The past 3 days at the Farm have been busy….and rewarding…as Fall slips away. We are still getting LOTS of sparrows but there is a subtle transition happening as White-throated Sparrows are on the wane, their place being taken by increasing numbers of juncos and, especially, American Tree Sparrows. But Song and Swamp Sparrows continue to hold steady: we’ve banded well over 400 of the former and approaching 400 of the latter.

Friday, October 25th: it was a cold night and the resulting frost slowed opening. It’s pretty frustrating when you can hear birds “chipping” all around but the have nets that are frozen shut and iced poles that let them slide shut. However, as soon as the sun cleared the horizon, we were soon in business. One very interesting thing was that the hay field immediately to the east had been very recently mowed and the bales taken. The farmer spread a fresh topping of manure, a natural fertilizer….and also a food source for American Pipits. We counted at least 20 of them working the field over.

I was joined by an old friend, Cathy Badger, who brought along a wonderful photographer from Australia, Jeremy Lund. His concentration on the feeder just outside the banding hut paid off with this remarkable shot:

Banded 65 (and handled 40 retraps):
1 Eastern Phoebe
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 Purple Finch
2 House Finches
3 American Goldfinches
3 Field Sparrows
7 American Tree Sparrows
2 Fox Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco
8 White-throated Sparrows
19 Song Sparrows
11 Swamp Sparrows
3 Red-winged Blackbirds
1 Myrtle Warbler
2 Northern Cardinals
ET’s: 36 spp.

Saturday, October 26: The night was relatively mild. So while there was no difficulty getting the nets up there just weren’t that many birds around. I’m assuming that there had been a massive flight during the night. The Pipits were still around though…at first anyway. Just after the sun got up a loose flock of at least 50 rose up out of the adjacent field and headed off to the southwest.

Sparrows are a great bird to handle (and learn how to handle) and the relaxed pace allowed some teaching to go on:

Banded 25:
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
4 House Finches
3 American Goldfinches
3 American Tree Sparrows
2 White-throated Sparrows
7 Song Sparrows
3 Swamp Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
1 Northern Cardinal
ET’s: 28 spp.

Sunday, October 27th: I started the day being greeted by a very special old friend – an American Tree Sparrow that I had banded on April 3rd, 2021, making it one of the very first birds banded at the Farm. It was carrying no fat suggesting that it was here for the duration of the Winter…the Farm 9ior its environs) is its Winter home. I’m sure it likes the prairie meadow with its cornucopia of seeds as opposed to the soybean desert that was here when I banded it.

It was cold during the night with a light frost but the nets still opened easily. Birds had moved in during the night as we banded a nice variety and in good numbers.
Banded 69:
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Cedar Waxwings
6 Purple Finches
6 House Finches
7 American Goldfinches
8 American Tree Sparrows
4 Dark-eyed Juncos
2 White-throated Sparrows
17 Song Sparrows
10 Swamp Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
2 Myrtle Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal
ET’s: 31 spp.
Rick

These very mild nights and hot days – for the end of October – are unsettling. I wonder what their impact will be on the trees. But I don’t think the birds are fooled. The long-distance migrant warblers are long gone; they didn’t stick around to enjoy these unusual conditions. And the overall variety of birds that we’re encountering is slowly going down. Predictions are for a much cooler – and normal – weekend. Hopefully I’ll start to see junco and tree sparrow in larger numbers. But I’m not complaining! The more I get to experience sparrows the more I like them – they’re no longer LBJ’s (Little Brown Jobs); their intricate colours and shading are exquisite, especially when you can see them up close. And we are. Today we handled 6 species. We’re seeing Field Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows in much larger numbers than we have before. And Swamp Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows are approaching last year’s record numbers.

I wasn’t expecting much today as the SW winds, which are the worst for billowing our nets, were gusting up to >40 kilometers per hour. So I opened only about half. But our first round was remarkable as we banded more than 30 birds. Thank goodness Amanda has been making such good progress – she was a big help!

Banded 43:
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Swainson’s Thrush
4 Purple Finches

5 American Goldfinches
3 American Tree Sparrows
2 White-crowned Sparrows
14 White-throated Sparrows

6 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
4 Red-winged Blackbirds
2 Northern Cardinals
ET’s: 26 spp.
Rick

Last week and running into the weekend we had cold temperatures and light northerly winds urging and pushing migrants out of the north and hurrying them on their way south. During this time we were REALLY busy – you can see the results in the past post. But Saturday night the wind switched to the SW bringing in unseasonably warm temperatures. And the big migrant push stalled – and it’s been stalled for 2 days.
The patches of prairie grass aren’t nearly so busy and not much has been moving along the wetland edge.

Interestingly, on both days we’ve handled more retrapped birds than new birds. Retraps are usually birds that we’ve banded over the past few days and have been staying put while they finish moulting or fatten up for the flight south…or both. Although we’ve usually banded them within the past 2 weeks, we also get birds that we’ve banded this past Spring or even last year. There’s a lot of food here for sparrows (which make up most of the retraps) and the weather doesn’t lend any urgency to their heading on.
October 20th; Banded 25:
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Winter Wren
1 Savannah Sparrow
3 Field Sparrows
2 White-throated Sparrows
8 Song Sparrows
7 Swamp Sparrows
ET’s: 36 spp.

October 21st; Banded 21:
4 American Goldfinches
9 White-throated Sparrows
4 Song Sparrows
4 Red-winged Blackbirds

ET’s: 21 spp.
Rick

The prairie meadow continues to draw sparrows in large numbers – they’re pouring through. Or, in some cases, stopping for awhile to feed and fatten, taking advantage of the rich food supply that the grasses provide. So not only are we banding a considerable number of birds, we’re also handling a large number of “retraps” – birds that we’ve banded and are hanging around. For example, today we banded 50 new birds and handled another 49 retraps. Interestingly Swamp Sparrows seem to be much more likely to hang around as opposed to Song Sparrows. We’ve banded more Songs but the proportion of retrapped Swampies is much larger.

Sparrows made up a large part of each day’s catch this week. On the 15th they constituted 73% of the birds banded; the 16th it was 76%; on the 18th 92%; and today it was 84%. The switch from soybeans to prairie grass has certainly had a big impact on these seed-eating species!
October 15th; Banded 83:
10 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 American Goldfinch
2 Savannah Sparrows
3 Field Sparrows
1 Fox Sparrow (1st of the season)
16 White-throated Sparrows
19 Song Sparrows
20 Swamp Sparrows
7 Myrtle Warblers
4 Northern Cardinals
ET’s: 30 spp.

October 16th; Banded 58:
1 Eastern Phoebe
3 Golden-crowned Kinglets
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Hermit Thrush
1 Purple Finch
2 American Goldfinches
1 Field Sparrow
1 White-crowned Sparrow
11 White-throated Sparrows
16 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
14 Swamp Sparrows
2 Myrtle Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal
ET’s: 45 spp.
The 18th turned up the first American Tree Sparrow of the season. For me, this is the harbinger of Winter, the bird I associate with cold winds and snow drifts. I wonder how long it will be before we see these conditions….if we do see them in these times of climate change.

October 18th; Banded 74:
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Brown Creeper
1 House Finch
9 Field Sparrows
1 American Tree Sparrow (1st of the season)
6 White-throated Sparrows
29 Song Sparrows
23 Swamp Sparrows
ET’s: 27 spp.

October 19th; Banded 50:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Carolina Wren
1 Eastern Bluebird

1 Purple Finch
5 Field Sparrows
2 American Tree Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco

6 White-throated Sparrows
18 Song Sparrows
10 Swamp Sparrows
1 Myrtle Warbler
ET’s: 43 spp.
Rick