I really like Horned Larks and over the past 10 days I’ve been catching them in modest numbers, 59 so far. But I must admit that it’s been a bit of a slog: setting traps out shortly before dawn; watching them come barreling in with a few (sometimes VERY few) making their way into the traps; and then watching them for the next couple of hours cycling back and forth between the bait area and their “roosting” area about 250 m out in the field; sitting in a cold, cold car for a couple of hours on end. But….Horned Larks are not Snow Buntings and I’ve been hankering to catch some. The 2-4 that have been mixed into the Horned Lark flocks just haven’t found the trap entrances.
So, I decided to try out Marnie’s location on Irish Line. She has been reporting a flock of 40+ birds for the past couple of days. There’s an interesting contrast between her site and my York Airport site. On Irish Line there’s very little traffic and almost no noise. The field is extensive. And Marnie has been putting out cut corn for well over a week now – and some birds have found it! But NOT Horned Larks – she doesn’t get any; and no Lapland Longspurs either….just buntings.
This morning there was an initial flock of at least 50 birds swirling around the corn. They flew off,,,a little…when I put out the traps but came back quickly to check things out. Very quickly 14 entered the traps. The foraging flock grew now to about 100 birds. As I was banding the initial group another 20 found their way in. I was working on these when I noticed a lot of commotion and saw an American Kestrel bouncing around on top of the traps. I made another quick foray and took out another 14. The kestrel seemed to have chased everything away but, 25 minutes later, when it was no longer in sight, buntings began to drop in to the area. But not for long; a male Northern Harrier decided to have a look. I ran out again and retrieved another 5 birds making a total of 53 banded.
One of the interesting things about this morning’s banding was the sex ratio. Normally, at this latitude, I catch more females, usually at least 2 females to every male. This morning I caught more males: 0.77 females to every male. This attests to the recent very cold temperatures we’ve been getting. Cold (and snowy) conditions “push” males farther south.
The weather is forecast to turn crappy – for Snow Buntings that is: mild with snow-eating rain which will likely curtail bunting banding for awhile. I’ll give Marnie’s another shot tomorrow and just hope for the best.
Rick