First for the year – Winter Wren. Perhaps one of the cutest birds you’ll ever encounter.
It was a pretty bland morning….banding-wise you might even have said it was slow. But halfway through the morning we had a bit of a pick-me-up. Not an avian one but exciting all the same:
We were just finishing off a net round, walking up to the banding lab from Net 1A. Suddenly this gray cat (which has been hanging around for a couple of days) came tearing across the lawn at 400 km/hour in front of us from the Carolinian Trail. It sailed over the stone wall and was gone. When I looked back to see what had caused its mad dash I saw a coyote trotting back along the trail into the forest. It saw us and gave up the chase. Too bad; it’s not a good thing to have a cat around the banding area. The nets provide a smorgasbord for the feline and we end up having to live-trap it and send it off to the SPCA. The coyote would have been a better solution…..
David Brewer with the wren.
Although we didn’t see much bird action we did get 2 “new” birds for the season: Winter Wren and Fox Sparrow. As well, the number of species encountered (i.e., banded, recaptured, seen, heard) reached 41 – we broke the 40-species mark for the first time this year! The number of species we encounter each day is recorded in this blog at the end under “ET’s”: with a number. It’s a good way to track the waxing and waning of the migration.
This is how a net lane should be “chipped” – hopefully the Baggers will see this and take heed…… -D. Green
Banded 15:
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Winter Wren
1 Hermit thrush
1 Northern Cardinal
1 American Tree Sparrow
1 Fox Sparrow
This large sparrow (this one weighed 40 g.) is one of my favourites.
3 Song Sparrows
6 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 41 spp.
And at Fern Hill Burlington:
Some of Burlington’s Young Ornithologists. -K. Paveley
Hi Rick,
We’ve had a nice start to Spring Migration with a whole new crew of excited and eager birders. We have been busy setting up nets and preparing our nest boxes nesting season for the eastern bluebirds and tree swallows that are starting to return to our school. Our students are also excited about the resident pair of Canada Geese that have set up a nesting area by our school’s lower doors (all students are now entering and exiting other doors to ensure a quiet undisturbed area) who have come to expect their morning breakfast of cracked corn by the Field Station. Our students are also very excited to have received a gift of The Birds of Hamilton from the Hamilton Naturalists Club!
THANKS HNC!!
Today we had an ET of 32 species, and banded 22 birds of 9 species which includes:
1 BCCH
1 NOCA
1 FISP (first banded of this year!)
3 SOSP
3 SCJU
7 RWBL
1 BHCO
4 AMGO
1 HOSP
This week’s observation highlights includes 2 Common Ravens, 3 Great Blue Herons, 1 Eastern Phoebe, and 1 Northern Flicker.
First Field Sparrow
Janice doing the Italian hand gesture thing….. -K. Paveley
YO’s with a female cowbird. -K. Paveley
Katherine
its