November 7th

There was strange undulating sound invading the soundscape of Ruthven as I arrived this morning – much like the sound of someone having a traumatic incident in a minaret. I managed to pinpoint the sound to a car parked along the road on the other side of the river…..likely with its windows up but I could not tell. Happily the car moved on after ten tooth-shaking minutes.

Otherwise the day was somewhat dull. The first 2 net rounds, usually the best, yielded no birds at all. As the skies began to cloud over in preparation for the forecast rain however, some American Goldfinch took pity on my idleness and jumped into the nets.

I made an interesting observation during census. As I wandered along the river a large flock of geese came in to land. They made their usual cacophonous decent and presumably caused a disruption amongst the smaller creatures that were already present in the area. Tucked in behind the flock of geese I noticed a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. As the geese landed it furtively landed in a dense clump of vegetation. I think the hawk was taking advantage of the disturbance caused by the landing geese to sneak into a hunting position unseen by potential prey. Whether it was following the geese specifically for this purpose or it was a fortuitous encounter is unknown. It is also possible that I have an overactive imagination and have connected two unrelated events.

Banded: 31
American Goldfinch 19
Brown Creeper 1
Slate-Coloured Junco 2
American Tree Sparrow 2
Black-Capped Chickadee 1
Purple Finch 3
White-Throated Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2

Retrapped: 8
American Goldfinch 1
Brown Creeper 1
Black-Capped Chickadee 2
Slate-Coloured Junco 1
Eastern Bluebird 2
Downy Woodpecker 1

On the way home I saw an inflated ball on the road. It was decorated like the globe. An SUV drove over it and popped it. Fitting really.

33 spp observed

B

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November 6th

A dense fog persisted until mid morning, and did not burn off until 9:30.(So I completed the census in a fog…but that’s nothing new) It turned into another warm and sunny 20 degree day. Such a bonus for November; we all know what is around the corner. And it seems the birds know it too, as fewer and fewer migrants are filtering through.

Banded 15:
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 Northern Cardinal
5 American Tree Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco
4 American Goldfinches
1 Mourning Dove

Retrapped 15:
1 Blue Jay
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 American Tree Sparrow
8 Dark-eyed Junco
2 Eastern Tufted Titmice
1 Orange Crowned Warbler

The 2 Titmice were caught together in the same net today, (#9) and were banded exactly one month ago on the same net round in adjacent nets.

Loretta