We got our first House Wren of the year today – it was a retrap, originally banded in 2011.
We’ve had a pretty dismal two days: cold temperatures (-1 this morning); windy (gusts to over 60 km/hr yesterday); lots of precipitation (rain showers yesterday and then snow last night leaving a dusting of 1 cm on everything this morning). Not great weather for migrating birds! (Or bird banders!)
Numbers of banded birds and the number of species of birds generally have been low, as you can see from the numbers below.
Wing detail of a SY female Eastern Bluebird retrapped in Net 6W.
But, through it all, my hat comes off to the pair of Killdeer brooding 4 eggs in a wind-exposed nest in the parking lot. They’ve stuck to it through thick and thin…and maybe they’ll come out of it all successfully. Keep your fingers crossed.
For those of you who are following the saga of the University of Western colour-marked cowbirds, “Joey”, the red-banded bird, showed up today bringing to 3 (of 5) the number of birds that have returned from last year.
For Starlings, pink at the base of the bill and a yellow ring around the iris = female.
Blue at the base of the bill and plain brown iris = male.
April 22; Banded 9:
1 Mourning Dove
1 American Robin
1 European Starling
1 Red-winged Blackbird
5 Brown-headed Cowbird
Species Count: 43 spp.
April 23; Banded 19:
3 Mourning Doves
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Dark-eyed Junco
6 Brown-headed Cowbirds
6 American Goldfinches
Species Count: 43 spp.
Rick