Cattails in the early morning light. -CL
It’s interesting how migration sees the ebb and flow of birds. Yesterday (the 6th) we were quite busy…and so were the birds. After a slow start (as the birds were waiting for things to warm up), there was a fairly constant flow of birds along the pond/woodland edge and between the prairie field and the pond edge. American Goldfinches and especially Golden-crowned Kinglets seemed to be everywhere. This morning it was much slower and there was barely a single Kinglet to be seen. With last night’s clear skies and light winds I’m sure they took off for the north. I hope they cleared The GTA! This was quite likely as the many we banded were carrying good fat loads, a strong indicator that, should conducive flying conditions prevail, birds would be on the wing.
The Kinglets left but some new birds moved in (although not in big numbers…yet): an Osprey and a couple of Savannah Sparrows, the first for the year here.
On both days we got considerable help from keen groups of volunteers:
Group 1 – April 6th: Jacoba, Renessa, Rob, Isabel, Sadie, Kip, Micah. -DOL
Group 2 – April 7th: Kip, Rob, Isabel, Sadie, Christine, Liam Sam. -DOL
Having skilled volunteers to take care of the nets gave me a chance to work with “newbies” to develop useful skills that may come in useful to them and to us down the road.
After 2 intense days, Sadie has become a very competent scribe – and we all know that a good scribe runs the show. -RJV
Although new to the banding experience, Jacoba shows great promise. -RJV
April 6th; Banded 40:
14 Golden-crowned Kinglets
8 American Goldfinches
1 Field Sparrow
10 American Tree Sparrows
6 Song Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
ET’s: 33 spp.
April 7th: Banded 23:
1 Downy Woodpecker
7 American Goldfinches
5 American Tree Sparrows
4 Song Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
5 Common Grackles
ET’s: 39 spp.
Rick