It was another summer-like day at Ruthven although it started off at only 11 C. There was a lot of early activity: robins dropping in from the sky, blackbirds heading out from their roosts, Yellow-rumped warblers searching the shrub edges and sparrows feeding in the meadow. But this all dropped off quickly when the sun began to heat up the area.
To give you some perspective on the 2016 Fall banding season: on this very day last year we had banded exactly 1,000 more birds than this season!?
The most dramatic difference is in the number of Cedar Waxwings: last year we did 240 for the whole season; this year we have banded only 18! (Despite a very good grape crop.) And this pales when compared to the 1481 that we did in 2013. But we are down in other key species as well: 166 American Goldfinches vs 292 last year (and 1,316 in 2012); 108 White-throated Sparrows vs 345 last year; 208 Yellow-rumped Warblers vs 544 last year. Now we will catch a few more of these species but will not be able to close the gap on last year’s figures.
I would like to be able to understand why there’s this dramatic difference.
Banded 36:
1 Tufted Titmouse
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Golden-crowned Kinglets
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 American Robin
2 Yellow-rumped Warblers
3 Song Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Dark-eyed Junco
23 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 43 spp.
Rick