David Brewer vacuuming the banding lab – what a bander does on a slow day.
Unsettled weather over the past 2 days has stalled the migration….at least at Ruthven. Overall the variety of species that we’re seeing is good but the numbers are low – especially of warblers. The significant drop in temperature should be bringing warblers down in search of food….when they arrive. The low temperatures have forced many swallows to forage out over the river, searching for emerging insects. We saw all 6 species today (including my first views of Cliff Swallows).
Sign of a possible keratin disorder in local Mourning Doves? This is the 4th dove with a pronounced “overbite” we’ve caught in the past two weeks or so.
The water level in the Grand River has dropped and the gravel bar between the mainland and Slink Island is exposed. This is always a good spot to look for shorebirds. Yesterday and today there have been Killdeer (of course, you say), Spotted Sandpipers, Solitary Sandpiper, and Least Sandpipers. Also, the shallows around the bar have been frequented by Common Terns – a species that, up until the last week, we almost never saw at Ruthven.
Young (SY) male Baltimore Oriole – yet to acquire the brilliant orange of the older birds.
Wing detail of a SY male Baltimore Oriole.
We have been catching a lot of “retraps” – birds that we banded at a previous time: a couple of days ago or…years ago. We caught one female Yellow Warbler in Net 10 that was originally banded on July 22, 2007; this little bird is almost 8 years old!! Think of the distances she has flown and the things she has seen in those 8 years. For us it’s always interesting to get these retraps from other years. It would be wonderful to have the funding to fit some of the long-distance migrants that breed here with geolocators so that we could see the routes they take, where their Winter home is, and how fast they make the journey. We get a lot of returning Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Baltimore Orioles – species that would be ideal for this exercise as they are big enough to carry the little “backpack” readily.
Moonie, a Gray Tree Frog, gets his first taste of freedom.
The story of Moonie: late last Fall my son Geoff chanced upon a Gray Treefrog that had gotten the worst of a fight with a lawn mower. Realizing a not-until-then interest in amphibians he took it home, nursed it, and got it through the Winter in a terrarium, feeding it every 5 days or so on crickets and occasional mealworms. In the hot weather a couple of days ago he decided to release it at Ruthven – I had told him that the treefrogs were beginning to call so it was a good time. So Moonie was released and had a couple of days of warm temperatures to acclimatize to the outdoors. In his honour (Moonie’s), the first slough on your right as you head down Fox Den Trail has been named “Moonie’s Pond”. Take a look for him next time you’re there…..
May 12th; Banded 25:
1 Least Flycatcher
6 Blue Jays
2 Gray Catbirds
1 Blue-winged Warbler
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Yellow Warbler
1 Magnolia Warbler
4 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Indigo Bunting
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
1 Common Grackle
2 Baltimore Orioles
2 American Goldfinches
Species Count: 72 spp. THIS WAS NOT STAGED!! Carol is looking for a 0A band that was dropped on the floor. Why get down on your hands and knees when you have binoculars!?
May 13th; Banded33:
2 Mourning Doves
1 Least Flycatcher
1 House Wren
5 Gray Catbirds
1 Blue-winged Warbler
2 Tennessee Warblers
7 Yellow Warblers
1 Western Palm Warbler
1 Black & White Warbler
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
1 Common Grackle
4 Baltimore Orioles
1 House Finch
1 American Goldfinch
Species Count: 72 spp.
Rick