Fall officially began yesterday at 2:19 PM…I guess. I always thought of Fall in terms of cool weather and cooler nights but these last 4 days have been anything but. Sure we got a couple of brief showers. The accumulation made little difference other than to put enough water in the pond to cover the Green Herons toes. But other than that it’s felt much more like the Summer. The leaves are changing colour but whether this is due to the time of year or the fact that the trees are stressed is up in the air. Personally I think it has a lot to do with stress. Either way, the falling leaves are making their way into the nets with uncanny accuracy as they are wont to do.
Banding has been up and down: 15 birds on the 20th; 39 on the 21st; just 9 yesterday; back up to 25 today.
I had pretty well given up on catching anymore Bobolinks. but wouldn’t you know it: on the 20th a lone bird found its way into a net. Nothing for the next two and then today (hope springs eternal, I had set out the audio lure in the offchance…) I watched 3 Bobolinks fly over the field and then do an abrupt 180 when they heard the call and dropped into the netting area. I found all three in the nets but one managed to get out when I approached. The two I caught were interesting: both young (i.e., hatch year) males. Both had a wing of 94 mm. But there was a huge difference in weight. One had a reasonable fat load in the furculum with a little extra padding on the belly and in the axillars (“armpits”) – it weighed 32.1 g. The other, though, had a huge fat load in all three areas and weighed in at 43.6 g. – a full 10.5 g heavier than its companion. That much fat could easily carry it on a non-stop flight to the southern U.S. I wonder if that was its strategy.
There were 9 species of warblers around on the 20th…but not in the netting area. After that, virtually none – if you don’t count Common Yellowthroats.
We were seeing large flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds earlier in the week; down to 800 on the 20th; and just a dozen today. Cedar Waxwings have arrived in substantial numbers with counts as high as 125 (22nd). The majority of our catches is made up of sparrows, especially White-throated, Lincoln’s, Swamp, and Song with a few Indigo Buntings to top things off.
September 20th; banded 15:
1 White-throated Sparrow
2 Song Sparrows
2 Lincoln’s Sparrows
3 Swamp Sparrows
1 Bobolink
3 Common Yellowthroats
1 Blackpoll Warbler
2 Indigo Bunting
September 21st; Banded 39:
1 Philadelphia Vireo
1 Brown Creeper
2 Gray Catbirds
8 White-throated Sparrows
5 Song Sparrows
9 Swamp Sparrows
2 Common Yellowthroats
1 Magnolia Warbler
3 Blackpoll Warblers
7 Indigo Buntings
September 22nd; Banded 9
1 Warbling Vireo
2 White-throated Sparrows
2 Lincoln’s Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 Indigo Bunting
September 23rd; Banded 25:
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Northern House Wren
7 Song Sparrows
2 Lincoln’s Sparrows
8 Swamp Sparrows
2 Bobolinks
1 Common Yellowthroat
3 Indigo Buntings
Photos:
Rick