May 20th-22nd: Victoria Day Weekend

Three budding naturalists. -LEO

The long weekend has been cool and damp (if not outright wet) most of the time. I had been hoping that these conditions would have resulted in a “fall-out” but, alas, it just wasn’t to be. Well….we didn’t get any bird fall-outs but we did seem to have a fall-out of humans: in the past 3 days a multitude of volunteers contributed 120 “volunteer hours” – much of those hours going to service the 77 visitors that made it to the site. Ironically, we had 1 more visitor than we had banded birds (76)over these 3 days!
Yellow-billed Cuckoos: the male on the left is dwarfed by the female.

May 20th; Banded 24:
1 Black-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo. -LEO

3 Blue Jays
3 Gray Catbirds
1 Cedar Waxwing
Red-eyed Vireo. -MMG

1 Red-eyed Vireo
5 Yellow Warblers
3 Common Yellowthroats
1 Indigo Bunting
1 Common Grackle
2 Baltimore Orioles
3 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 63 spp.

May 21st; Banded 18:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo. -MMG

1 White-breasted Nuthatch
2 Eastern Bluebirds
ASY male Eastern Bluebird. -L. Catling

1 American Robin
1 Gray Catbird
2 Warbling Vireos
4 Yellow Warblers
1 Black-throated Green Warbler
Young male Black-throated Green Warbler. -L. Catling

1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Song Sparrow
1 Baltimore Oriole
1 American Goldfinch

ET’s: 55 spp.

May 22nd; Banded 34:
1 Traill’s Flycatcher
1 Least Flycatcher
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Gray-cheeked Thrush (1st of the year)
7 Gray Catbirds
1 Cedar Waxwing
1 Warbling Vireo
4 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Tennessee Warbler
2 Yellow Warblers
2 Magnolia Warblers
1 American Redstart
1 Ovenbird
5 Common Yellowthroats
2 Indigo Buntings
1 Song Sparrow
1 Baltimore Oriole
1 Orchard Oriole

ET’s: 63 spp.

Photo Gallery (including shots sent over the past week – which explains the sunshine in some of them):

Releasing her first bird. -L. Catling

Lemon underwings – female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. -L. Catling

Rosey underwing of a male grosbeak. -LEO

Mottled brown, black and white plumage of a male grosbeak in its 2nd year. -LEO

ASY male Orchard Oriole. -L. Catling

Tufted Titmice nest at Ruthven. -L. Catling

Western Palm Warbler. -L. Catling

Madison with a Red-eyed Vireo…..both have devilish looks.

Thomas with an American Goldfinch he has just banded.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo – note the rufous wing panels. -FAS

Two colourful creatures: Anna and a Baltimore Oriole. -LEO

Caleb with a great banding “tick” – Yellow-breasted Chat. -LEO

Staring contest. The chat won, much to Laura’s chagrin. -LEO

Eastern Kingbird. -LEO

Male Indigo Bunting. -LEO

All the brown in this male’s plumage indicate that it is in its second year. -LEO

Hummingbirds (here a female) are wondrous. -LEO

Older female or young male Wilson’s Warbler. -LEO

Brilliant plumage detail of the Yellow-breasted Chat. -LEO

A study in orange (or studying an orange): Baltimore Oriole. -L. Balthazar

Female Indigo Bunting. -L. Balthazar

Drab female Indigo Bunting. -MMG

Brilliant male Indigo Bunting. -L. Balthazar

Mottling of this male Indigo Bunting indicates that it is only in its 2nd year. -MMG

In tandem: Baltimore Oriole and Rose-breasted Grosbeak at an orange feeder. -L. Balthazar

Canada Anemone -MMG

American Toad. -MMG

Male Scarlet Tanager. -L. Balthazar.

Eastern Kingbird – there’s a pair hanging out on the river flats. -R. Barnes

Yellow-billed Cuckoo. -S. Merritt

Rick

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