March 16th – Cross-Country (SNBU) Checkup

A good catch!...after the storm.   -T. McKanzie

A good catch!…after the storm. -T. McKanzie

I figured that not getting back from my travels until almost the middle of March would preclude my getting a chance to band any Snow Buntings. My colleague, Nancy Furber, had done a magnificent job holding down the fort, banding well over 2000 birds but….I really felt a need to contribute. Fortunately (and I’ll bet I’m one of a VERY small minority that felt this way) we got that big blizzard on the 12th – 15 cm of snow and very cold temperatures…..supposedly perfect for Snow Bunting banding. Don’t you love it when theory and practice come together!? On the 13th we handled 302 birds: 267 Snow Buntings, 32 Horned Larks and 3 Lapland Longspurs. And on the 14th I banded another 59 birds (in an hour and a half) and closed up early only because the traps were filling up with wind-driven snow faster than I could band. So….I got to contribute after all. You can see “our” overall totals below…..
Rick Ludkin
Ruthven Park Banding Station
Cayuga

Yukon/NWT

[March 11th]
Hi Rick,
Eagerly awaiting the arrival of SNBU!! Last year they were here at the end of March. No HOLA or LALO yet either.
Rhiannon Leshyk
Yellowknife, NWT

[March 12th]
Hi Rick,
I sent you a note about SNBU last night however it’s incorrect as I have new information this morning. There are reports of SNBU in Inuvik, NWT which is much farther north than Yellowknife. I was surprised because there are no reports yet for YK or any of the communities further south. Also, there are reports of SNBU just north of Whitehorse in the Yukon too.
Rhiannon Leshyk
Yellowknife, NWT

Prairie Provinces

[March 11th]
Hi Rick,
I wasn’t banding, but southeast of Calgary on Saturday I saw a large flock of at least 250 SNBU (by far the largest I’ve come across this winter) and a few smaller ones of 10-30 individuals. The spring arrival of HOLA is clearly underway too; no luck spotting any longspurs though.
Marcel Gahbauer
Calgary

[March 12th]
Once again, I cannot seem to attract SNBUs to my feeding stations. …too much bush, I guess. I see fairly good numbers during my travels about the countryside, but always in wide open fields and, it seems, never in the same place! So, one more year goes by and I’m still waiting to handle my first SNBU.
Harold Fisher
Nisbet Banding Station,
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

53-17-11N, 105-39-15W

[March 16th]
Hi Rick,
Nothing to give you on banding.
I continue to get reports of small drifts (5-50) of SNBU around the south interlake area, but the largest concentration remains here at Camp Morton. The flock fell from about 650 in early February, to a steady 200-250 in the past week. A new flock arrived last night and by dusk today (Mar.15) I was again up to 500.
Daily fluctuations in numbers and notes on behaviours have been logged at eBird. (Now entered 2007-present).
In the past two days I’ve seen reports of “many” (no numbers) of HOLA in southern Manitoba.
All the best,
Bill Maciejko
Gimli Manitoba

Ontario

[March 16th]
Hi Rick
Nothing to report in the north – the buntings have all but disappeared in the north over the last weeks. Joanne had a small flock at Kerns and I have hardly seen a bunting in weeks . We are curious to see if the birds you are banding will show up here of if they just move east. Hopefully we will find out sooner than later – we have tons of snow but no buntings. All the best in the south.
Bruce Murphy
Timiskaming

Banded male at the feeder.  -L. Anderson

Banded male at the feeder. -L. Anderson


[March 14th]
Hi Everyone, … Reporting from Nipissing – just SE of North Bay: I have been feeding (cracked corn) Buntings in a field on my farm since they arrived in mid January – 120 of them – mostly male. Winter has been, and still is, constantly here, with lots of snow cover. However, in early February the SNBU flock began to diminish, apparently many moving out of the immediate area. On some days, only 35 were feeding here. A week into March, the flock suddenly enlarged to almost 100 individuals – with a much higher number of females. It seems that perhaps many of the winter flock moved away in February, with some remaining to show the newcomers where to find feed.
Today some crows (recently returned) invaded their feeding area, and the flock is smaller once more.
I have observed 3 different individuals sporting bands, but no LALO or HOLA in the flock. And I have much enjoyed watching them – especially running up and down the large snowdrifts, chasing blowing birdseed. The flock often spends much of the day perched on the barn roof or in the tops of several large basswoods at the house. They have made themselves at home in the yard and occasionally will come to the feeder at the house. I am really looking forward to learning the recapture data and can only imagine where “my” Snow Buntings have journeyed and where they will summer.
Lori Anderson
Nippissing

 -L. Anderson

-L. Anderson


[March 12th]
Hi Rick,
As of this morning, I still have Snow Buntings on my property, although there seems to be less of them, maybe around 30 to 40 instead of the usual 80+ (pictures enclosed).
I’ll keep you posted about their departure.
Lise Balthazar
Lanark

Lise had a regualr feeding flock...but no banders....   -L. Balthazar

Lise had a regualr feeding flock…but no banders…. -L. Balthazar


[March 12th…later]
Actually, I need to update that number below; there are around 100 Buntings right now, along with an invasion of Goldfinches and Purple Finches at the feeders, because of a major snow storm we’re getting today.
Lise Balthazar
Lanark

Lovely male Snow Bunting.   -L. Balthazar

Lovely male Snow Bunting. -L. Balthazar


[March 14th]
Hi Rick,
Just to let you know that as of today, Friday, March 14th, there are still about 40 to 50 Snow Buntings flying around my property.
Lise Balthazar
Sheridan Rapids Road
Lanark, Ontario

[March 11th]
Heavy, deep snow cover has made SNBU pretty scarce up here this winter. I still have 2-3 feet in my yard and in the open fields with some drifts and snow banks well over my head.
With the warmer weather in the past week and some roadside melting, I’m starting to see small groups <20 birds picking gravel. Also HOLA are starting to return to the area. Maybe I can catch some SNBU on their way north? Cindy Cartwright
Southampton

The Piping Plover afficianadoes in Southampton are getting anxious.   -C. Cartwright

The Piping Plover afficianadoes in Southampton are getting anxious. -C. Cartwright


[March 14th]
Hello Rick:
As of today ( probably my last day banding Snow Buntings ), I have banded 4272 Snow Buntings plus some other stuff — outlined below. My banding season began on the 14th of December.

Snow Buntings : AHY/ASY M — 1827 ; HY/SY M — 2090 ; AHY/ASY F — 127 ; HY/SY F — 228
Horned Lark — total 74 — AHY M — 56 ; AHY-F — 18
Mourning Dove — total 23
Lapland Longspur — total — 7
European Starling — 2
Northern Shrike — 1

I have had requests for data on some of my Snow Bunting bandings but, as of now, I have no reports of any actual retraps , except for the 4 reported to you by Nancy.
My foreign retraps are few and will not be reported to the Banding Office until May ( after everyone has sent in their data) — however, they are listed below with the date of the encounter.

January 23 — 2381-71001 and 2661-83242

January 26 — 2571-17970

January 31 — 2571-17658

February 14 — 2661-83275

February 20 — 2661-85263 and 2571-18291

March 2 — 2661-83433

March 3 — 2661-83329

March 6 & 7 — 2661-85323

March 14 — 2661-94574

Hope that is what you wished for. I am still amazed that the female Snow Buntings only comprise a little over 8% of my total Snow Buntings.

Take care……………………….
David Lamble, Fergus

Glen freezing his hands.    - T. McKanzie

Glen freezing his hands. – T. McKanzie


[March 15th]
Hi Rick,
As of today, we might be finished – 0 birds banded in 2.5 hrs effort (by Glenn, not me. I was doing this…..[s;eeping] ). The snow has melted back enough to expose bare ground. If we do not get more snow, we are done.

The foreign recap summary is attached. The most recent one is interesting. The banding office has just asked me for the banding data, but the info they provided on the recapture was only the date (March 10) and location as Quebec. Can you ask the list where in Quebec 2661-83399 was recaptured?

The distances shown in the summary are calculated from the lat-long by this website: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gccalc.shtml

Why the "Horned" Lark got its name.    -T. McKanzie

Why the “Horned” Lark got its name. -T. McKanzie


Horned Lark female.    -T. McKenzie

Horned Lark female. -T. McKenzie


First regarding the horned larks:
We’ve banded 47 HOLA (as of March 14), all since the beginning of March, all but possibly 2 believed to be the prairie subspecies E. a. praticola, due to the fact that the males are singing, several appear to be territorial, and that the mainly white supercilium and forehead matches the description in Ron Pittaway’s article (link below), though we also noticed considerable individual variation. Peter Pyle’s note regarding the pattern on the longest uppertail covert did not help us with subspecies, though we looked at that (this is the first time we have banded this species). Individual variation and the noted overlap left significant doubt. We measured the tail as well as wing on most. The first 2 males arrived at the site late Feb., with the first capture March 3, a few days without observations, then the number gradually increased to 12 birds counted on March 10. Females were first captured on the 10th ( 4 birds). On the morning of March 11th, there were 8 males singing. More arrived after the snowfall and return to cold temperatures Mar 12 along with a flock of SNBU. The photo Rick included in the blog looks very much like a photo Glenn took, that I have labelled as a “pale female”. Wing length of the females were 92 to 98 mm while the males ranged 101 to 107 mm, except for one larger female at 103 and one larger male at 111. Glenn noted a wide range in the length of the hallux claw, not apparently related to sex, and we wondered about that. Is it just differing wear?

http://www.jeaniron.ca/2014/hlark.htm

SNBU update:
As of March 14th, we have banded 1235 SNBU (plus 2 LALO, 1 NSHR, and the 47 HOLA), SNBU sex ratio is 81% male; age ratio is 70% HY/SY. The proportion of males has been very consistent all winter. The proportion of young birds was 75% in Dec., 73% mid-winter. We recorded 49% of individual SNBU with corn/millet/nyger seed in the crop area in the hindneck. The actual number is higher, since we did not begin looking for it and recording it until we had noticed it several times. Some, but not all of these also had fullness in the area of crop visible above the furculum, but the hindneck ”bulge”was almost always larger. We were not recording this originally, but began doing so once we had noticed it several times. We were previously unaware of the (a) crop being located on (or extending to) the hindneck. At a rough estimate it seemed to hold as much as 2 gm when bulging. Has anyone else noticed this? Glenn calls it the “lunch bag”. We started checking HOLA for this as well and did find a crop bulge in the same area, on a few. The within season recaps are really interesting. Is anyone able to map themand show us that for the entire network?
I can send a couple of pictures if you like, but will do it with a separate e-mail.
Cheers,
Theresa McKenzie
King City

Does Nancy (Furber...the bander) recognize this bunting?    -T. McKanzie

Does Nancy (Furber…the bander) recognize this bunting? -T. McKanzie

[March 16th]
Due to the tremendous efforts of Nancy Furber, Matt Timpf and Peter Thoem, we have banded 2,500 Snow Buntings, 278 Horned Larks, and 19 Lapland Longspurs.
Ruthven Banding Team
Cayuga

One of two buntings caught in the past week with a missing left leg - both old, healed injuries. -N. Furber

One of two buntings caught in the past week with a missing left leg – both old, healed injuries. -N. Furber

[March 12th]
Rick:
It is good to know that you got back from Africa soon enough to experience a bit of this wonderful winter we have been enjoying.

Andrew and I (mostly Andrew) banded 544 SNBU on Long Point Beach from 2 December to 8 March, using bands issued to LPBO. One SY female banded on 5 January was recaptured by Caroline S. at East Harrow on 26 January. At least two other SNBU had been banded at Arthur by David Lamble. A couple of others remain unidentified. There were many interchanges between our site and the Okines/Wernaert sites about 10 km NNW across Long Point Bay.
Recent numbers are much reduced from earlier. It seems that many SNBU are on their way back to Greenland.
We have not banded any LALO or HOLA. They are rarely seen at our site which is almost 100% SNBU. We did get a few ATSP, which emerged out of the dunes to take advantage of our bait.
Our bait was mostly cracked corn, but we also used one bag of something called “scratch” which is a 50:50 mixture of wheat and cracked corn, designed for feeding chickens. We found that SNBU will feed on the wheat. This mixture is a couple of dollars cheaper than pure cracked corn.
David Hussell
Long Point Beach

Rick:
Here is a list, compiled by Andrew, of birds we have recaptured on Long Point Beach. I have added recovery information for two presumed David Lamble birds. David Okines gave us band series for his and Martin’s SNBUs, but we have no other details.
This is what I’ve got so far the only person who contacted us with details was the person from E. Harrow otherwise I’ve included all the recaps I got at Long Point below. SNBU are still around the beach in low numbers.
Birds we have banded:
band # age/sex date time released location
2571-37426 SY F 01/05/14 1400 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (originally banded)
2571-37426 SY F 01/26/14 1330 East Harrow, Essex, ON (recaptured)

David Okines has recaptured 29 of our birds but has yet to give us details.
Birds we have recaptured:
band # age/sex date time released location
2291-25022 SY M 02/02/14 1000 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2291-25056 SY M 02/02/14 1340 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2291-25194 SY M 02/03/14 1310 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2291-25375 SY M 01/31/14 1240 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2291-25455 SY M 02/16/14 1250 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2291-25482 SY M 02/02/14 1140 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2291-25691 SY F 03/01/14 1000 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2291-25716 SY M 02/13/14 1400 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2291-25791 SY M 02/08/14 0930 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2291-27890 SY M 02/02/14 1330 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2411-99192 ASY M 02/14/14 1100 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99213 SY M 02/16/14 1240 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99241 SY M 02/13/14 1140 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99259 SY M 02/16/14 1250 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99264 AHY F 02/14/14 0920 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99305 ASY M 02/17/14 1630 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99316 ASY M 02/13/14 1410 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99460 SY M 02/16/14 1100 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99733 SY F 02/16/14 1240 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99747 SY F 02/13/14 1240 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99755 SY M 02/16/14 1050 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99760 SY F 02/14/14 1010 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99761 SY M 02/14/14 1120 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99779 SY M 02/13/14 1410 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99794 SY M 02/14/14 1030 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2411-99813 SY M 02/16/14 1200 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
2421-73328 SY M 02/16/14 1200 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (Martin Wernaart)
2421-73448 SY M 02/02/14 1400 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (Martin Wernaart)
2421-73472 SY M 02/16/14 1150 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (Martin Wernaart)
2421-73587 SY M 02/03/14 1340 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (Martin Wernaart)
2421-73612 SY M 02/02/14 1000 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (Martin Wernaart)
2421-73615 SY F 01/31/14 1140 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (Martin Wernaart)
2421-73636 SY M 02/06/14 1100 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (Martin Wernaart)
2421-73639 SY M 02/16/14 0940 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (Martin Wernaart)
2421-73774 SY M 02/13/14 1240 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (Martin Wernaart)
2421-73852 SY M 02/16/14 1240 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (Martin Wernaart)
2421-83541 ASY M 02/03/14 1340 Long Point, Norfolk, ON 10 km E of Arthur ON 02/01/11 (D.Lamble)
2531-18590 ASY M 02/02/14 0950 Long Point, Norfolk, ON 10 km E of Arthur ON 01/09/14 (D.Lamble)
2531-30063 SY F 03/09/14 1040 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
2661-88418 SY F 02/14/14 1120 Long Point, Norfolk, ON
8041-78909 SY M 02/13/14 1230 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
8041-78912 SY M 02/13/14 1140 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
8041-78919 SY M 02/13/14 1230 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
8041-78956 ASY M 02/13/14 1420 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
8041-78957 SY M 02/16/14 1150 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )
8041-78959 SY M 02/16/14 1120 Long Point, Norfolk, ON (David Okines )

David Hussell

[March 12th]
Greetings fellow bunting lovers! I am stove in! I banded today, alone in the Blizzard that was today’s storm. I had SO many birds around here that if I had had help (assistants) or another bander here it would have been amazing!

However, I was quite pleased with my numbers for today:
1st bird of the day: RWBL. (What?!?!)
Also had a BHCO early on. After those 2 I decided not to bother with any more of those. Because as the intensity of the storm picked up it just seemed to drive more and more birds to my trap….but they were reluctant to enter. Maybe because they were actually being buffetted about by the wind!

My “real” birds for today were:
• 2 HOLA, including one that thought it was a crossbill…..it had a crossed bill. I hope my photos turn out. It also had a very long hallux claw on its right foot which I intended to photograph, but I only remembered that after I released it!
• 14 SNBU new. Plus 1 SNBU recap of my own. Haven’t had the time to look up the date it was banded here yet.
• 13 LALO!!!!! It was crazy with LALOs here. The males are definitely changing…the black becoming more noticeable. I think I took photos of each LALO. David and I have had brief discussion recently regarding being able to reliably age them this time of year. I tried really hard today David, and having those last 2 tail photos you sent me helped…..but I still do not feel anywhere Near an expert on ageing them! I did have a FEW that seemed to have adult tails, but R1 was still ‘relatively’ “pointy”. (What is the moult sequence on LALO tail feathers? That is something I definitely do not know. I’ve noticed that both R1’s often seem to be a different colour than the other tail feathers (ie lighter than the rest if I remember correctly).

Well I haven’t had any supper yet and I’m nearly frozen. Rick I totally understand why you called it quits after just one hour. My hands were very cold.

I had planned to band tomorrow instead, but snowstorms are so much fun I decided to do it today instead. I can’t band tomorrow. No doubt I will have Plenty of birds here! Oliver…..if you or Christie would like/are able to come out here to band tomorrow, you’re more than welcome at the “East Harrow” banding station.

Ok. Must eat, and warm up. Rick I will have plenty of pics for you and also for David….LALOs! Yay. Just a matter of having the time to get them done before Sunday’s post (Rick). David…I’ll work on them as quickly as I can. It proved quite the challenge again today to attempt to Hold the bird properly AND try to spread the tail nicely and evenly with one hand, and to photograph it with the other. Boy, I sure wish that Paul had been here today. He’s such a great photographer!

Rick: I had only 2 foreign recaps and they were both in January (26 and 29). One was the first double-banded bird (with an address band). Oh yeh, now I remember, you said that Nancy banded that one (back in February 2013!). The details are already posted on the blurb which I wrote for the blog several weeks ago. I have not heard of anyone catching any of my banded birds.
Cheers,
Caroline
East Harrow

[March 15th]
East Harrow (HBMO) banded on 19 days between January 10 and March 12, 2014. A total of 770 of “The Big Three” were banded, as follows:
Snow Buntings: 482
Horned Larks: 244
Lapland Longspurs: 44
(13 were banded on March 12!)
This has been our best year by far of the 4 years we have been part of the CSBN, due to the cold temps, plentiful snow, and increased bander availability.
It was a great winter for banding!
Caroline
East Harrow

Hi Rick.
Oliver says we get confusing SNBUs done my way in Essex County. It is not uncommon to have difficulty deciding between ASY female or SY male down here! The photos below have been examined by David Hussell, and he confirmed that this particular individual is a SY male. (Please see his detailed explanation below the photos.)

“This bird is male because it has white lesser and median coverts, not the variegated grey and white pattern of females. The fuzzy dark brownish and white pattern of the primary coverts is typical of SY males, though somewhat darker (less white) than shown by many individuals.

The feature that is probably most confusing is the black bar across the greater coverts. SY males usually have 1-3 outer greater coverts showing this pattern, but most of the other GCs (except the innermost) are entirely white. This one is unusual because none of the greater coverts is entirely white. This is “unusual”, but certainly not rare. Notice that the black on the greater coverts of males is always confined to the outer webs, similar to what you find in most ASY females and unlike the normal pattern in SY females which usually have a lot of black on the inner webs as well.”
Caroline
East Harrow

PS Caught and banded this bird March 12, 2014. Was stunned to see its left leg. (I banded its right leg.) Despite this obvious handicap/impairment it was managing to survive!
ASY F SNBU, wing-chord 101, fat 3, weight 34.5
Carolines’ Photo Gallery to go with her reports:

ASY-M for comparison.    -Caroline S.

ASY-M for comparison. -Caroline S.


ASY-F for comparison.   -Caroline S.

ASY-F for comparison. -Caroline S.


Confusing SY-M #1   -Caroline S.

Confusing SY-M #1 -Caroline S.


Confusing SY-M #1   -Caroline S.

Confusing SY-M #1 -Caroline S.


Confusing SY-M #2     -Caroline S.

Confusing SY-M #2 -Caroline S.


Confusing SY-M #2    -Caroline S.

Confusing SY-M #2 -Caroline S.


Confusing SY-M #2     -Caroline S.

Confusing SY-M #2 -Caroline S.


Male Lapland Longspur    -Caroline S.

Male Lapland Longspur -Caroline S.


(Seemingly healthy) Horned Lark with crossed mandibles.   -Caroline S.

(Seemingly healthy) Horned Lark with crossed mandibles. -Caroline S.


Snow Bunting with a (healed) broken left leg.

Snow Bunting with a (healed) broken left leg.

Quebec
[March 12th]
Hi Rick,
Nord-du-Québec is dead quiet… I haven’t seen a single SNBU since November. How sad is that. The boreal forest is really nice, but can be depressing for a SNBU bander!
Alex Anctil

[March 16th]
Hi Rick,
Many snbu around Berthier-sur-mer. Not a lot of time to band…
Total for the year: 267 snbu et 2 lalo.

À bientôt,
Benoit Gendreau
Berthier-sur-mer

[March 14th]
Hello my friends,

Here is the update for the southern Quebec teams, the flocks are growing, the snow is melting, the birds are on the move!

Mirabel
650 SNBU, 3 LALO

2 recaptures from the winter 2012, 10 recaptures from the winter 2013. Good site fidelity!
Foreigns:
1841-80160, from Sorel, QC (26 dec 2013)
2411-93558, from Arthur, ON (27 dec 2010)
2661-91515, from St-Roch, QC (8 mar 2014)
2661-83399, looking for the owner of this one

St-Roch
383 SNBU, 1 HOLA, 1 LALO
(released unbanded, no size 0 on hand)
Foreigns:
2661-84369, 2661-84388, 2661-75917, 2661-84391; those 4 birds were banded in Mirabel, QC this winter, 30km away. Good link between the two sites.

Coteau-du-lac
247 SNBU, 6 LALO, 3 HOLA

No Foreigns to date.

So the total for southern Quebec stands at 1280 SNBU.

Enjoy while it lasts!
Simon Duval
Coordinator, McGill Bird Observatory

Maritime Provinces

[March 12th]
No signs here in western Newfoundland yet, but I was in Prince Edward
Island on March 26 and saw a flock of 20 buntings at the Charlottetown
airport. Also heard a report that ~100 are visiting A feeder near Cape Race
at the southeastern tip of Newfoundland, where they are resident most
winters.
Darroch Whitaker
Gros Morne, Newfoundland

[March 12th]
Dorothy & I are in Belize until 27th; likely our SNBU banding is done for the winter. We did I think somewhere in the upper 50s only this year.
Cheers
Tony Diamond
St. John area, NB

U.S.A.

Vicki with a HOLA

Vicki with a HOLA


Hi Rick,
Baiting began on February 6 and by February 12 approximately 20 Horned larks and 5 Snow buntings were feeding. After that the number of birds varied from 0-20 Horned larks and an occasional Snow bunting. Temperatures were below zero, so we did not attempt trapping, preferring to let the birds feed undisturbed. On February 15, a new manure spread was put out about 100 yards from our bait. Many of the birds moved to the manure spread which also attracted pigeons and 50- 100 Canada geese. The Canada geese took over our bait, with four being there regularly. We have trapped on four different dates and so far have only captured and banded 10 Horned larks. We plan to continue baiting, as last year a number of Snow buntings migrated through in March. Next year we may try to find a different site, as Canada geese have been a problem for the two years we have tried to capture and band Snow buntings.
Vicki Piaskowski and Larry Hopwood
Hartland, WI

3 thoughts on “March 16th – Cross-Country (SNBU) Checkup

  1. Oops! My mistake: Joanne Fleet and Faye Socholotiuk banded 26 SNBU’s and 3 HOLA’s in the Copetown area this Winter.

  2. Sorry not to have gotten a message to you in time. Having read all the reports of great banding conditions just about everywhere, I am further convinced that the ice storm that came through the eastern townships of southern Quebec at Christmas time did a number on the local SNBU population. Notwithstanding very good conditions for seeing the birds, I have only had a small flock of 30-40 birds for the last six weeks or so. I did see flocks twice as large a couple of times in February, but nothing like the numbers I would expect (100-200) for the conditions we’ve had. Marie-Pier did succeed in banding one SNBU here back in February….so Barnston-Ouest can boast one banded bird. Anyway, it’s great news that so many birds have been banded. Hopefully the data will help to answer some of the questions about these great little birds.

  3. HI rick was just heading to bed when I saw your update not sure if this is confusing our not I have to crash to get ready to teach tomorrow so I am wrapping my head around this. David lamble caught 2 birds we banded last year 1 from the kids at kerns and 1 from our home banding site . I will let you folks figure this out but we have a very established migration link between our sites . Sure hope some birds show up here in the next week with a band . Actually just hoping we can see a bird some time soon. All the best looking forward to seeing you at ebba/obba lots to chat about. Bruce murphy Timiskaming

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