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September 20th – 22nd: Catching Up

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We’ve been hit by a streak of hot, humid Summer conditions. And while most people have been rejoicing in it, I (being the curmudgeon that I am) have simply had to grin and bear it as these conditions make for lousy banding conditions at Ruthven. I’m not exactly sure of the dynamics as to why this is the case but years of experience have shown it to be so. So let’s wish for some unsettled weather and turn this thing around!! Despite my whining we had a pretty good 2nd 10-day banding average. During this period (September 11-20) we banded an average of 44.9 birds per day which is well above the 10-year average of 30. We were helped in this regard by the 108 bird day on September 15th. But this final 10-day period for September has gotten off to a slow start as you will see from the numbers below.

September 20th; Ruthven Park:

Friday’s nature crew making good use of a PD Day. -NRF


Cool, pleasant temperatures were comfortable to work in at opening but it wasn’t long before the heat and humidity were felt. It wasn’t a busy morning handling birds but Ruthven Park was the place to be – a number of families made the banding lab their day-off destination for their PD day. Thanks to Michael Berry, Education Co-ordinator for leading the families on a hike to ‘sweep’ for butterflies (Monarch’s specifically to tag), moths, bees, dragonflies, and spiders!

Maggie with a tagged Monarch that was caught at Ruthven. -MB


Banded 19:
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
3 Swainson’s Thrush
2 Gray Catbird
1 Philadelphia Vireo
4 Red-eyed Vireo
2 Magnolia Warbler
2 Bay-breasted Warbler
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 American Redstart
1 Cape May Warbler
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow

ET’s: 42’s species

Nancy

September 20th; Fern Hill School Oakville:
It was hot and humid here too but we had some nice birds “trickling” through. But the big news was that the Monarch Butterfly Highway was on the move. For the past couple of years I have noticed that there is a massive movement of Monarchs across the school campus – and I’m talking 100’s (if not 1000’s) per day. It’s really hard to understand because if you take a look at the direction they’re coming from (ENE) you see, in the distance, the built-up skyline of Mississauga, then the super-busy Highway 403 corridor, then a large field of soybeans, and, finally 9th Line before reaching the school. So where are they coming from and where were they the night before?! The really neat thing is that there is a large amount of goldenrod and asters around the school and by the outside of the cemetery where the butterflies feed…en masse. Between net rounds I caught and then tagged 41! If I had concentrated on just catching them (and I had enough tags) I could easily have marked over 100. It would be wonderful if some of these tagged Monarchs were found so we could see the route they take toward Mexico, their Winter home.

Banded 18:

A pleasant surprise: Yellow-billed Cuckoo. -CJH


1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo

The first Hairy Woodpecker we’ve banded at FHS Oakville. -RW


1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Least Flycatcher
2 Black-capped Chickadees
2 American Robins
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Yellow Warbler
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Western Palm Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler on its way to South America. -RW


1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 Common Yellowthroat

Young (still has chest spotting) Chipping Sparrow. -RW


1 Chipping Sparrow
3 Song Sparrows

ET’s: 28 spp.
Rick

September 21st; Ruthven:

On Saturday we played host to half of Pat Chow Fraser’s biodiversity class. -DOL


It was “McMaster” Day – each Fall Pat Chow Fraser’s 2nd year biology class comes to visit to get an idea of bird banding techniques and, in some cases, just to see what a bird looks like. They’re usually a lot of fun and this year was no different. The only drawback was that we did not have a lot of birds to experience but, on the other hand, it allows us to maintain a more “relaxed” pace which is better for teaching.

The highlight of the morning was the sighting of one (maybe two) Red-headed Woodpecker. They have become rare in southern Ontario and we are lucky to see one every couple of years – so a great treat!

Adult Bald Eagle cruising the river. Eagles are now a common daily sight. -CB


Great Blue Heron on the stalk. -CB


Banded 24:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Gray Catbird
3 Red-eyed Vireos
3 Nashville Warblers
2 Magnolia Warblers
2 Black-throated Blue Warblers
3 Bay-breasted Warblers
3 Blackpoll Warblers
1 American Redstart
1 Ovenbird
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Song Sparrows

ET’s: 53 spp.
Our product is nature, our strength is people”:

Marnie and Karen…..working hard. -DOL


The 3 Amigos. Their combined age is significantly less than mine but their 2019 Ontario list likely exceeds mine….(from left, Caleb, Ezra, Ethan) -DOL


The 3 Amigos conjuring migrants. -KMP


Liam with a Gray-cheeked Thrush, a “lifer” and a 1st banding “tick. -JET


Brian with his first bird: Red-eyed Vireo. -KMP


Alexis with a young (note the brown eyes) Red-eyed Vireo. -AR

September 22nd; Ruthven:
And then the wheel came off….. It was hot before I even got the nets open, well before sun-up and it just got hotter….and more humid. Birds were VERY few and far between. We ended up handling just 16 (7 banded, 9 retraps) so we had more people at the lab than birds. Come on unsettled weather!! On the positive side, our flock of 7 Wild Turkeys continues to boldly stroll the grounds allowing great photographic opportunities (as well as frank discussions about Thanksgiving dinners…).

Part of “our” flock of 7 Wild Turkeys taking a stroll beside the Butterfly Meadow. -AR


Wild Turkey up in a tree. At night they will roost up in trees to protect themselves from predators. -KMP[/capt
Banded 7:
1 Gray-cheeked Thrush
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Gray Catbird
2 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
[caption id="attachment_17666" align="aligncenter" width="769"] Yellow-billed Cuckoo back along the Carolinian Trail. -CR


ET’s: 40 spp.

Karen’s Kreeping Korner (for the past 3 days):

This Garter Snake was a meter off the ground in a Gray Dogwood. -AR


Male Arrow Clubtail Dragonfly. -DG


The business end of a male Arrow Clubtail. -DG


Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar. -ELO


Virginian Tiger Moth caterpillar. -ELO


Cuckoo Wasp -KMP


Dogwood Sawfly larva. -KMP


European Mantis. Good thing these things aren’t the size of dogs….. -KMP


Green Frog. -KMP


Western Honeybee. The Butterfly Meadow abounds with pollinators at the moment. -KMP


American Nursery Web Spider. -MB


Delta Spotted Spiketail. -MB


While clearing Black Walnuts from the Butterfly Meadow, Darren came across this large Walking Stick. -RG


Rick

September 19th – A Silver Lining….In Reverse? (Sort Of…)

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Marnie with a lifer…..that she’s just banded. -KMP


You’ve all heard the old adage: every cloud has a silver lining. Well, there were no clouds today (which means few birds around) but there was a lining: the capture and banding of an American Woodcock! We’re lucky if we catch one a year; this was the year and it provided a very nice banding “tick” for Marnie.

“Our” flock of 7 Wild Turkeys strolling beside the Butterfly Meadow….without, seemingly, a care in the world. -CAJ


And there was another “lining”. The term “habituate” (according to the Compact Oxford English Dictionary) means “make or become accustomed to something”. For 4 summers I helped in a study on Common Eiders on East Bay Island at the north end of Hudson’s Bay. If anyone of us got within 150 m of the colony all the birds would take flight. After that I spent 2 summers on Svalbard working on Thick-billed Murres. However, when I was in town (Longyearbyen) I had to walk around Common Eiders which didn’t care a damn about the presence of people. They were used to them – had habituated. At the end of the nesting season folks would gather the down from their nests for clothing and sleeping bags, etc. It was a lot easier to collect down from local, unfrightened birds than have to hike out into the frozen wilderness for it.This caused me to wonder whether we could get the East Bay Island eiders to relax if we simply walked through the colony every day following the same route. At first they would bolt but if no harm came their way I’ll bet, after a few generations, they too would just sit there. It would make the study of them much easier.

There was always one bird keeping watch. -CAJ


Wild Turkeys are notoriously difficult to hunt because they’re incredibly wary. At the sight of a human they scurry for cover. But at Ruthven, close to the Mansion, there is a flock of 7 Wild Turkeys that wanders about and doesn’t seem to perturbed by human presence. Doing a net round this morning we came upon them strolling beside the Butterfly Meadow. We got within 15 m of them and witnessed NO panic; they just kept doing what they were doing (in this case eating the fruit of Gray Dogwood). They seem to be habituating to our presence. We began to wonder if we could ever get them to the point of eating cracked corn from our hands…..

Banded 26:

American Woodcock. -KMP


Woodcock upper wing. -KMP


Woodcock underwing. -KMP


1 American Woodcock
1 Blue Jay
2 Veerys
2 Gray Catbirds
1 Warbling Vireo
5 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Magnolia Warbler

Rhapsody in blue: Black-throated Blue Warbler, blue Jay. -MMG


1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
1 Blackpoll Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler. -KMP


1 Ovenbird
2 Common Yellowthroats
7 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Song Sparrow

ET’s: 44 spp.

Karen’s Kreeping Korner:

Katydid…missing its back left leg. (Run-in with a Praying Mantis?) -MMG


Painted Lady. -KMP


Rick

September 18th – Aflockalypse 2: The Grackling

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Just art of a huge flock of grackles passing by. -KMP


Today’s title was coined by Karen after checking out the huge flocks of Common Grackles that were flying back and forth and all over most of the morning. I would love to know what they’re feeding on.

Western Honeybee taking advantage of the goldenrod. -KMP


Weatherwise it is was a beautiful day and because it was the banding was pretty boring – not a lot of birds around. Some quality but not much quantity. On the other hand, the Butterfly Meadow is just alive with stuff. Along the paths if you stop and just listen you can hear all kinds of bees as they move through the goldenrod and asters. Butterflies abound. You know, at one time the Ruthven board wanted to turn that meadow into a manicured lawn. It was described as just a big old “weed field”. But when I suggested that they simply needed to reframe it so that it was a “field of wildflowers” – hey! a butterfly meadow – they thankfully went with it.

Common Eastern Bumblebee. -KMP

The 5 Red-eyed Vireos that we banded today brings our Fall total up to 111 – a new record for us. The old record was 101 set in 2015.

Banded 33:
1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Gray-cheeked Thrush. -KMP


2 Gray-cheeked Thrushes
2 Swainson’s Thrushes
4 Gray Catbirds
5 Red-eyed Vireos

Male Magnolia Warbler. -KMP


5 Magnolia Warblers

Young male Black-throated Blue Warbler. -KMP


1 Black-throated Blue Warbler

Female American Redstart. -KMP


1 American Redstart
8 Common Yellowthroats
1 Wilson’s Warbler
1 Scarlet Tanager
2 Song Sparrows

ET’s: 52 spp.

Karen’s Kreeping Korner:

The two spots on the wings indicate that this Monarch Butterfly is a male. -KMP


Clouded Sulphur. -KMP


Mantis on the prowl. -KMP


Northern Crescent Butterfly. -KMP


Two Ruby Meadowhawks……frolicking. -KMP


Rick

September 17th – Aflockalypse Now

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Just a very few of a stream of Common Grackles that went by. -JDF


It had all the makings of a good horror flick – myriads of large black birds in the tops of the trees, cackling back and forth (a cacophony one pundit called it), staring down at us with beady yellow eyes ready to pounce with large rapier-like bills. They’d go for the eyes first and then finish us off…..For the last week or so we’ve witnessed VERY large flocks of Common Grackles going over, leaving their roost first thing in the morning, heading out to feed. Last week we counted over 5000. This morning there were well over 1500 that settled in the trees just in front of the Mansion stripping them of any food they contained – fruit and/or insects – before heading to another patch. We caught and banded 13 of them. I’m glad there weren’t more as they’re a touch bird to extract holding on tight with very strong feet and, often, getting their tongues caught necessitating great care.

Although not as busy as the last couple of days we still had a good movement of migrants to deal with:

Banded 43:

Ruby-throated Hummingbird….just banded. -JDF


1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
1 Eastern Wood-pewee

Lots of Blue Jays around – it’s hard to get a good count as they move around so much. -JNJ


1 Blue Jay
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
3 Swainson’s Thrushes
3 Gray Catbirds
3 Warbling Vireos
3 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
2 Magnolia Warblers
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
2 Blackpoll Warblers
3 Common Yellowthroats

For comparison: 2 Scarlet Tanagers. Female on the left (olive shoulder); male on the right (black shoulder). -DOL


3 Scarlet Tanagers
1 Field Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
13 Common Grackles

ET’s: 53 spp.
Additional Pics:

Joanne showing that she hasn’t lost her touch. -NRF


Nancy getting a hummingbird band ready (or darning socks, I’m not sure which). -JDF


Black-throated Green Warbler. -ELO


Adult Cedar Waxwing moulting wing feathers. -ELO


Karen’s Kreeping Korner:

White-marked Tussock Moth caterpillar. -MB


Pearl Crescent Butterfly. -KMP


American Rubyspot. -DG


Green Darner (I think…?) -EB


Rick