Here is a bit of a pictorial recap of Spring 2008. There are a few photos in here that have not been posted on the blog earlier in the year, and a bunch of ‘old ones.’ Note that there is also a recent banding update immediately below this post.

Early April was quite wet, flooding the river flats at Ruthven.

A few pictures of the early-spring birds.

It was a great year for Field Sparrows.

Ruthven acquired a weather station this year, making wind estimates at census time a whole lot easier.

Ruthven’s Next Generation Club spent a fair bit of time visiting Ruthven this year.

By the end of April, warblers were arriving, drawing visitors. Visitors sometimes brought food, which Rick, of course, devoured.

A few birds from early May.

On May 11th, Audrey Heagy visited Ruthven to conduct a very useful workshop on using plumage characteristics to determine age and sex. It was a good day for teaching as we trapped a good variety of species.

A few pictures taken by Michelle Kenny on the day of the banding workshop.

I’m not sure how she got this one…

Ruthven picked up a few new recruits this year; Matt Searle showed up quite often, and sometimes had others tagging along.

A few pictures from the May 24-25th weekend.

Blackpoll Warblers were noticeably absent throughout much of the spring banding season, but finally showed up in the last week of May.

On June 1st, the Campanelli family hosted a joint birthday party for Ezra & Giovanni. Here are a few pictures.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a few pictures sent to us by a previous Ruthven volunteer, Teegan. She has done some work in Borneo recently, and sent us a few pictures.