The wind was really blowing out of the south west when I left the house pre dawn. I thought, too bad. Probably won’t get much today.

Well, wrong again! Even with the exposed nets left closed, we had a very busy day. I was very thankful for Elaine Serena and Nancy Furber’s help. We were running!

The gold rush was on. Goldfinches that is. Over 50% of birds handled today were American Goldfinches. But all that flitters is not gold. (Boo, bad pun) We had a lovely assortment of species for this blustery fall day.

Banded 74:
3 Black-capped Chickadees
2 Brown Creepers
7 Golden-crowned Kinglets
9 Ruby-Crowned Kinglets
2 Hermit Thrushes
1 American Robin
1 Northern Cardinal
1 Fox Sparrow
5 White-throated Sparrows
1 Eastern White Crowned Sparrow
1 Dark-eyed Junco
2 House Finches
39 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 29:

3 Black-capped Chickadees
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Brown Creeper
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
5 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 Hermit Thrushes
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
3 House Finches
12 American Goldfinches

The Kinglets and Thrushes are carrying good loads of fat….Fuel for their migratory flight.

There was not a very good crop of grey dogwood berries at Ruthven this fall. I wonder if this will be reflected in our overall numbers of sparrows and thrushes.

Loretta