Picture this: A cherry tree dressed in fluffy white blossoms, the ground below dappled with blue violets pushing above the grass, the sun is yet to dawn, so the sky is rosy pink, and a beautiful male Eastern Bluebird perched in the cherry tree welcoming the day with his song. Does it get any better than this? Of course I had no camera, so I’ll have to commit the moment to memory!

It was a beautiful day at Ruthven; I had enough birds to keep busy and get a census done, but was not over run. The nets were fairly quiet for the time of year, with only 32 birds banded. Lots of variety but no numbers of anything, but, of course, Goldfinches.

New species for the spring: Lincoln’s Sparrow, Oven bird, and Warbling Vireo.

Banded 32:
1 Tree Swallow
1 House Wren
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
2 Grey Catbirds
1 Brown Thrasher
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Yellow Warbler
2 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Western Palm Warbler
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Chipping Sparrow
2 Lincoln’s Sparrows
2 Red-winged Blackbirds
1 Purple Finch
11 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 20:
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
2 House Wrens
1 Blue-winged Warbler (banded yesterday)
1 Yellow Warbler
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (one was banded 2005 as a HY local nesting bird, seen once in May 2007, and again today)
6 Chipping Sparrows
3 Song Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
2 American Goldfinches

Estimated Totals: 51 species

Loretta