Yesterday, the 17th, started with great promise. When I arrived there was a mixed flock of about 25 birds waiting for me. As soon as the traps were set they were right on them. I was joined in my efforts by Keira and Sam and a new bander from the West, Josh Levac. Very quickly there were 3 birds in the traps and I decided to go after them right away as they represented out Blessed Trinity: Horned Lark, Snow Bunting, and Lapland Longspur! Who woulda thunk it!? The neat thing is that the bunting and longspur were lifers for Keira and Josh got to band the longspur so it was a banding “tick” (first) for him. The Snow Bunting that Keira banded was a first for her too. As we continued to view the field a Northern Harrier flew by – another lifer for Keira (as you can tell, she’s a fairly new birder but, hey, you gotta start somewhere).
We got another two Horned Larks before disaster descended upon us in the form of a pair of American Kestrels. As it looked like they were going to persist, we decided to head to Marnie’s location at a farm on Irish Line; she had reported a flock of at least 80 Snow Buntings flying in to her bait site. As it turned out she had made a bit of an under-estimate: over the course of two hours we banded 77 Snow Buntings (Josh got another banding tick) and a Mourning Dove.
When I arrived at my site this morning I was met by a group of about 80 Snow Buntings standing over the remnants of yesterday’s cut corn. The flew off a short way as I put out the traps only to return before I even made it back to the buntingmobile. The first pass was great: 21 Snow Buntings and 5 Horned Larks. But then, again, the site was beset by a marauding American Kestrel. It scared the birds away for about 20 minutes at which time a flock of about 22 Horned Larks arrived. But they likely spotted the kestrel in the top of a nearby tree and chose, after a quick look at the corn, to sit out in the field until it departed.
Josh and I decided our time might be better spent actively banding at Marnie’s. There we banded another 19 Snow Buntings and a European Starling (another banding tick for Josh).
So I’m going to go out on a bit of limb here and declare that Snow Bunting time is upon us and, if we don’t get a bad weather anomaly, will be with us well into February. Not only are we getting buntings at the airport and on Irish Line but I was seeing small flocks of them along the route between the two locations. Keep your fingers crossed.
Rick