May 23rd report, and a letter from the Campanellis

One of the best things about being involved with a bird banding station is the opportunity to learn new things. Today for example, I learned, courtesy of the CBC overnight service, that there is a Polish Reggae group with a song about avocados. I don’t know about you, but this bit of information will be with me longer than I care to admit.

A fairly quiet day with retraps again outnumbering new birds. There was a bit of movement however, judging by the number of seasonal firsts – Cape May Warbler, Mourning Warbler, and Willow Flycatcher – encountered. Unusual sightings included a Northern Harrier, and a calling Sandhill Crane that flew over at closing time.

67 species on ETs.

Banded: 21
Blue-Winged Warbler 2
American Goldfinch 3
Yellow Warbler 4
Chipping Sparrow 2
Tennessee Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 1
Mourning Warbler 1
Orchard Oriole 1
Grey Catbird 2
Baltimore Oriole 1
Brown-Headed Cowbird 1
European Starling 1
Blue Jay 1

Retrapped: 27
American Redstart 1
Magnolia Warbler 1
Wilson’s Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 3
Chipping Sparrow 2
Black-Capped Chickadee 1
Red-Eyed Vireo 2 (one banded as a SY in June 2004)
Eastern Bluebird 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Brown-Headed Cowbird 7
White-Breasted Nuthatch 1 (banded as a HY in August 2004 and not encountered since October 2005)
Baltimore Oriole 2
Northern Cardinal 1
Rose-Breasted Grosbeak 2
American Robin 1

B

___________________________________________________
This letter was sent to Ann Dutka by Ezra and Giovanni Campanelli. Ann forwarded it to us.

Dear Ms. Dutka,
Yesterday was a great day of birding. We did not go birding on Sunday because the forecast called for rain. We birded Monday instead from 6:30am to 8:00pm. We walked and biked the whole birdathon.

Our first stop was The Willows. When we were locking up our bikes we saw several rose-breasted grosbeaks and Baltimore orioles in the trees. In The Willows we got several lifers which included a dunlin, solitary sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, semipalmated sandpiper and a short-billed dowicher. In the creek we came across two beavers. Ezra got a few awesome pictures of them. Ezra also got a picture of a swallow we think to be a northern rough-wing. At McCormick trail our highlights were an American redstart, eastern kingbird and a bluebird. I’d like to mention that we also saw some nice plants. Though we went to many other trails and birding places the last two areas I would like to tell you about are the Arboretum and Hendrie Valley. At the Arboretum we got yellow rumps and a bright male indigo bunting. At Hendrie Valley the most exciting birds were a common yellowthroat and a great-crested flycatcher. Our total for the day was 55.

We ended our day at Tim Hortons Conservation Area with three northern hot chocolates, one mangrove honey lemon tea, a greater blueberry fritter, a ferruginous fruit-explosion muffin, and one exceptionally rare
red-spotted raspberry muffin.

Thank you very much for sponsoring us. We had a fantastic day and were happy to add to our bird lists. We look forward to more hiking, biking and birding in the future.

Giovanni and Ezra

2 thoughts on “May 23rd report, and a letter from the Campanellis

Leave a Reply