Yesterday (the 18th) was notable for its hot temperature: it went up to 29 C. No wonder the pond is almost completely dry and the Green Heron that hunts it is now confined to a small wet smudge from which it still seems to be finding something. Frogs maybe…. Winds had been light through the night and there was very little cloud cover. I wasn’t expecting much but was very pleasantly surprised as we were busy throughout the morning banding 48 birds of 11 species. The Marsh Wren was a first for the season and we also got our first Northern Parula. A majority of the catch was either in the Bobolink meadow nets or in the nets on the East side. Usually the busiest nets are at the opposite end but there was little action down there. Why? I couldn’t tell you. The meadow was busy with sparrows; we banded 28 but this was just a small proportion of what was out there. [One cocky Savannah Sparrow flew up to B3 and sat on the trammel when I approached but didn’t get into the net.] There were also a LOT of Red-winged Blackbirds around: we estimated (conservatively) that there had to be at least 1400.
I guess there was a brief shower in the area last night and them temperature dropped a little. This morning we got as high as 18 C. Winds were light and out of the north. I thought we might have another busy morning but…no. We banded less than half the number of birds that we caught – just 22 (vs 48). Further, the rate of capture, measured as birds banded per 100 net hours, was also less than half (35 today vs yesterday’s 76). I’d love to be able to explain these differences. We did get our first Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the season. Interestingly, it was a male; usually the females precede the males by several days. It looks like the Bobolinks have moved through; we haven’t had any for several days now nor have we seen any.
I’ve got net placements pretty well finalized – it’s only taken 5 years. The hardest part has been figuring out how to take advantage of the attraction of the massive amount of food that the prairie provides and understanding how birds move between it and the shelter of the surrounding edge. So this morning we made one last “tweak”, moving a net that had been doing very little (it’s placement based on wishful thinking rather than on careful observation). I like to involve interested volunteers in some of these placements. Today Annika took the challenge and ran with it. The new #8 is beside #9 but, rather than running into the edge, it runs along the edge/meadow interface. This section will now be referred to as “Annika’s Alley”. It should be very productive as the last week of sparrow observation has shown a regular movement through this area. We’ll see.
September 18th; Banded 48:
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Marsh Wren
11 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
16 Swamp Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
5 Common Yellowthroats
1 American Redstart
1 Northern Parula
6 Blackpoll Warblers
4 Indigo Buntings
September 19th; Banded 19:
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Northern House Wren
3 Gray Catbirds
2 White-throated Sparrows
1 Song Sparrow
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
4 Swamp Sparrow
1 Nashville Warbler
4 Common Yellowthroats
1 American Redstart
3 Blackpoll Warblers
ET’s: 42 spp.
Rick