November 3rd – Winding Down in the Moonshine

The full moon was so bright that it lit up the paths to the banding lanes and was casting long shadows of trees in the forest. Hauntingly beautiful – made more so by the hooting of a distant Great Horned Owl.
There was not a lot of early activity along the edges; I woke up a couple of Northern Cardinals and heard a few White-throated Sparrows but not much else until the roosting birds woke up (starlings, blackbirds and crows) and headed out to forage for the day.
Thus we had a more relaxed pace, which was great as some of the visitors were able to get some quality instruction on banding and scribing. So several of the Bultje children had a good go – Jerrod and Samantha show real promise. And at the other end of the age spectrum, Dale Stockton is starting to “get it”. And of course it’s always better when Elaine Serena and guests show up as she UNFAILINGLY brings goodies. Today this included her Orange Muffins and, since they are simply superlative, I am posting her very own recipe so that should any of YOU want to bring some to the banding lab, well…..
Orange Muffin Recipe
1 whole orange
½ cup orange juice
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup white sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1/3 cup raisins

Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.
Grease muffin pan, (this will make a dozen large muffins).
Heat oven to 375
Cut the orange into several pieces to remove seeds .(don’t peel the orange).
Drop pieces into a blender with ½ cup orange juice and chop till fine.
Drop in oil and eggs and give blender a short whirl.
Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and stir only until completely moistened.

Fill muffin pans and bake for 18 – 20 mins.

Cool briefly on rack and ENJOY!
These muffins keep well for 2-3 days.
Chopped dates make a tasty alternative to raisins.

Now back to birds. The most noteworthy sightings were 4 Tundra Swans picked up by Nancy Furber on census and 2 adult Bald Eagles that sailed over the banding lab and rested in a tree ~300 m away.

Banded 57:
5 Black-capped Chickadees
5 Golden-crowned Kinglets
3 Yellow-rumped Warblers
2 Northern Cardinals
7 American Tree Sparrows
1 Fox Sparrow
6 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 House Finch
27 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 30:
2 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Eastern Tufted Titmouse
2 Black-capped Chickadees
3 White-breasted Nuthatches
1 American Tree Sparrow
10 Dark-eyed Juncos
11 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 36 spp.

Rick

2 thoughts on “November 3rd – Winding Down in the Moonshine

  1. You know where the heart of the bander is when he is posting recipes in his banding report.

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