It was Family Day at Ruthven Park National Historic Site and the local Common Grackles got into the spirit of the occasion by inviting all of their relatives. At least so it seemed – clouds of grackles flew every which way overhead throughout the day with a (very) conservative estimated total of 2500.

Other species were more sparsely represented however, and the nets were fairly quiet. A total of 59 species were encountered throughout the day.

Banded: 36
American Redstart 1
Magnolia Warbler 2
Chestnut-Sided Warbler 1
Wilson’s Warbler 1
American Goldfinch 2
Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher 1
House Wren 1
Common Yellowthroat 3
Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher 2
Eastern Wood Pewee 6
Warbling Vireo 2
Ovenbird 3
House Finch 1
Red-Eyed Vireo 1
Yellow-Throated Vireo 2
Song Sparrow 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Grey Catbird 4

Retrapped: 16
Magnolia Warbler 1
Black-Capped Chickadee 4
Common Yellowthroat 2
House Wren 1
Yellow-Throated Vireo 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
White-Breasted Nuthatch 2
Song Sparrow 1
Grey Catbird 3

B

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I’ll be adding pictures taken on August 21st, 2007 to the photo gallery. Also, I posted a few below.

Here is one of a Great Crested Flycatcher. Note the rufous color in its wings and tail. I know this is useful for identifying age, but I don’t know the age of this guy. Someone will have to leave an enlightening comment.

Apparently, all good birders can identify this bird by looking at its tail. I wasn’t able to, but I suppose I’ll remember it from now on. It’s a young Magnolia Warbler.

Michelle Kenny and myself (Jeff MacLeod) helped Rick Ludkin with banding on the 21st. Here is a picture of Michelle banding and bird while Rick scribes in the background.

Here are a few of the shots Michelle took:

A young Canada Warbler

A young Ovenbird

A young Black and White warbler (I only know age because all the warblers were hatch year birds on the 21st).

And finally, here is one of an astounding appearance on my shirt. Much to the amazement of Rick, Michelle, and I, while I was banding a Chestnut-sided Warbler, the seagull on my shirt pooped. I thought about leaving the poop on the shirt and putting it on display somewhere so that people could come from all over to see the pooping t-shirt gull. I expect it might draw the same sort of crowd as Jesus does when he appears in dirt on the wall of Tim Hortons in Florence, NS (the store across the street from ‘Lick-a-Chick’, the fried chicken store; read about that by clicking here). Unfortunately, my wife threw the shirt in the wash. She complained about the stain too.