It was cold last night! Down into the minuses, frost on the ground (and on my car). Although it was clear first thing this morning, a fine cloud moved in, slowly but steadily, until by the afternoon it was getting fairly dark. A storm is on the way. And the birds knew it! At Ruthven goldfinches hit the feeders hard and were caught in large numbers (Nancy and Elaine banded 59).
At Fern Hill Oakville the feeders were also busy but the most interesting thing was the movement of raptors. At one point we watched a kettle of 36 Turkey Vultures form to the east and then, at great height, drift slowly downward heading west where they reached the bottom of a second thermal, identified by a rising kettle of another 11 vultures. Later, in the afternoon, I watched another kettle of vultures, Red-tailed Hawks and a lone Sharp-shinned Hawk reach a great height before running off to the west. These birds were trying to make some migratory distance before being stopped by the incoming storm.
I don’t know what it is about the location of the Fern Hill Oakville campus but we’ve seen some major movements of raptors as well as Blue Jays moving from east to west in the Fall or in the opposite direction in the Spring. It is located on 9th Line just north of Hwy.5/Dundas Street. Four hundred meters to the east is Highway 403 and behind that the edge of Mississauga, a big metropolis. What is so attractive to these migrants about this site?
Ruthven; Banded 88:
3 Northern Saw-whet Owls
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker
1 Blue Jay
3 Black-capped Chickadees
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 American Robin
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
2 American Tree Sparrows
1 Fox Sparrow
1 White-throated Sparrow
6 Dark-eyed Juncos
3 Purple Finches
3 House Finches
59 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 29 spp.
Fern Hill Oakville; Banded 37:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Blue Jay
6 Black-capped Chickadees
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 European Starling
1 American Tree Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
1 White-crowned Sparrow
5 Dark-eyed Juncos
10 House Finches
7 House Sparrows
ET’s: 25 spp.
Rick