#3041-34987 – this female was banded in February 2024. -DOL
Going back to my last post….I had spotted at least two Horned Larks sporting bands and wondered a) was it one of mine and b) was it likely that this banded bird was instrumental in bringing other Horned Larks to my site?
I started setting out traps on the 7th for brief periods in the morning. On the 7th I caught and banded 4 larks; on the 8th I got another 9; and on the 9th 7. Today was a write-off as the birds were VERY skittish: flying into the traps, moving around them quickly, and then flying up and away usually to settle 50-100 m away in the field. The reason: an American Kestrel was paying close attention to the feeding flock from a perch on the wires just 40 m away – much too close for comfort for larks.
But the most important capture of the 9th was a female Horned Lark that I had banded in February of 2024. To me (at least) it confirms my hunch that birds familiar with the site from previous years are instrumental in bringing other birds here when they return for the Winter.
The 9th was also notable for another reason: mixed in with the Horned Lark flock was a small group of Lapland Longspurs. I ended up catching 3, all of them males. I’ve found over the years that longspurs simply don’t fool around. Whereas larks and buntings circle the traps over and over before one stumbles into it, longspurs figure it out right away and are into the corn lickety-split, no fooling around when there’s a food bonanza to take advantage of.
Rick