September 27th – Records!!

Unsettled weather with northeasterly winds was upon us this morning with rain on the horizon – a good lookout for banding at Ruthven. We also had a couple of classes of schoolchildren from Brantford to accomodate so we needed lots of birds. No problem. By the end of the day we had banded 84 with 21 retraps – a total of 105 birds handled.

The number banded pushed our September total up to 1,481 – a new record (the old one was 1,425) and there’s still a couple of days left! We also reached new high totals for Blackpoll Warblers (173; old record 137) and for Swainson’s Thrush (79 vs 76). The rain started just after we finished with the students; it couldn’t have worked out better. We hurried to close the nets and had a final net round of about 20 birds.

Banded 84:
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
2 Yellow-shafted Flickers
1 Eastern Wood Pewee
1 Blue Jay
2 Brown Creepers
11 Golden-crowned Kinglets
6 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Gray-cheeked Thrush
2 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Hermit Thrush (first for the season)
6 Gray Catbirds
1 Blue-headed Vireo
3 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Tennessee Warbler
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
2 Magnolia Warblers
3 Black-throated Blue Warblers
1 Myrtle Warbler
4 Black-throated Green Warbler
6 Blackpoll Warblers
3 Common Yellowthroats
1 Indigo Bunting
4 Chipping Sparrows
3 Song Sparrows
7 White-throated Sparrows
5 Dark-eyed Juncos
4 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 21:
1 Downy Woodpecker
3 Black-capped Chickadees
3 White-breasted Nuthatches
3 Gray Catbirds
1 Red-eyed Vireo
4 Blackpoll Warblers
4 Chipping Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Dark-eyed Junco

ET’s: 54 spp.

Rick

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