nest boxes were checked weekly for nest building activity, thenevery third day for egg laying, and daily until the last egg waslaid. Chicks were visited every third day after hatch.On 8 May 2005, a dead midwest worm snake (Carphophisamoenus helenae), approximately 8 cm in length, was foundamong chicks in the cup of an active Eastern Bluebird nestbox. The snake was intact and wellpreserved, which facilitatedidentification. The nest box was located in fairlyopen habitat,the nest box pole was covered with axle grease, and there wereno overhanging branches nearby, making it unlikely for thisfossorial snake (Trauth et al. 2004) to have climbed into thebox. It was presumably delivered as prey to chicks by an adultbluebird. The chicks were 9 days old at the time and all fourchicks successfully fledged fromthe nest.There are few records of Eastern Bluebirds takingvertebrates as prey; an unknown species of snake (Flanigan1971); a shrew (Sorex sp.) (Pinkowski 1974); lizards (Gowatyand Plissner 1998); and tree frogs (Hylasp.) (Bent 1949). We areaware of only 1record of parent bluebirds feeding a vertebrate(Eumeces sp.) to their chicks (Pitts 1978). Our record appearsto be the second to document delivery of vertebrate prey by anEastern Bluebird to its chicks, and the first to identify a speciesof snake as a prey item.Sarah De Viney Baxter ' ,Richard J. Baxter ,and Thomas S. RischArkansas State University, Department ofBiologicalSciences, State University, AR 72467Journal of the Arkansas Academy ofScience, Vol. 60, 2006Acknowledgments. —We owe thanks to Stan Trauth oArkansas State University for identification ofthe snake specieand to Jonathan Stanley for helping us to include the correcnomenclature inour manuscript.Literature CitedBent AC. 1949. Life histories of North American thrushes,kinglets, and their allies. U.S. National Museum Bulletin196. U.S. Government printing office, Washington, D.C.456p.Flanigan AB. 1971. Predation on snakes by Eastern Bluebirdand Brown Thrasher. The Wilson Bulletin 83: 441.Gowaty PA and JH Plissner. 1998. Eastern Bluebird (Sialiasialis). Birds ofNorth America 381:1-32.Mosby J, J Sunderland and J Rice. 2000. The Wilson Years.Steve N.Wilson's TwoDecades as Director ofthe ArkansasGame and Fish Commission. Arkansas Game and FishFoundation, Little Rock Arkansas. 125p.Pinkowski BC. 1974. Predation on a shrew by an EasternBluebird. The Wilson Bulletin. 86: 83.Pinkowski BC. 1978. Feeding ofnestling and fledgling EasternBluebirds. The Wilson Bulletin. 90: 84-98.Pitts TD.1978. Foods ofEastern Bluebird nestlings innorthwestTennessee. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science53: 136-139.Robinson TJ. 2005. Seasonal Egg-investment Strategy andthe Seasonally-variable Influence ofEgg Size and ParentalQuality on Chick Performance in the Eastern Bluebird(Sialia sialis). [M.Sc. Thesis]. Jonesboro (AR):Departmentof Biological Sciences, Arkansas State University. 55p.Trauth SE, HW Robison and MV Plummer. 2004. TheAmphibians and Reptiles of Arkansas. The University ofArkansas Press. Fayetteville, AR. 421 p.168Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 60 [2006], Art. 25Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 2006

Unusual Prey Item Found in an Eastern Bluebird Nest

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