What a delightful day! A school class cancelled (did you know that we have ticks here!?) and some fun bird-people showed up and…we caught some neat birds including the first Summer Tanager at Ruthven!!! We also got two Eastern Kingbirds, a common enough bird but one that we don’t catch very often (just 21 in the past 23 years). Further, there were a lot of birds around. The Birding Machine (Janice Chard and Katherine Paveley) identified 63 species during the hour and a half census, including the first Magnolia Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, and Lincoln’s Sparrow of the year.
On a sad note though, long-time volunteer, McMaster student Polina Utkina, spent her last morning here. She just finished her undergrad degree and is now moving on to pursue birds in Great Britain and beyond. We wish her the best of luck! She couldn’t have left on a better note.
The first hummingbird banding of the year. -SEF
Banded 63:
1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
2 Eastern Kingbirds
3 Tree Swallows
1 Swainson’s Thrush
4 Gray Catbirds
1 Blue-winged Warbler
5 Yellow Warblers
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Western Palm Warbler
5 Common Yellowthroats
1 Summer Tanager
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
3 Chipping Sparrows
1 Song Sparrow
6 White-throated Sparrows
3 Brown-headed Cowbirds
1 Baltimore Oriole
22 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 75 spp.
Rick