October 16th

It was still pouring rain at 5:30 this morning, but a quick check with weather radar showed that the cold front was almost through, and the rain was coming to an end. And just like the weather map showed, as I left home for Ruthven, the rain had almost stopped, and by the time I got the nets open, the sky was clear to the west. By 8:30 we were basking in beautiful sunshine, with hardly a cloud in the sky. Aren’t computers great?

We had some cheery young visitors, children always liven things up.

Oddly, closing round was the most productive of the day, yielding 4 Brown Creepers, 4 Tufted Titmice, and a couple of Kinglets, more than half of our morning’s total!

Banded 19:
4 Eastern Tufted Titmice
1 Blue Jay
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
4 Brown Creepers
2 Golden-crowned Kinglets
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
4 Hermit Thrushes
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
1 American Goldfinch

Retrapped 12:
1 Mourning Dove,
1 Blue Jay
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Brown Creeper
1 Hermit Thrush
1 Chipping Sparrow
3 Song Sparrows
1White-throated Sparrow
2 American Goldfinches

Loretta

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October 15th

A beautiful day at Ruthven, and a decent banding day too. Brian and I both ended up being present, as I don’t know how to read schedules. There was a decent mix of species around, with estimated totals at 40 species. We had a few interesting birds observed–Bald Eagle (heard calling in the woods), Pileated Woodpecker (also heard calling), and another late-ish Tree Swallow.

We had a noontime rush of birds, which has been the trend lately. I think we trapped about 1/3rd of our banding total at around noon (or later).

Banded 55:
10 American Goldfinch
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
12 Dark-eyed Junco
6 Myrtle Warbler
1 Swamp Sparrow
5 Hermit Thrush
3 White-throated Sparrow
6 Cedar Waxwing
3 Song Sparrow
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Eastern Bluebird
1 Northern Cardinal
4 American Robin
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker

Retrapped 13:
2 American Goldfinch
2 Eastern Bluebird
3 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Dark-eyed Junco
3 Hermit Thrush
1 White-throated Sparrow

Jeff

One of the Eastern Bluebird handled today.

Oddly, he just wouldn’t pose for the camera.

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October 14th – Murphy’s Law

I’d like to meet this guy Murphy and tell him exactly what I think of his law…..
On almost every day I’ve been banding this Fall I’ve had company – people who want to learn, see birds, shoot the breeze, bring me donuts, help out, you name it. But not this morning. And it was kind of nice – peaceful; just me and the birds…or lack of birds. In fact, it was a slow morning; a very slow morning. Shortly after 11:00 it got quite dark and threatening rain. So I decided that I would start to close up the nets as a precaution. Right at that moment of thought the wind picked up and gusted hard blowing leaves off the trees and….right into the nets, filling them. A few raindrops began to fall so I hustled around and took any birds out of the nets (only 2) and closed them so they wouldn’t collect any more leaves or birds) but didn’t furl them. At this point I could REALLY have used some help but….damn that Murphy! I had to go back to each net, partially open them, and take the leaves out so I could furl them. It took me 3 hours to get all the leaves out of the nets.

Banded 22:
1 Brown Creeper
1 House Wren
3 Golden-crowned Kinglets
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 Hermit Thrushes
1 Blue-headed Vireo
4 Song Sparrows
3 White-throated Sparrows
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
3 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 10:
2 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Blue Jay
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Hermit Thrush
1 American Robin
1 Song Sparrow

ET’s:  38 species (including an Osprey, Bald Eagle (adult) and 2 late Tree Swallows.

Rick