Saturday
It was a great day on Saturday when families and friends came to Ruthven to participate in the annual fall Bird Festival. With the clear skies, and warm temperatures it was a beautiful day to be outside, enjoying the many activities which included a ‘Bug Walk’ and a ‘Tree ID’ hike. The banding was a different story – the first couple net rounds were favorable but by mid morning with the heat of the day increasing the bird activity dropped off. Still, there were a few birds for the visitors to enjoy who came to the banding lab for the ‘Banding 101’ demo.

Banded 22
1 Winter Wren
3 Gray Catbird
1 Brown Thrasher
1 Blue-headed Vireo
1 Red-eyed Vireo
2 Magnolia Warbler
9 Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler
1 Song Sparrow
1 White-throated Sparrow
2 American Goldfinch

ET’s: 33

Sunday
It was another beautiful day, great weather for fall fairs and outdoor activities. There were a number of visitors at Ruthven Park and they were hiking the trails located around the property. I had a great team helping me today to set up the remaining owl nets for the start of owl banding next month. Stay tuned for updates as to when we’ve caught the first owl and the official start of the owl banding season. The number of birds handled today was very low (again) but the bird of the day came later in the morning. After many net checks with no birds (the nets were only filling up with leaves) there was a beautiful Mourning Warbler!

Banded 18
1 Eastern Phoebe
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
4 Gray Catbird
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler
1 Black-throated Green Warbler
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 Mourning Warbler
1 Common Yellowthroat
4 White-throated Sparrow
1 American Goldfinch

ET’s: 40

Processing a Brown Thrasher

The Ruthven banding team – Jess, Pauline, Holly, Faye and Christine.

The younger banding crew – Sam, Ethan, Ben, Alessandra (back) and Claire.

Mourning Warbler

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Fern Hill – September 28th, 2015

It was a misty, rainy day at Fern Hill today. The nets were fairly quiet with only seven birds banded. During the first half of the morning there was flurry of bird activity before the rain hit – the highlights were the first observed Chimney Swift this fall and a Common Loon observed during census.

Banded 7
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
2 American Robins
1 Gray Catbird
1 Northern Cardinal
1 Field Sparrow
1 House Finch

Et’s:28

Janice

A misty Monday

Field Sparrow