It’s been a strange week, meteorologically speaking: daytime temperatures in the mid- to high-20’s; cloudless skies, and almost no wind. Summer conditions. I’m looking forward to the Fall with its cooler temperatures and flushes of migrants. The only thing that even hints of Fall at the moment is the falling of leaves. The black walnuts are dropping their foliage. It has a rather peaceful effect actually. Sitting their, scanning the upper branches for migrants, the regularly falling leaves seem like a gentle snowfall. In some ways the lack of wind at this time of year is a good thing as most of these falling leaves miss the nets. When the wind blows they fill up and it can take a lot of time and dexterity to remove them at closing time. [BTW the leaf extraction record is help by Elaine Serena and myself when it took us an hour and a half to clear a double net of walnut leaves in order to close it.]

Birds seem to arrive (and then leave) in pulses; some days are better than others both in terms of numbers banded and in the number of species observed. In the latter regard, we have seen VERY few warblers and other migrants but on Saturday (14th) we encountered 46 species including 9 firsts (for us) for the season: Pied-billed Grebe, Philadelphia Vireo, Veery, Swainson’s Thrush, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Bay-breasted Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler. Alas, except for the Wilson’s Warbler which we caught, the other warblers were feeding high in the willows.

Following are our totals for the week. Note the up’s and down’s….
September 10th; Banded 28:
2 Red-eyed Vireos
1 House Wren
2 Marsh Wrens
2 Gray Catbirds
1 Cedar Waxwing
4 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Bobolink
1 Tennessee Warbler
6 Common Yellowthroats
1 Magnolia Warbler
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
4 Indigo Buntings
ET’s: 35 spp.

September 11th; Banded 17:
1 Eastern Phoebe
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 House Wren
1 Brown Thrasher
3 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
1 Savannah Sparrow
4 Bobolinks
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Northern Cardinals
1 Indigo Bunting
ET’s: 28 spp.

September 13th; Banded 10:
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Song Sparrows
2 Lincoln’s Sparrows
2 Bobolinks
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
1 Indigo Bunting
ET’s: 28 spp.

September 14th: Banded 20:
1 American Goldfinch
5 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
2 Swamp Sparrow
1 Savannah Sparrow
1 Bobolink
2 Common Yellowthroats
1 Wilson’s Warbler
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
5 Indigo Buntings
ET’s: 46 spp.

September 15th; Banded 12:
5 Gray Catbirds
2 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
3 Common Yellowthroats
1 Indigo Bunting
ET’s: 38 spp.

September 16th; Banded 9:
1 Gray Catbird
1 American Goldfinch
4 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrows
1 Ovenbird

1 Indigo Bunting
ET’s: 22 spp.

We are getting a fair number of “retraps” – birds that we’ve usually just banded over the last couple of weeks and that are staying around. Most are young of the year that are going through a moult while they also check out the possibilities of the area for potential nesting territories next Spring. The weather is such that they don’t seem to feel much urgency to hurry south…and there’s lots of food here. Today, for example, while we banded only 9 birds, we handled 19 retraps.

Rick

We’ve been busy, banding on 6 of the last 7 days. Each day is different both in terms of numbers banded and in the variety of birds seen at the site. But two species have been consistent: Bobolinks and Indigo Buntings. Part of the prairie field was mown with a wide swath left down the middle (more or less) and another along the pond/woodland edge. We cut 2 net lanes through the middle swath and they have been very effective catching Bobolinks and, to a lesser degree, Indigo Buntings – we’re also picking the latter up in nets along the edge. Both species are seed-eaters; the Bobolinks are fattening up for the long journey to Argentina and the buntings are finishing off their moults before heading for southern Florida and Central America.

And the field has LOTS of food!


Below, to simplify things (for me), I’ll list the birds banded each day and throw in a few pictures. We’ve had a number of very helpful volunteers…who also take good photos.

September 5th; Banded 45:
2 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers

1 Least Flycatcher
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 House Wren
4 Song Sparrows
2 Swamp Sparrows
23 Bobolinks
3 Common Yellowthroats
1 Wilson’s Warbler
7 Indigo Buntings
ET’s: 34 spp.

September 6th; Banded 12:
1 House Wren
4 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Savannah Sparrow
2 Bobolinks
3 Indigo Buntings
ET’s: 19 spp.

September 7th; Banded 49:
2 Eastern Wood-pewee
1 Traill’s Flycatcher
2 Least Flycatchers
1 Warbling Vireo

1 Gray Catbird
4 American Goldfinches

5 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
17 Bobolinks
2 Tennessee Warblers
1 Nashville Warbler
5 Common Yellowthroats
1 Blackpoll Warbler
3 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
3 Indigo Buntings

ET’s: 42 spp.

September 8th; Banded 10:
2 Song Sparrows
4 Bobolinks
1 Common Yellowthroat
3 Indigo Buntings
ET’s: 36 spp.

September 9th; Banded 31:
1 Gray Catbird
2 American Goldfinches
1 Song Sparrow
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
9 Bobolinks
1 Nashville Warbler
3 Common Yellowthroats
13 Indigo Buntings
ET’s: 24 spp.

Rick

Sarah has been able to band on 5 days in August, effectively kick-starting the Fall banding season. It’s been a great help!

I got back from the East Coast yesterday and was anxious to see what was happening at the Farm – especially as the prairie meadow had just had its first mowing. About half of the field had been cut and will be baled on the 5th. To maintain the meadow as a vibrant entity it will require mowing or o burn every year. The good thing about these grasses is that the cut isn’t made until into July when all nesting birds will have fledged young.

The cutting seems to have made the field even more attractive to a surprising variety of birds: Bobolinks, Song Sparrows, a Nashville Warbler, and (surprisingly – to me, at least) a young Marsh Wren that Liam astutely picked out as NOT a young House Wren.

It will be interesting to see the impact of baling as right now the windrows are quite think and heavy with the long-stemmed grasses.

There were not many warblers to be seen along the wetland edge but….we did catch and band an early Blackpoll Warbler. Which goes to show: you just never know.

Mosquitoes evidently had a pretty good year but aren’t as annoying as they were last year. Still, a head net or bug jacket might help you retain some sanity as the little blighters like to attack when you can’t use your hands, extracting, banding, scribing…..

Banded 38:
1 Least Flycatcher
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Marsh Wren
1 Carolina Wren
2 Gray Catbird
5 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
13 Bobolinks
2 Nashville Warblers
2 Common Yellowthroats
1 Blackpoll Warbler
4 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
4 Indigo Buntings

Rick