As I’ve tried to stress over the last couple of years: the conversion of the 7-acre soybean field to prairie grasses has made a huge impact on the number of seed-eating birds taking advantage of it, especially sparrows. The number of sparrows we’ve been catching continues to soar. Yesterday the number of sparrows “handled” (i.e., those banded and recaptured) totaled 53 of the 67 birds caught. Today, 59 of the 64 birds banded were sparrows and 96 of the 103 total birds “handled” were sparrows.
By far the most frequently banded sparrows are Song Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows with White-throated Sparrows a (not too) distant third. We tend to catch Swamps a little earlier in the season with Songs arriving a little later. Today, the cumulative total for Song Sparrows overtook that of Swamp Sparrows (304 Songs vs 303 Swamps).
Although I don’t have a picture, we had a Thanksgiving treat sent over by Elaine Gerrie: a homemade Coconut Cream Pie! My favourite. So much to be thankful for.
October 12th; Banded 50:
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Northern House Wren
10 Purple Finches
2 Field Sparrows
13 White-throated Sparrows
8 Song Sparrows
14 Swamp Sparrows
October 13th; Banded 64:
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
4 Purple Finches
1 Field Sparrow
1 Savannah Sparrow
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
13 White-throated Sparrows
27 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
14 Swamp Sparrows
Rick