PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO BANDING AT RUTHVEN THIS FALL.
One of our most colourful birds: Blackburnian Warbler. This handsome male was caught and banded at Ruthven this past Spring.
Migrants have been working their way south since the end of July but haven’t been all that noticeable (to me anyway). The thing that tells me that the migration is really getting underway is when I see a long-distance warbler that I know breeds north of here and thus is on its way if I see it here.
Yesterday I was doing my “usual” count around town – I meander through the streets, along the river and then do a loop in the countryside along Gowland Road, which takes me past farmers’ fields and a small woodlot. It was in the woodlot that I noticed a small bird gleaning its way through the foliage. Through my binos I discovered that it was a male Blackburnian Warbler (still pretty colourful despite wearing its “basic” – or Winter – plumage.
The centre of its range is in the Southern Shield area, so well north of us down here. Most spend the Winter in montane forests of the northern Andes but also in Amazonia and northern South America. So…..this bird has a looong way to go!
Rick