September 14th – A Long-distance Visitor

From the title I know you’re all thinking ‘bird’ but, no, this visitor was from Hanover Germany. Rose Marie Schulz came to Canada for the Eastern Bluebird symposium at RBG on Saturday and stayed over so she could visit Ruthven and see the banding. It’s always nice to have an appreciative audience but she really lucked out. Her desire was to see a Bluebird. I reassured her that there was a very good chance of this as they are around daily. So she upped the ante and demanded that I catch one in the nets so she could see it up close. At this point Bill Read, president of the Eastern Bluebird Society, and who had just dropped in, reassured her that the chances of our catching one were slim to none. Ten minutes after this utterance we found a young bluebird in Net #1 – the one right outside the banding lab, much to our delight (and Bill’s embarassment). So not only did she get her wish but she also got to band it.

We had beautiful weather throughout the morning and a slow but steady capture of birds throughout. Nothing (except for the adventitious bluebird) out of the ordinary.

Banded 45:
1 Eastern Wood Pewee
1 Blue Jay
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Eastern Bluebird
4 Swainson’s Thrushes
2 Gray Catbirds
3 Cedar Waxwings
1 Red-eyed Vireo
2 Magnolia Warblers
11 Blackpoll Warblers
1 Ovenbird
2 Common Yellowthroats
5 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Song Sparrow
3 White-throated Sparrows
6 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 10:
1 Black-billed Cuckoo
1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 House Wren
1 Blackpoll Warbler
3 Song Sparrows

ET’s: 41 spp.

Rick

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