Our Bobolink project has been quite successful. We wanted to see if we could maximize the banding of Bobolinks in our prairie field by using an audio lure. Last year, without the audio support, we banded 88 birds (which was the reason we wanted to see how much more we could do); so far this season we’ve banded 178! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to band in the last week of August. If I had been able, we could easily add another 100 to this total. Mainly because the bulk of migrating Bobolinks went through in August. On the 5 days we did band in August we averaged just over 16 birds per day; in September so far we’ve banded on 11 days and have averaged just under 9 birds per day. Two days ago we caught none; yesterday 1 and today 4. So it’s clear, the majority of Bobolinks have left; some might already be in Argentina. We will likely continue to band a few more but the main flight has left.
We’ve had four delightful days of banding. We’ve experienced an interesting and diverse variety of birds moving through the site with “late” birds (like an Ovenbird yesterday) side by side with an early-arriving White-throated Sparrow. We haven’t had overwhelming numbers but certainly enough to keep us busy, especially in the first three rounds (so it pays to arrive early).
Dave Gosnell has kept up the mowing of the trails so the walk down to the river is delightful…and can be “birdy”. A couple of days ago Jason Smyrlis discovered a Connecticut Warbler and yesterday, at the head of the trail (close to the outhouse) there was a Woodcock. You just never know.
September 11th; Banded 34:
1 Philadelphia Vireo
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Warbling Vireo
4 Gray Catbirds
1 Savannah Sparrow
6 Song Sparrows
2 Swamp Sparrows
5 Bobolinks
1 Tennessee Warbler
1 Nashville Warbler
5 Common Yellowthroats
1 American Redstart
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Bay-breasted Warbler
1 Western Palm Warbler
1 Wilson’s Warbler
1 Indigo Bunting
ET’s: 42 spp.
September 12th; Banded 25:
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Northern House Wren
2 Gray Catbirds
2 Swainson’s Thrushes
1 Savannah Sparrow
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Tennessee Warbler
12 Common Yellowthroats
1 American Redstart
ET’s: 43 spp.
September 13th; Banded 35:
1 Least flycatcher
1 Warbling Vireo
1 Red-eyed Vireo
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 Northern House Wrens
2 Gray Catbirds
2 Song Sparrows
3 Lincoln’s sparrows
5 Swamp Sparrows
1 Bobolink
5 Tennessee Warblers
1 Nashville Warbler
7 Common Yellowthroats
1 Bay-breasted Warbler
2 Wilson’s Warblers
ET’s: 29 spp.)
September 14th; Banded 29:
1 Carolina Wren
2 Gray Catbirds
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Savannah Sparrow
2 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
6 Swamp Sparrows
4 Bobolinks
1 Ovenbird
7 Common Yellowthroats
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Indigo Bunting
ET’s: 48 spp.
Today we passed the 500 banded bird mark for the season. The Top 5 are:
Bobolink – 178
Common Yellowthroat – 63
Swamp Sparrow – 56
Song Sparrow – 55
Gray Catbird – 33
Photos:
Rick