The weather continues to be topsy turvy: windy, wet and temperatures ranging from “T-shirt” level a couple of days ago to multiple layers yesterday and today. When I got to the Farm this morning the temperature was -3 C. Interestingly, the poles weren’t iced up and the nets weren’t frozen. We’ve continued to squeeze out all the birds we can find. Some seem nonplussed. Sally dug up a very early Northern Yellow Warbler yesterday and Jason got a picture of it this morning:
We’ve also been listening to an early Northern House Wren for the past couple of days. It found its way into a net and turns out to be an “old friend” – it was banded at the end of last April. It must really like our site as it has returned about 2 weeks earlier than last year – despite the lousy weather. It wants to make sure it takes command of the good nesting areas.
Despite the conditions and slow flow of migrants it’s been a very pleasant experience due to the informed and interesting repartee of volunteers. Jason has been doing a census on his days here. A census makes our Daily Estimated Total species data much more robust. In past years we’ve run an informal, low-key competition to see who can find the most species during a census. To this point, Jason has the “record” coming up with 39 species today.
April 13th – Banded 13:
2 Mourning Doves
1 Eastern Phoebe
2 American robins
1 House Sparrow
4 American Goldfinches
1 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Common Grackle
ET’s: 45 spp.
April 20th; Banded 14:
2 American Robins
3 American Goldfinches
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
5 Red-winged Blackbirds
1 Common Grackle
ET’s: 43 spp.
Rick