The cold wind picked up last evening and whipped a fresh 6 centimetres of snow over the landscape by this morning. The wind continued to blow strongly when I headed out for Ruthven sending spirals of snow into the air and creating small whiteouts. Not a good day for migration; not a good day for birds period.
I was interested to see if the Killdeer were still trying to hold onto their egg….but, no, they had given in to the elements – their nest was under a blanket of snow and they were seeking shelter in the lee of some outbuildings.
And the Purple Martins were nowhere to be seen. They were probably somewhere along the river looking for whatever insects they could find. In this respect they would be joining the Tree Swallows I picked up on census – at least 16 of them, low over the water and tending to hug the lee shore (the wind was blowing out of the NE).
The birds were taking advantage of any open area they could find. There is a strip of about 20 metres along one shore of the river that has been left without snow as the river flood has receded somewhat. Starlings, blackbirds, grackles, robins, Song Sparrows and even an American Pipit were going through it looking for anything they could find.
Needless to say the feeders were getting heavy use….and the ground below them. I set out 5 walk-in traps to take advantage of this. I had to close 2 of the more exposed traps as they just filled with blowing snow but the other 3 caught 27 birds – 8 of them “new”.
Banded 8:
1 Mourning Dove
1 American Tree Sparrow
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds
4 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 27 spp.
Rick