Just after six o’clock as I was opening the front gate, a young Great Horned Owl was calling. I found it perched in a tree and it took flight just before I started up the driveway! This would be my first observation to start the morning.

The weather stayed overcast for most of the day and there was a nice mix of warblers to handle and also, the first small hit of Cedar Waxwings. Our fingers didn’t suffer too much with a good number of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. We handled 82 birds today with a great crew of young people helping in all aspects of the program.

Banded 66:
1 Eastern Wood-Peewee
1 House Wren
1 Veery
9 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Gray Catbird
8 Cedar Waxwing
1 Warbling Vireo
9 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Nashville Warbler

1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
9 Magnolia Warbler
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler

3 Black-throated Green Warbler

2 Blackburnian Warbler

2 Bay-breasted Warbler
3 American Redstart
1 Ovenbird
4 Common Yellowthroat
7 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Song Sparrow

ET’s: 41 spp.
Nancy

Fern Hill School – Oakville Campus:

There was a nice flow of warblers along the woods beside the cemetery and a few of them even found their way into some nets – but we caught only a small proportion of what was there (frustratingly!).
Banded 13:
2 Black-capped Chickadees
2 Nashville Warblers
2 Magnolia Warblers

1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
1 Black & White Warbler

1 Wilson’s Warbler
3 Song Sparrows
1 Brown-headed Cowbird

ET’s: 34 spp.
Rick

You’re not going to see many pictures in this post – we were simply too busy.

Opening at 6 AM I could see Orion almost right overhead and, more importantly, I could hear the call notes of numerous birds as they were winging their way across the sky. And then they got louder as they got lower….and lower. They would want to find a place to feed and rest before the sun came up and rendered them visible to avian predators. A LOT of them came down around Ruthven. We got good numbers of birds on all net rounds and several sizeable “hits” – mixed species feeding flocks moving through the shrubs and hitting a net or nets at about the same time. When the dust settled we had banded the highest total so far this season – 108 – with the most diversity, 31 species, 17 of them warbler species.

Banded 108:
1 Downy Woodpecker
3 Eastern Wood-pewees
1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
1 Blue Jay
2 House Wrens
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 Veery
1 Swainson’s Thrush
3 Gray Catbirds
2 Philadelphia Vireos
25 Red-eyed Vireos
2 Tennessee Warblers
1 Nashville Warbler
3 Northern Parulas
1 Cape May Warbler
2 Chestnut-sided Warblers
8 Magnolia Warblers
2 Black-throated Blue Warblers
3 Black-throated Green Warblers
3 Blackburnian Warblers
1 Western Palm Warbler
21 Bay-breasted Warblers
3 Blackpoll Warblers
1 Black & White Warbler
1 Canada Warbler
4 American Redstarts
5 Ovenbirds
2 Common Yellowthroats
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Song Sparrow

ET’s: 59 spp.

A welcome addition to our migration monitoring team is a group now known as The Pipits – a takeoff on another group, the Larks. The Pipits have made the commitment to come out on Sunday mornings and help us do the census. The tradeoff is that while we get extra sets of helping eyes and ears, they get hands on training in birding….and having fun in an ecological setting. They certainly make the day better. Now if they could just learn how to bake……
Rick

T-storms during the night were followed by a beautiful bright full hunter’s moon which lit up the banding paths while I was opening. Yesterday’s movement continued today although not in the same huge numbers. Although we didn’t band as many (51 vs 79) we did encounter one more species on the day for an ET of 56 species. Warblers continued to provide a large part of the banding total.

Banded 51:
2 Eastern Wood-pewees
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 House Wren
2 Carolina Wrens
2 Veerys

3 Swainson’s Thrushes
1 Warbling Vireo
1 Philadelphia Vireo
3 Red-eyed Vireos
2 Tennessee Warblers
2 Northern Parulas
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
3 Magnolia Warblers
4 Bay-breasted Warblers
6 Blackpoll Warblers
1 Black & White Warbler
1 American Redstart
3 Ovenbirds
5 Common Yellowthroats

1 Scarlet Tanager
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
2 Song Sparrows
2 Lincoln’s Sparrows

ET’s: 56 spp.
Pics:

Karen’s Kreeping Korner:




Rick

September 12th
It was a windy, wet day with only a few breaks in the showers. Conditions didn’t improve as the the morning progressed and any nets that were opened were quickly closed again once the showers settled in. We anticipate a good day tomorrow with winds from the east and unsettled weather conditions!

September 13th
A big day that was busy from the first net check to closing! Net rounds were always exciting with small ‘hits’ of birds in Net #2 and Net #4 located along the east side of the park. There was always a nice mix of warblers with their challenging fall plumage! Just as we were closing nets, there was a clap of thunder and a brief shower …. and when Karen and Carol arrived at Net #4, it was full of birds and I received the text ‘Help’! So, a fantastic day from beginning to end where we handled a total of 100 birds!

Banded 79
2 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
1 Least Flycatcher

1 Great-Crested Flycatcher
1 Blue Jay
2 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 House Wren

1 Philadelphia Warbler
20 Red-eyed Vireo
3 Tennessee Warbler
7 Nashville Warbler


2 Northern Parula

2 Chestnut-sided Warbler
8 Magnolia Warbler

2 Black-throated Blue

2 Black-throated Green


2 Blackburnian Warbler

2 Bay-breasted Warbler
3 Blackpoll Warbler

1 Canada Warbler
2 American Redstart
1 Ovenbird
3 Common Yellowthroat

1 Scarlet Tanager

5 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
1 Song Sparrow
1 American Goldfinch

1 Cape May Warbler

1 Connecticut Warbler

ET’s: 55 species
Nancy

Fern Hill – Oakville:

The Fall season kicked off at the Oakville campus with an American Goldfinch and…..a brand new field studies room/banding lab!!!!


We had a reasonably busy morning between setting up the new lab, setting up nets, banding birds and tagging Monarchs.

Banded 18:
2 Black-capped Chickadees
3 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Tennessee Warbler
1 American Redstart
2 Song Sparrows
9 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 19spp.
Rick