Cool (Faye would say “cold”) at opening time with ground fog reducing visibility, especially over the river – where large numbers of geese could be heard but not seen. It was an easy-going day in terms of the “pace” – time to do a census without rushing; some birds in the net on every round but not scads of them. In short, it was a good opportunity for Faye, who is considering the possibility of going after a ‘sub’ banding permit, to practice by doing all the banding. And then Liz Vanderwoude arrived to do all the scribing and, voila, I was out of a job (other than do the census and all the extractions and answer questions about the identity or age or sex af various birds in the hand – which was fine with me). The two women did a great job and I liked the opportunity to just observe what was going on outside the lab.

We had some interesting sightings: a Peregrine Falcon jetted through the site ( a first sighting for the year); Purple Finches showed up at the feeder outside the lab (also first sightings for the year); and a couple of White-throated Sparrows showed up in the nets (firsts for the season). I also saw a fairly late Spotted Sandpiper (late for us anyway).

Banded 37:
2 House Wrens
7 Swainson’s Thrushes
1 Wood Thrush
3 Gray Catbirds
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
3 Magnolia Warblers
2 Black-throated Blue Warblers
4 Blackpoll Warblers
3 Ovenbirds
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
2 White-throated Sparrows
2 Purple Finches
1 House Finch
2 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 11:
2 Black-capped Chickadees
4 White-breasted Nuthatches
1 House Wren
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Wood Thrush
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

ET’s: 52 spp.

Rick