May 5th – Still A Trickle – Haldimand Bird Observatory

Returning Baltimore Orioles are taking full advantage of the feeders. -KMP

The weather for the past few days has been up and down and probably the reason that the migration has been so slow. Still just a trickle moving through Ruthven and, on Friday, through Fern Hill’s Oakville campus. Although our species totals have been respectable they still are not hitting the 60 mark, indicating that the diversity that we expect to see at this time of year is not here yet.

May 4th – Ruthven Banding Station; Banded 20:
1 House Wren
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Gray Catbird
2 Myrtle Warblers
1 Chipping Sparrow
3 White-throated Sparrows
2 Red-winged Blackbirds
1 Baltimore Oriole
5 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 55 spp.

May 4th – Fern Hill Oakville:
It was Grandparents’s Day at the school – a great idea that brings generations together. Our banding demos were a big hit!
And we had lots of birds to showcase – most of them Icterids but also a few long-distance migrants to spice it up.

Fallon, mother of a kindergarten student, with a cowbird she’s just banded – her first! -KAP

Banded 39:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
5 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
4 American Robins
1 Yellow Warbler

First Yellow Warbler of the season at the school. -KAP

1 Northern Waterthrush
1 Savannah Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
14 Red-winged Blackbirds
4 Common Grackles
3 Brown-headed Cowbirds
2 American Goldfinches
2 House Sparrows

ET’s: 39 spp.

Black eyebrow indicates this Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is a male. –KMP

May 5th – Ruthven Banding Station:
It was a beautiful day to be outside. We thought that the stiff SW breeze would bring in some migrants in good numbers but, with one exception, it didn’t. The exception was a flight of Common Loons. It started about a half hour after sunrise and lasted for about an hour. Loons, ranging from singles to a group of 5, swept by quartering the wind. In total we saw 41 (and likely missed at least a few more (maybe a lot more – it takes less than 30 seconds for one of them to cross the sky and if you weren’t paying attention……).
Banded 26:
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 House Wrens
4 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 American Robin
1 Gray Catbird