March 21st – Getting Ready

A guide for those that don’t know…… -DOL

A thoughtful gift (and sentiment) from the Lewis family. -DOL

There is an upside to Daylight Savings Time. When it’s 5 AM “real”/bird time, it’s 6 AM Daylight Savings Time. So I can trick myself into thinking that I get to sleep in an hour more….. This becomes a big factor when you have to get nets open half an hour before sunrise.

Dave Brewer trying out a Jay trap he’s erecting at the Lowville site. -CM

We’re going to run two sites this Spring: Ben’s Lowville banding station and a new site at a wetland on the Hurkman’s farm on River Road South (9.5 km outside of Cayuga). We’ve been busy getting things ready. Yesterday we put up some of the nets in Lowville and got David Brewer’s Jay-trap half built in readiness for an April 5 start.

At the wetland site, we’ve pretty well finished making the banding “lab” serviceable (if not downright homey), put up some WODU nesting boxes, a couple of feeders (that already have attracted a busy traffic of resident BCCH’s, WBNU’s and DOWO’s) and cleared the 8 (or so) net lanes in preparation….. It will be interesting to see what this site turns up in terms of resident migrants and how it is used by long-distance migrants.

The new banding “lab” at the wetland site. -DOL

While volunteers are encouraged, due to Covid constraints and cautions, attendance has to be on a scheduled basis in order to keep everyone safe. You can contact me if you’re interested: rludkin@hotmail.com

Rick

Leave a Reply