Here we are, half way through September and it feels like the middle of Summer. It was a great weekend for paddling down the Grand or cycling the backroads of Haldimand County. But it was damned hot for migrating birds which don’t seem to be in much of a rush to clear out of their northern breeding grounds. On both days we were catching migrants but not in any numbers. They were around in small patches interspersed by empty lulls. However, today we got our first White-throated Sparrows of the season, the forerunners of the coming horde.
We’re recapturing very few birds which suggests that the migrants we’re seeing are moving on during the night.
On a completely different note: volunteer Karen just received some Monarch Butterfly tags which she plans to put on butterflies she’s been raising at home as well as on those she catches n the field – hopefully at Ruthven for some of them.
September 15th; Banded 30:
3 Swainson’s Thrushes
7 Gray Catbirds
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Tennessee Warbler
2 Nashville Warblers
3 Magnolia Warblers
1 Blackburnian Warbler
1 Bay-breasted Warbler
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 American Redstart
1 Ovenbird
4 Common Yellowthroats
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
3 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 42 spp.
September 16; Banded 28:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Traill’s Flycatcher
2 Swainson’s Thrushes
4 Gray Catbirds
3 Red-eyed Vireos
2 Bay-breasted Warblers
3 Blackpoll Warblers
3 Common Yellowthroats
1 Northern Cardinal
2 Song Sparrows
2 White-throated Sparrows
4 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 38 spp. (including a Great Egret in the river just upstream from the Mansion)
Rick