May 2nd – Some Interesting Retraps

Gorgeous early morning with a brilliant-coloured sunrise, two-thirds of a waning moon high in the southern sky, and lots of bird song.
One thing I find both exciting and interesting in the Spring is the recapture of birds that we banded in other years, especially the long-distance migrants. I always wonder where they’ve been in-between times, what they’ve seen, the things they’ve experienced. We had some interesting ones today:
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – banded May ’08
2 Yellow Warblers – banded May ’05 and July ’05 (both were adults at the time of banding so would now have to be at least 6 years old)
Song Sparrow – banded September ’05
Red-winged Blackbird – banded May ’05

It was a ‘funny’ day weatherwise – first it was cloudy, then it began to clear and then it clouded over again. Early, there was little wind but by closing time it was blowing quite hard – but out of the south, so good for migrants. There was a very brief smattering of rain but that was all. Tomorrow should be interesting as the wind is supposed to switch to the north during the night and bring rain. We might get a big “drop” – birds taking advantage of the tail wind come to ground when they encounter bad weather and head winds. This would make for VERY interesting banding – provided that we are able to open the nets.

Banded 27:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 House Wren
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 Eastern Bluebird
2 Gray Catbirds
2 Warbling Vireos
2 Blue-winged Warblers
2 Yellow Warblers
3 Chipping Sparrows
4 White-throated Sparrows
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
3 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 24:
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 House Wren
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
2 Blue-winged Warblers
3 Yellow Warblers
4 Chipping Sparrows
5 Song Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco
1 Red-winged Blackbird
3 Brown-headed Cowbirds

ET’s: 54 spp.

New species for the Year:
American Bittern
Ovenbird
Northern Oriole
Orchard Oriole

Rick

2 thoughts on “May 2nd – Some Interesting Retraps

  1. Hello Rick

    Glad to hear Ruthven has picked up again. Now if I can only get some time off work. I’ll be in touch when I can stop by.

    Mike

  2. Wow, neat retraps. And 20 species handled for the day. What great variety.
    Loretta

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