October 8, 2021
written by Ben Oldfield
Today was another busy day at the Lowville banding site. 85 birds were banded and 10 were retrapped making for a fast pace morning. Ruby Crowned Kinglets were around in high numbers with 29 being banded and an estimated 125 around the site. Below are the totals for the day and some pictures. Liam, Eila and Nola were all a big help with extracting and banding today!
White Breasted Nuthatch – 2
Ruby Crowned Kinglet – 29
Golden Crowned Kinglet – 9
Swainsons thrush – 1
Hermit Thrush – 1
House Wren – 1
Winter Wren – 1
Nashville Warbler – 6
Orange Crowned Warbler – 1
Tennessee Warbler – 1
Myrtle Warbler – 3
Western Palm Warbler – 1
Common Yellowthroat – 1
Swamp Sparrow – 2
Lincoln’s Sparrow – 1
White Throated Sparrow – 11
Song Sparrow – 3
Eastern White Crowned Sparrow – 2
American Goldfinch – 8
Total – 85
October 6, 2021
written by Ben Oldfield
Light North winds paired with overcast skies made for a good day of banding in Lowville. In the 5 hours we were open we captured 85 birds with 74 of those being new. I fully expect these high totals to continue over the next few days. Ruby Crowned Kinglets made there presence known with 22 banded, followed by 11 Nashville warbler’s. FOS birds include a banded Fox Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow and a White Crowned Sparrow observed throughout the day. See list below for final banding total.
Blue Jay-2
Ruby Crowned Kinglet-22
Golden Crowned Kinglet-7
House Wren-2
Swainson’s Thrush-2
Downy Woodpecker-1
Black-capped Chickadee-1
Nashville Warbler-11
Magnolia Warbler-1
Yellow Rumped Warbler-7
Black Throated Blue Warbler-1
Black Throated Green Warbler -1
Lincoln’s Sparrow-1
White Throated Sparrow-9
Fox Sparrow-1
Song Sparrow-4
American Goldfinch-1
Total-74
Oct 5, 2021 – Fall is truly here!
written by Ashley Jensen
It’s that time of year.. when you can feel things starting to change. The leaves are starting to pull their nutrients back from their leaves revealing beautiful warm colors, cool rainy weather is moving in, and the days are getting shorter. One of the other things that signifies fall is here is a switch in the bird species we are seeing (and catching). We are catching fewer of some of the warbler species, and lots more sparrows and kinglets, which is always a sign to me that fall is truly here. Our day in Lowville started with a thick humid mist, and fairly low visibility. It seems the dense fog kept the birds foraging low, and probably helped us catch more birds later in the day. While the first net run was the busiest (which is pretty typical), it did not really slow down all day! If we had the time and energy, we probably could’ve kept the nets open all day and continued to catch birds until sunset.
Unusually bright crown on this Golden-crowned Kinglet -AMJ
Golden-crowned Kinglets are a regular visitor here, but this male has an unusual amount of orange in his crown! Usually the males have a yellow crown with orange that peeks through at the center and is barely visible unless the bird decides to erect their crown feathers. What a stunner this little bird is!
Banding setup in Lowville