The last four days have provided their share of tough conditions: at times, wind, cold, showers. And the birds at the Farm have responded (or, I guess not responded) by low numbers – unless you count Song Sparrows that seem to be carving out possible nesting territories in the clumps of dried out prairie grass. We have not caught and banded many. But….the variety of birds we’re seeing is slowly climbing, reaching 40 species on the 11th.
April 9th; banded 8:
1 American Robin
1 American Tree Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Red-winged Blackbird
ET’s: 36 spp.
April 10th – Grackle Party
It’s funny how things can go. First thing, Annika asked if we ever caught Brown Creepers. Literally within 5 minutes she extracted one from the net. Psychic? Both Destiny and Annika announced that they would love to catch and band a Common Grackle. Within the hour, we caught two, one for each….a Grackle Party they happily announced.
Banded 19:
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Brown Creeper
1 Eastern Bluebird
5 American Goldfinches
3 American Tree Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
3 Red-winged Blackbirds
1 Common Grackle (the 2nd one was a retrap)
ET’s: 38 Spp.
April 11th; the Psycho Net
It’s interesting how the mind works. Simon is a 2nd year med student at Mac. As we were putting up the last net (#8) he mentioned that he was entering a new rotation – psychiatry. In his honour we decided to name this net the “psych net”; somehow this morphed quickly to the “psycho net” – again, in his honour.
Banded 6:
2 American Goldfinches
1 Purple Finch
2 American Tree Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
ET’s: 40 spp.
April 12th; Banded 10:
5 American Goldfinches
1 American Tree Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
2 Swamp Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
ET’s: 37 spp (including a lovely male Green-winged Teal on the pond and a Great Egret flying upriver.)
More Photos:
For Comparison:
Rick