It’s that time. These warm beautiful days will not hold; temperatures will begin to plummet; and food will diminish. For birds this signals time to go….now! Through the scattered showers we had yesterday and the brillian sunshine today, migrants continued to pour through heading for their southern winter homes. There’s not much dimscrimination now as to conditions – rain or shine they have been going through. We have banded over 240 birds in these two days.
Ruthven has had a rich berry and grape crop this season and this seems to have attracted a large number of birds partial to them. You will see in some of the accompanying pictures (by a series of photograhpers) that grapes figure prominently in their being here (although the white fruit of the gray dogwood are also eaten readily by many species). Cedar Waxwings continue to remain in the area harvesting grapes; Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers have been everywhere; White-throated Sparrows frequent the thickets and tangles; and today there was a murmuration of starlings or, more precisely, an affliction of them. One of our young helpers nonchalantly pointed out the banding lab window to a flock of at least 3000 of them descending into the net area where the dogwood is thick. We charged out of the lab to get to the nets. These are tough birds to extract, more so when they have had time to get tangled (which they do easily). We found them in 7 nets and ended up banding 62 of them – a tiny proportion of the huge flock but a big load for a banding station!
On the Northern Saw-whet Owl front: we have been out on 7 nights in October, including the last two but have not caught a single owl yet. Last year, by this time, we had banded over 15 – hard to figure.
October 13th; Banded 91:
1 Eastern Tufted Titmouse
6 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
2 Hermit Thrushes
1 Gray Catbird
6 Cedar Waxwings
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
51 Myrtle Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal
3 Chipping Sparrows
1 Song Sparrow
14 White-throated Sparrows
4 Dark-eyed Juncos
ET’s: 34 spp.
October 14th; Banded 156:
9 Golden-crowned Kinglets
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
3 Hermit Thrushes
1 Gray Catbird
17 Cedar Waxwings
62 European Starlings
30 Myrtle Warblers
2 Chipping Sparrows
4 Song Sparrows
6 White-throated Sparrows
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
19 Dark-eyed Juncos
ET’s: 39 spp.
Photo Gallery:
Rick