I’ve successfully completed the first part of my Snow Bunting capturing strategy: consistently attracting Horned Larks to a bait area. The way it works: Horned Larks are seen feeding at a site by passing Snow Buntings which then decide to drop in and take advantage of the resource too. I have my own flock now: a group of about 25-35 larks that are at the site consistently. When I arrive it’s still relatively dark – the sun set to rise in about half an hour. Often there are a few birds sitting where the cut corn had been yesterday (and the day before, and the day before that…). When I get out of the car, they fly off – only about 10 m – to wait. As soon as I have the traps set out and baited and have returned to my vehicle, they are around the traps. Plus, the “roosting flock”, seeing the action from their spot 200 m away, fly in to check things out. Then, for the next couple of hours, the larks divide their time between gleaning cut corn from around the traps and sitting at the “roost” site well away in the field. If I’m lucky some of that gleaning will take place inside a trap and I’ll have a bird to band. So far I’ve banded 28 larks and 3 longspurs.
Interestingly, I’ve been able to add three more older retraps to the bird I talked about in a post from a couple of days ago – a bird that had been banded last year. The 3 “new” ones were also banded in 2024. So it’s not a stretch to say that experienced birds are bringing others with them to the site.
But my plan has sort of stalled. For a couple of days I saw a single female Snow Bunting mixed in with the larks and longspurs, but only one. And it hasn’t been seen in the past two days. So….I’m waiting. The conditions would seem to be ideal. But the Snow Buntings are yet to arrive. Maybe tomorrow….
