Well….it didn’t start out that way. In fact, it was pretty slow at first light. And much cooler than yesterday’s 28 degrees! Usually you get most birds early on and then it sort of peters out. It was opposite this morning. It was almost as if the birds were holding off throwing themselves into the nets or walking into ground traps until they had a large, appreciative audience. First to arrive was McMaster’s biodiversity students, keen to learn about the in’s and out’s of banding. And then the South Peel Naturalists’ Club got here and things really heated up. There were a lot of finches around – Goldfinches, Siskins and Purple Finches and a good number of sparrows, especially White-throated Sparrows. This influx gave all our visitors an excellent chance to see birds up close.
There were 3 new arrivals for the year: a Black-crowned Night Heron below the cemetery; a Black-throated Green Warbler in the willow outside the banding lab; and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male) arrived at the feeders just after we closed net #1.

Banded 57:
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
2 Myrtle Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal
2 Chipping Sparrows
1 Field Sparrow
18 White-throated Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco
4 Red-winged Blackbirds
3 Brown-headed Cowbirds
6 Purple Finches
4 Pine Siskins
13 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 17:
1 Eastern Tufted Titmouse
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
5 Chipping Sparrows
2 Song Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
6 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 47 spp

Rick