Hummingbird topping up. -K. Duncan
During the last two days we’ve been seeing a wealth of warblers at Ruthven but, frustratingly, we haven’t been catching a lot of them. In fact, we’ve seen 19 species of them. They seem to be congregating in the woods between the Thompson Family Cemetery and the River and along the Fox Den Trail. Photographer Gail MacLellan spent a few hours sitting and shooting and has kindly shared some of her photos with me. (You can see them after the banding counts.)
A pair of Eastern Kingbirds. -K. Duncan
Male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (has a black “eyebrow”). -K. Duncan
We have had two more (at least) Brown-headed Cowbirds return from the University of Western: one with a red leg band and “Stumpy”. About 3 weeks ago we recaptured Stumpy. At this time he wasn’t Stumpy but a bird with an injured let (cause unknown). We released him and recaptured him a couple of times subsequently and we could see that he was in a bad way – losing weight quickly. When we noticed that the food was dead, we decided to amputate the leg above the injury. We cleaned the wound and held him for a couple of hours to see how he fared before releasing him. We recaptured him again a few days later and he had already put back on 4 grams! And the wound was clean. We did not put him in the large holding cage/trap for birds destined for Western, he got in by himself. And now he has been able to fly all the way back – none the worse for wear.
May 18th; Banded 28:
2 Mourning Doves
1 Great Crested Flycatcher
2 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
1 American Robin
4 Gray Catbirds
5 Yellow Warblers
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
3 Common Yellowthroats
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
1 Indigo Bunting
2 Field Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds
1 Baltimore Oriole
1 House Sparrow (which was subsequently moved to Caledonia)
ET’s: 66 spp.
Great Crested Flycatcher. -K. Duncan
Virginia Bluebells. -K. Duncan
Male and female Northern or Baltimore Orioles. -K. Duncan
Male Wilson’s Warbler.
May 19th; Banded 31:
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Swainson’s Thrush
3 Gray Catbirds
1 Yellow-throated Vireo
1 Blue-winged Warbler
2 Tennessee Warblers
1 Nashville Warbler
2 Yellow Warblers
4 Magnolia Warblers
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
1 Western Palm Warbler
1 Ovenbird
4 Common Yellowthroats
3 Wilson’s Warblers
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
1 Indigo Bunting
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds
1 American Goldfinch
ET’s: 69 spp.
A Bouquet of Warblers (thanks to Gail MacLellan):
Common Yellowthroat. -G. MacLellan
Tennessee Warbler. -G. MacLellan
Nashville Warbler. -G. MacLellan
Male Bay-breasted Warbler. – G. MacLellan
Female Bay-breasted Warbler. -G. MacLellan
Common Yellowthroat. -G. MacLellan
Northern Waterthrush. -G. MacLellan
Magnolia Warbler. -G. MacLellan
Blackpoll Warbler. -G. MacLellan
Tennessee Warbler -G. MacLellan