April 5th – Back into the Swing….

April 3rd was a rainout. The rain gauge showed that 30 mm of rain fell between the 2nd and the 4th. And the 4th was a blowout – high winds would have made netting futile (and, besides, it was the Haldimand Bird Observatory’s AGM). So there was no banding for 2 days.
This morning it was cool, bordering on cold, at first light – just 0 degrees but it got progressively more pleasant as the sun got higher in the sky. Winter Wrens were calling from the creek bed and a few White-throated Sparrows from the scrub in front of the Mansion. Juncos continue to abound (although not in the numbers there were on Thursday). The River was very quiet though except for 10-12 Tree Swallows that were skimming it for emerging midges.
There was lots of help though – SAR Co-ordinator Christine Madliger is honing her skills and she brought her friend Alexis with her. Alexis was a Mac biodiversity student. She is soon going to be aheading west to the University of Manitoba to study marsh and grassland birds. (I’m hoping she’ll be a source of useful information on farming practices and wintering Snow Buntings). Peter Thoem finally got himself out of Burlington’s council chambers to do some counting. And we had a youngster from the Selkirk area, Cody, arrive to spread youthful enthusiasm. The sum result is that we didn’t band a huge number of birds but we had fun….

Banded 24:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
2 Golden-crowned Kinglets
4 American Robins
1 American Tree Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
6 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Red-winged Blackbird
6 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 16:
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 White-breasted Nuthatches
1 American Tree Sparrow
5 Song Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
4 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Brown-headed Cowbird

ET’s: 34 spp.

Rick

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