Hi Patty & Others With an Interest,

I wish to make one clarifying comment on egg dates.

Egg dates are established for completed clutches, not for partial clutches.
Although I agree that Tina's 3 March egg strongly suggests a new early egg
date for Carolina Wren, it is still necessary to know when the wren finished
laying her eggs and started sitting on them to get the actual date for this
nest. The average Carolina Wren clutch is 4 to 5 eggs, assuming one egg laid
each day, not always a given early in the season, this clutch probably
became "official" on 7 to 8 March - still far in advance of the "record" of
21 March. Early egg dates among resident birds may be a sign of climate
change. Studying how our wildlife and plants track climate is one of the
reasons for keeping track of nest records and other seasonal information, as
MOS does with its long-term nest record card program. Tina should fill out a
card for the MOS nest record file. I believe the person to contact about
nest record cards is Mark Johnson (
410-692-5978), I also have a few nest cards on hand for placement into atlas
packets.

Good Atlasing,

Walter Ellison
MD-DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS
23460 Clarissa Road
Chestertown, MD 21620
phone: 410-778-9568
e-mail: 

"A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B.
White (in "Stuart Little")

----- Original Message -----
From: "Patty Craig" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 11:54 AM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] More atlas safe birds & the nesting cycle
accelerates


> Walter and Bob Ringler,
>
> As I was reading the post about early nesters I was reminded that my
> friend Tina Dew had a Carolina Wren lay an egg in her nest box on March
> 3 of this year.  That makes it a few weeks earlier than what I assume is
> the Yellow Book's early date.  She has had them nest earlier than Yellow
> Book lists them before, but I believe this is a record even for her
> yard!  She lives near the intersection of Chingville Road and Medley's
> Neck Road in St. Mary's County.
>
> Good Birding,
> Patty Craig
> Dameron, MD
> 
>
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