REMEMBER: SATURDAY October 19TH IS THE BIRD FESTIVAL. Banding in the morning; hawks and a speaker in the afternoon (maybe some banding too); owls at night; and you can sleep over in the Coach House for 10 bucks a head so you can be ready for banding Sunday morning bright and early.
Very busy morning at Ruthven as we set the season high for banding (note: NOT record high which is 379). We banded 117 from the standard nets and another 4 from a non-standard net.
Banded 121:
1 Northern Flicker
1 Tufted Titmouse
2 Black-capped Chickadees
3 Golden-crowned Kinglets
8 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Eastern Bluebird
10 Hermit Thrushes
18 Cedar Waxwings
1 Nashville Warbler
6 Myrtle Warblers
1 Chipping Sparrow
4 Field Sparrows
2 Swamp Sparrows
22 White-throated Sparrows
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
5 Dark-eyed Juncos
25 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 42 spp.
Rick
Fern Hill Oakville:
It was cloudy and cold this morning at Fern Hill Oakville while opening nets, but catching a glimpse of an American Woodcock flushed from it’s hiding spot instantly brightened the day. The nets steadily caught sparrows and other feeder birds and kept Miss Paveley’s classes and the Young Ornithologists busy. Some of the students were spending their first day in the banding lab and hearing how truly excited they were when a beautiful Blue Jay was removed from it’s bag was really cool. The sun came through the clouds, warming things up a little and the feeder birds gave way to warblers, with mini hits of Yellow-Rumped and Western Palm Warblers in the nets as we closed. Also on the final net round, Sam and I saw a nearly pure white bird, presumably some sort of leucistic sparrow or junco. Here’s hoping that it finds it’s way into the nets soon!
Banded 21
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Blue Jay
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
5 Western Palm Warblers
3 Myrtle Warblers
1 Dark-eyed Junco
5 Song Sparrow
2 White-throated Sparrows (first of season for Fern Hill Oakville)
Marnie