I think it was Rudyard Kipling that wrote in a poem or story that only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun. For some odd reason this quote popped into my head as I was doing this morning’s census. The heavy snow/rain/sleet that had fallen during the night had stopped when I made the decision to set out and do the count but I wasn’t into more than 10 minutes when it began to teem down. But I had started it and decided I might as well finish it…..Thus the quote. Good thing too as I turned up the first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Northern Flicker of the year and saw 2 Red-breasted Mergansers – a rare sighting here at Ruthven.

Shortly after completing the census the rain stopped (naturally) so I figured this was a window of opportunity and opened the 3 feeder nets. This window of opportunity lasted barely an hour and a half because the wind backed from the NW to the SW and picked up considerably, billowing the nets to the point that they were unlikely to catch anything except flying debris. It just wasn’t meant to be. The wind brought some warm temperatures, though: it was showing 14 degrees at noon and the Chorus Frogs were lovin’ it, their cacophony emanating from the pond below net #2.

Banded 7:
2 American Tree Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco
2 House Finches
2 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 7:
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 American Tree Sparrows
1 Song Sparrow
1 Dark-eyed Junco
1 Brown-headed Cowbird

ET’s: 36 spp.
Rick