The moon at dawn, playing hide 'n seek with the clouds.

A stiff wind was blowing out of the NW making it feel colder than the actual 2 degrees. Dark clouds scudded across the sky, obscuring the moon at times. The strength and direction of the wind resulted in our not opening all the nets – some would just billow and not catch anything. But we set out all the traps. In keeping with our theme of late that the migration is backed up, the ratio of retrapped birds to newly banded ones was almost 3:1 (45:17). It will be interesting to note the day when we no longer get American Tree Sparrows and banded birds significantly outnumber retraps. There were some glimmers of hope though: we encountered 2 new species for the year – Brown Thrasher and Pine Warbler – and we had our highest species count of the year so far – 51. So things are picking up, although almost imperceptibly.

The last day of Katherine's field placement - doing the early morning paperwork.

This was Katherine Moesker’s last day (of a 9-day field placement for Sir Sanford Fleming College). She learned quickly and worked hard and, by the end, was an asset. The nice thing is that she lives locally so we’re hoping she’ll be able to contribute her time and skills in the future.

Our first Brown Thrasher of the season - caught in Net 10.

Banded 17:
1 Brown Creeper
2 Golden-crowned Kinglets
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Brown Thrasher
2 Chipping Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
3 White-throated Sparrows
3 Datrk-eyed Juncos
3 Brown-headed Cowbirds

Retrapped 45:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Brown Creepers
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
8 American Tree Sparrows
3 Chipping Sparrows
1 Field Sparrow
4 Song Sparrows
2 White-throated Sparrows
20 Dark-eyed Juncos
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds

ET’s: 51 spp.

Rick