The close of today (15th)marks the quarter way mark of the migration at Ruthven. We have banded 424 birds of 30 species (26% of them made up of American Goldfinches) and encountered a total of 74 species through banding and observations. So….a good start but lots of action yet to come!
It seems that each day we see or catch a “new” species. Today it was a beautiful ASY male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. This is a few days early according to our records. Interestingly, it wasn’t carrying any fat which usually indicates that this bird will remain in the area and will probably breed nearby (if not within 200 meters of the banding lab). Older experienced males often return as early as they can in order to set up territories so that when the females return they’ll be ready.
Indicative of the advancing Spring is the number of species we’re seeing each day. Early in the month we were getting between 35 – 39 species but yesterday we had 50 species and today 57! So things are heating up and it will be interesting to see what these strong SW winds (which just began blowing a couple of hours ago) will blow in.
April 14th; Banded 23:
3 Tree Swallows
1 American Robin
1 Chipping Sparrow
2 Field Sparrows
1 Song Sparrow
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
2 Red-winged blackbirds
1 House Finch
10 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 50 spp.
April 15th; Banded 24:
1 Tree Swallow
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 Brown Thrasher
2 Chipping Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 White-throated Sparrow
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Red-winged Blackbird
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
10 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 57 spp.
Photo Gallery For These 2 Days:
Rick