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Townsend Solitaire Raises Two Broods

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Late in August, 1933, a nest of the Townsend Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi) was located in the vicinity of Echo Lake, El Dorado County, California, with three newly hatched young. Because of the late date and the apparent immaturity of the young the writer felt reasonably sure that this was a second nesting.

This year (1934), although the above area was searched quite thoroughly, the solitaires were not noted. Another pair was located about a mile from this spot, however. On June 24 their nest was located on a small rocky ledge above a rushing waterfall. It contained four almost fully grown young. Another visit to this nest a week later disclosed the fact that the young had left, although they were still in the vicinity. The parents were observed attempting to teach their family to feed and care for themselves.

On July 13, while passing this region and less than fifty feet from the exact site of the first nest, a female solitaire was flushed from a relatively small nest on a rock shelf three feet above the then tiny stream. Upon examination it was found to contain three eggs, incubation under way. The nest, as usual, was constructed primarily of tamarack needles and twigs, and lined with grasses. It was perhaps smaller than average and more loosely and carelessly constructed.

There is no doubt in the writer's mind that this was a second nest of the same pair of birds, thus bearing out the conclusion reached in the summer of 1933 that the solitaire is another Sierran form which, at least occasionally if not generally, raises two broods in a season.

State College, San Jose, California, August 28, 1934

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