We didn’t catch many birds today but the ones we did catch were a nice mix. They included the first Northern Waterthrush and Orange-crowned Warbler of the year. Northern Waterthrushes are a common nesting bird in Ruthven’s slough forest and are usually an early-returning species but we didn’t encounter our first one until today.
We rarely see Orange-crowned Warblers in the Spring, so catching this female was a treat. We are much more likely to get them in the Fall, but never in big numbers.
We have not been seeing Red Foxes for past couple of years but they seem to be making a resurgence. I saw one this morning on the way to Ruthven (in the dark); Faye saw one while driving into the park; Giovanni and Ezra saw one on the far side of the river while doing census; and we all saw one on the other side of Rick’s Rill below net 4C. I’m hoping they will eschew birds in the net in favour of Red Squirrels, which have become a nuisance…..and are predators of eggs and nestlings.
The single remaining Killdeer chick continues to survive and is starting to get some size (although still much smaller than its parents). Keep your fingers crossed. The melange of shorebirds that has been hanging around the gravel bar for the past few days seems to have taken wing. Only Spotted Sandpipers were seen today on census.
Banded 17:
2 Wood Thrushes
3 Gray Catbirds
1 Warbling Vireo
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
1 Black-throated Green Warbler
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 Northern Waterthrush
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
1 Orchard Oriole
3 American Goldfinches
Species Count: 64 spp.
Photo Gallery:
Rick