Last week and running into the weekend we had cold temperatures and light northerly winds urging and pushing migrants out of the north and hurrying them on their way south. During this time we were REALLY busy – you can see the results in the past post. But Saturday night the wind switched to the SW bringing in unseasonably warm temperatures. And the big migrant push stalled – and it’s been stalled for 2 days.
The patches of prairie grass aren’t nearly so busy and not much has been moving along the wetland edge.

Interestingly, on both days we’ve handled more retrapped birds than new birds. Retraps are usually birds that we’ve banded over the past few days and have been staying put while they finish moulting or fatten up for the flight south…or both. Although we’ve usually banded them within the past 2 weeks, we also get birds that we’ve banded this past Spring or even last year. There’s a lot of food here for sparrows (which make up most of the retraps) and the weather doesn’t lend any urgency to their heading on.
October 20th; Banded 25:
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Winter Wren
1 Savannah Sparrow
3 Field Sparrows
2 White-throated Sparrows
8 Song Sparrows
7 Swamp Sparrows
ET’s: 36 spp.

October 21st; Banded 21:
4 American Goldfinches
9 White-throated Sparrows
4 Song Sparrows
4 Red-winged Blackbirds

ET’s: 21 spp.
Rick

The prairie meadow continues to draw sparrows in large numbers – they’re pouring through. Or, in some cases, stopping for awhile to feed and fatten, taking advantage of the rich food supply that the grasses provide. So not only are we banding a considerable number of birds, we’re also handling a large number of “retraps” – birds that we’ve banded and are hanging around. For example, today we banded 50 new birds and handled another 49 retraps. Interestingly Swamp Sparrows seem to be much more likely to hang around as opposed to Song Sparrows. We’ve banded more Songs but the proportion of retrapped Swampies is much larger.

Sparrows made up a large part of each day’s catch this week. On the 15th they constituted 73% of the birds banded; the 16th it was 76%; on the 18th 92%; and today it was 84%. The switch from soybeans to prairie grass has certainly had a big impact on these seed-eating species!
October 15th; Banded 83:
10 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 American Goldfinch
2 Savannah Sparrows
3 Field Sparrows
1 Fox Sparrow (1st of the season)
16 White-throated Sparrows
19 Song Sparrows
20 Swamp Sparrows
7 Myrtle Warblers
4 Northern Cardinals
ET’s: 30 spp.

October 16th; Banded 58:
1 Eastern Phoebe
3 Golden-crowned Kinglets
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Hermit Thrush
1 Purple Finch
2 American Goldfinches
1 Field Sparrow
1 White-crowned Sparrow
11 White-throated Sparrows
16 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
14 Swamp Sparrows
2 Myrtle Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal
ET’s: 45 spp.
The 18th turned up the first American Tree Sparrow of the season. For me, this is the harbinger of Winter, the bird I associate with cold winds and snow drifts. I wonder how long it will be before we see these conditions….if we do see them in these times of climate change.

October 18th; Banded 74:
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Brown Creeper
1 House Finch
9 Field Sparrows
1 American Tree Sparrow (1st of the season)
6 White-throated Sparrows
29 Song Sparrows
23 Swamp Sparrows
ET’s: 27 spp.

October 19th; Banded 50:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Carolina Wren
1 Eastern Bluebird

1 Purple Finch
5 Field Sparrows
2 American Tree Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco

6 White-throated Sparrows
18 Song Sparrows
10 Swamp Sparrows
1 Myrtle Warbler
ET’s: 43 spp.
Rick

Weatherwise, it was a topsy turvy weekend: Sunny with pleasant seasonable temperatures and light northerly winds on Saturday; cold and rainy with gusting easterly winds on Sunday; and, after the rain stopped around 8:30 this morning, northwesterly cold, gusting winds.

We did a full banding day in the good weather on Saturday. I opened a couple of nets yesterday until the light drizzle turned into a more steady rain. And today I opened a few nets after the rain.

Saturday, as one would predict, was a banding bonanza as we handled 109 birds – 75 new bands, 34 retraps. Sunday could have been interesting if it hadn’t rained. I handled 39 birds – 26 new bands, 13 retraps.
Today was slow; we handled 26 birds – 12 new bands, 14 retraps. Other than kinglets we are catching sparrows in large numbers. Saturday they made up 88% of the birds banded; Sunday 61.5%; today 58%. The prairie grasses are festooned with them.

October 12th; Banded 75:
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets

1 American Goldfinch
25 White-throated Sparrows
19 Song Sparrows
3 Lincoln’s Sparrows
19 Swamp Sparrows
4 Red-winged Blackbirds
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
ET’s: 29 spp.

October 13th; Banded 26:
9 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 American Goldfinch
3 White-throated Sparrows
7 Song Sparrows
6 Swamp Sparrows
ET’s: 16 spp.

October 14th; Banded 12:
4 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Field Sparrow
4 Song Sparrows

2 Swamp Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
ET’s: 26 spp.
Rick

Cold nights and favourable winds are pushing migrants out of the north. The last two mornings have been cold producing frost patches and, in a couple of places, freezing nets shut. Interestingly, on these mornings it’s pretty quiet and you might think that there aren’t many birds around. But as soon as the sun clears the horizon and produces enough heat to dissipate the frost, the birds “wake up” and begin the day’s foraging.

There is constant activity as sparrows jump up out of the tall grass, fly a few meters and then drop back into it. Or…they might fly into the wetland/forest edge habitat to let things digest before continuing to feed. We’ve moved a couple of nets around to try to intercept them where we’ve seen them moving consistently. But over the last couple of days there’s been a LOT and we’re only catching a small percentage.

As I mentioned, most of the captures are sparrows. Warblers have just about run their course and most are thousands of kilometers to the south of us (hopefully avoiding hurricanes Helene and Milton). There’s still some Myrtle and Palm Warblers but they tend to stay higher in the willows.

October 10th; Banded 81:
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1 Eastern Phoebe
5 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
2 Field Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco
20 White-throated Sparrows
28 Song Sparrows
22 Swamp Sparrows
1 Northern Cardinal
ET’s: 30 spp.

October 11th; Banded 69:
7 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Marsh Wren
1 Gray Catbird
1 American Goldfinch
2 Savannah Sparrows
2 Field Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
17 Song Sparrows
31 Swamp Sparrows
1 Eastern Towhee
2 Red-winged Blackbirds
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Northern Cardinals
ET’s: 24 spp.
Rick