We tried for Saw-whet Owls last night; just checking to see if they were around yet. And….they’re not. At least not around Ruthven. But Ben Oldfield managed to catch one at his station at the Arboretum at the U. of Guelph last night so it is just a matter of a few days. We’ll let you know when we start to catch them and are running “owl nights”.

It was considerably colder than it has been for awhile when I started opening under clear, starry skies. I just love the sound of White-throated Sparrows when they start to wake up and move around – their call notes are so distinctive. And then the Blue Jays chime in and the place begins to come alive. We had a busy first round this morning; the second one wasn’t bad; but it tailed off quickly after that. It was quite noticeable though that it wasn’t nearly as busy as yesterday and that there wasn’t the diversity either. We banded 18 species today as opposed to 30 yesterday and for the day we encountered 50 species vs yesterday’s 60. A lot of birds moved out during the night. Still, it was a pretty good morning:

Banded 51:
5 Golden-crowned Kinglets
12 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Gray Catbird
3 Cedar Waxwings
1 Tennessee Warbler
2 Nashville Warblers
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
1 Magnolia Warbler
3 Myrtle Warblers
1 American Redstart
2 Common Yellowthroats
1 Northern Cardinal
2 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
12 White-throated Sparrows
1 American Goldfinch

ET’s: 50 spp.
Rick