Part of Carol’s marvellous hummingbird garden just outside the banding lab.
I like the sea….and being on it….and seeing the birds that live on and in it. But I loved opening the nets at Ruthven this morning: soft colours painting the clouds, stillness except for singing birds, the scent of trees and meadow flowers, and the ground firm under my feet.
There is no question that birds are on the move, or about to get going. Yellow Warbler numbers have gone down but they’re visible foraging high in the trees, on the move. (After the first week of August, Yellow Warblers, a very common breeder at Ruthven, are rarely seen.) Young birds of many species are dispersing. Older birds, having fledged young are just starting to go through a complete moult into their basic plumage. When finished they too will get underway.
Nancy Furber and Carol Jones have done a great job holding down the fort while I’ve been galavanting around the country. So far they have banded over 250 birds from the beginning of June (going just once a week). This allows us to get a sense of the local breeding birds and, more importantly, banding the young of the year lets us follow their development and plumages from the beginning, year to year.
Keeping up the tradition of lunch on Friday……..a time to talk over the week and future plans and ideas.
We had a very accomplished crew this morning (as you can see from the picture of lunch). The “easy pace” of capture this morning allowed us to talk about and plan elements of the coming Fall season. I think we’re all getting pretty excited about it. It looks like we will have a pretty good berry/grape crop which should draw a lot of birds looking to refuel on their flight south.
Pronounced fault bars on a young Eastern Tufted Titmouse -C. Jones
One thing that we’re finding this Summer is that a good number of young birds are showing fault bars (especially visible on their tails). This would suggest that they went through a period of greatly reduced food availability at particular points in their growth. This would have been related to weather conditions. Since we can’t tell exactly how old these birds are, we can’t pinpoint the dates and the associated weather but the number of birds demonstrating problems would suggest that it was a large weather system that affected them.
Fault bars on a young Song Sparrow. -C. Jones
Tansy…..abundant along the River Trail. -C. Jones
Yellow Warblers are starting to get scarce. -C. Jones
Young male Blue-winged Warbler. -C. Jones
Wing detail on an older (AHY) Eastern Wood Pewee -C. Jones
July 31st – Banded 24:
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Eastern Tufted Titmice
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
3 House Wrens
4 American Robins
1 Gray Catbird
1 Blue-winged Warbler
2 Yellow Warblers
3 Northern Cardinals
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
1 Song Sparrow
3 American Goldfinches
August 2nd – Banded 16:
1 Eastern Wood Pewee
4 House Wrens
3 Gray Catbirds
1 Cedar Waxwing
1 Blue-winged Warbler
2 Yellow Warblers
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Northern Cardinal
1 Song Sparrow
1 American Goldfinch
ET’s: 46 spp.
Photo Gallery:
Tansy…..abundant along the River Trail. -C. Jones
Yellow Warblers are starting to get scarce. -C. Jones
Young male Blue-winged Warbler. -C. Jones
Wing detail on an older (AHY) Eastern Wood Pewee -C. Jones
A growth (or perhaps an engorged tick) on the bill of a young Yellow Warbler. -C. Jones
Adam Timpf caught in the act of sneaking up on hummingbirds.
Striped Hairstreak -C. Jones
A young Blue-winged Warbler -C. Jones
A very young Red-bellied Woodpecker. -C. Jones
Stumpy #2 – A male American Goldfinch that we found with one leg last Fall. It is doing VERY well. -C. Jones
Matt holding two juvenile Purple Martins. -C. Jones