Every day is different at Ruthven Park; you can feel when your opening nets pre dawn. This morning had all the makings of a good day, good cloud cover, light winds, cold front forecasted to slide through later this evening, but the birds had other ideas. Few showed up. There was almost no tweeting and peeping in the shrubs that line the edges of the fields where most of our net lanes are located. And so the nets were quiet. We had a lively bunch of school kids though, and managed enough birds to impress them.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher made a showing, the first for the season at Ruthven.

Banded 8:
1 American Robin
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Field Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
3 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 14:
1 Tree Swallow
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 Chipping Sparrow
2 Song Sparrows
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
2 Red-winged Blackbirds
4 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 32 spp.

Loretta