In baseball, a rare but laudable achievement is for a player to “bat the cycle”, hitting a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game. Today we hit the cycle – we banded a bird in each band size that we possess: 0A (smallest), 0, 1, 1B, 1A, 1A-SS, 2, 3, 3A (largest). So you’d think that we had a big day. Well, no, we didn’t. In fact it was pretty slow. The many migrants that have been around for the past few days seem to have moved on and, for the most part, weren’t replaced. However, we still had a couple of firsts for the year: Cedar Waxwings and Mourning Warbler.

There was another first as well, a fairly noxious one: the first bothersome mosquitoes of the season. Not in the quantities or with the persistence to be truly aggravating but….the writing is on the wall. Before too long those leisurely strolls through the woods doing the census won’t be quite so leisurely.

The archaeology class from Laurier arrived today en masse. They will be working on the site for the next 4-5 weeks. It’s always interesting to stroll by and see what they’re up to and what they’re finding. My experience is that they’re more than willing to take the time to talk to you.

Banded 23:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Least Flycatcher
2 Blue Jays
5 Gray Catbirds
1 Blue-winged Warbler (we’ve now banded 18!)
2 Yellow Warblers
1 Mourning Warbler
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Indigo Bunting
1 Field Sparrow
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
2 Red-winged Blackbirds
2 Orchard Orioles

Retrapped 28:
2 Mourning Doves
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Blue Jays
2 House Wrens
2 Blue-winged Warblers
4 Yellow Warblers
1 Canada Warbler
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
5 Chipping Sparrows
2 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds
3 Baltimore Orioles

ET’s: 62 spp.

Rick