Ok, so maybe that is a really long weekend. I guess that makes this a long overdue post.
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October 8th
It hit 30 degrees at Ruthven shortly after noon today! What’s happened to those crisp autumn days with that hint of frost?
At opening, a thin waning moon sliver hunkered down in the east behind bright Venus. A Great Horned Owl called in the distance and an Eastern Schreech Owl nearby in the ravine. Strangely there were no call notes to be heard overhead. There was very little ‘chipping’ along the wood edges as well. Relatively clear skies, heat (18 degrees at opening), and no apparent early bird action would suggest a slow banding day….not so! We were on the go right up until closing and had to take more than 20 birds out of #10 to close it. There were more birds in it than leaves which is REALLY unusual. Most of the long-distance migrants have gone (there were a couple of Blackpoll Warblers and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak around though, the latter’s belly streaked with grape juice) and we’re getting flooded with the short-distance migrants: White-throated Sparrows, (sparrows generally) and Yellow-rumped Warblers. And of course Goldfinches. Where can they all be coming from!?

We did have one new bird for the banding area: a Ruffed Grouse flew across the Butterfly Meadow heading for the River.

Banded 98:
1 Mourning Dove
6 Black-capped Chickadees
1 Brown Creeper
3 Eastern Bluebirds
5 American Robins (feasting on grapes)
12 Yellow-rumped Warblers
2 Blackpoll Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal
2 Chipping Sparrows
1 Field Sparrow
10 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
15 White-throated Sparrows
2 Eastern White-crowned Sparrows
36 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 16:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Gray-cheeked Thrush
2 Yellow-rumped Warblers
3 Song Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
7 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 46 spp.

Rick

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October 7th
It was an odd morning: 20 degrees at 6:00 and had gone up to 22 by the time I started the census around 8:00 (Standard time). But halfway through, a cool breeze began to blow out of the north, the temperature dropped 3 degrees and there was an instant fog.

There didn’t seem to be that many birds around early but we got a steady movement into the nets until about noon. There were also some interesting “late” birds around: Black-billed Cuckoo, Eastern Wood Pewee, Tree Swallow, Blackburnian Warbler and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Had an interesting recapture of a Gray-cheeked Thrush. When it was originally banded on September 28th it had a weight of 31.0 g and a fat score of ‘0’. When we recaptured it today, its weight was 40.2 g and a fat score of ‘5’. This tendency for some Gray-cheeked Thrushes to stay at Ruthven for awhile and bulk up happens much more often with Gray-cheeks than with Swainson’s Thrushes.

Banded 76:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
1 Eastern Wood Pewee
1 Eastern Phoebe
5 Black-capped Chickadees
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
7 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Gray-cheeked Thrush
3 Hermit Thrushes
5 American Robins
1 Gray Catbird
1 Blue-headed Vireo
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
1 Magnolia Warbler
31 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
8 White-throated Sparrows
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
3 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 24:
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
6 Black-capped Chickadees
4 White-breasted Nuthatches
1 Gray-cheeked Thrush
1 Hermit Thrush
1 American Robin
2 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal
2 Song Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
3 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 49 spp.

Rick

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October 6th
Faye Solochotiuk and Rhiannon Leshyk, the Dynamic Duo, arrived early (surprising for ex-Mac students…) to help out. And it was a VERY good thing. Sure, the banding pace was a bit slower – nothing like having people pore over bird guides to suss out an immature White-crowned Sparrow or Blackpoll Warbler – but the pace of extracting birds ahead of the impending storm was excellent! We were cruising along with two big net rounds when heavy cloud began to roll in to the accompaniment of thunder and lightening flashes. Despite Faye’s optimistic “Don’t worry, it’s going to miss us” I decided to collapse the nets anyway. We just got the last birds out and nets closed when the deluge hit. I would not recommend that you have Faye buy your lottery tickets for you.

Despite banding for only 3 hours or so, we still managed 75 birds. After the storm, I just took the time to extract the leaves and left the birds to recover from the storm.

One notable sighting early this morning: 2 Sandhill Cranes flying low over the river toward the fields on the other side.

Banded 75:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Swainson’s Thrush
3 American Robins
3 Cedar Waxwings (one was sticky with wild grape juice)
18 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 Northern Cardinal (remarkably the Dynamic Duo passed this bird on to me rather than risk their own fingers…)
4 Chipping Sparrows
6 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
12 White-throated Sparrows
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
1 Dark-eyed Junco
17 American Goldfinches (where are they all coming from!?)

Retrapped 5:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Swainson’s Thrush
2 American Goldfinches

Rick

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October 5th

There was pandemonium at the Ruthven Park banding station this morning as blogmeister Jeff chose this day to try out his new Eau de Bluebird cologne. As it turns out the cologne contains Eastern Bluebird breeding pheromone as a secret ingredient. This compound is very powerful and induced bluebirds far and wide to attack Jeff and attempt to copulate with his head….Giving his all, Jeff decided to sacrifice his virtue and stand by the nets until many of the bluebirds were captured and the frenzy subsided. Happily no one was hurt in this incident, but some feathers were ruffled.

Many birds around, with a plentiful first net round, but the rapidly increasing temperatures (33C at noon) caused everything except American Goldfinch to stop moving.

Banded: 83
American Goldfinch 28
Tennessee Warbler 2
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet 1
Mourning Warbler 1
Yellow-Rumped Warbler 10
Common Yellowthroat 1
Black-Capped Chickadee 5
Black-Throated Blue Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Western Palm Warbler 1
Swamp Sparrow 2
Purple Finch 1
Red-Eyed Vireo 1
White-Throated Sparrow 11
Song Sparrow 7
Hermit Thrush 1
Eastern Bluebird 2
Swainson’s Thrush 1
Cedar Waxwing 2 (they were feeding on the lawn, catching emerging European Craneflies)
Grey-Cheeked Thrush 1
Grey Catbird 1
Northern Cardinal 1
American Robin 1

Retrapped: 18
American Goldfinch 2
Black-Capped Chickadee 3
Song Sparrow 1
White-Throated Sparrow 4
Eastern Bluebird 6
Hermit Thrush 1
White-Breasted Nuthatch 1

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Here a few pictures from the day. I only took a few, because most of the birds were entirely uncooperative, and I released them before they became more stressed. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want to appear on the blog!

A Western Palm Warbler.

A Mourning Warbler. It has a ‘hairdo’ because it had been ‘skulled’ to determine age (we looked through his translucent skin to see if his skull had completely ossified yet, and it hadn’t). It was a hatch year bird.

A Grey-cheeked Thrush. Grey cheeked Thrush typically spend their winters east of the South American Andes. They get there by flying 200-700kms per night (average 300kms), typically with a day or more of rest in between flights.

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October 4th
A thick fog blanketed the area for much of the banding session today. Visibility was severely limited, although many flutters and peeps could be heard.

A group of Coyotes was active predawn giving the mist an eerie quality with shades of “Hounds of the Thompsonvilles”.

Water from the fog condensed on the nets in large and plentiful droplets, which seemingly acted to make the nets visible to passing birds. Given the degree of avian activity in the area, the catch was somewhat disappointing.

A number of Nashville Warblers were captured, and all were in good shape. One portly individual had a fat score of 6 and tipped the scales at 11.0g, and several more were over 10.5g.

The first Orange-Crowned Warbler of the season (year?) was banded today.

Banded: 39
Golden-Crowned Kinglet 2
Nashville Warbler 7
American Goldfinch 1
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet 1
Orange-Crowned Warbler 1
Yellow-Rumped Warbler 8
House Wren 1
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Black-Capped Chickadee 1
Swamp Sparrow 3
Purple Finch 1
Song Sparrow 3
Scarlet Tanager 1
White-Throated Sparrow 3
Grey-Cheeked Thrush 1
Hermit Thrush 1
White-Breasted Nuthatch 1
American Robin 1
Blue Jay 1

Retrapped: 9
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet 1
Black-Capped Chickadee 2
Swainson’s Thrush 1
Grey-Cheeked Thrush 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hermit Thrush 1
White-Throated Sparrow 2

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