As the cooler weather comes and the leaves change colour, my attention somehow shifts from the colours in the sunrise when opening, to the radiant colours of the leaves.  I’m not sure if the cooler nights have added to the vibrancy of the colours, but they seem extra bold this year. Saturday I had a number of people join me for the morning, some learning how to scribe, others how to band and it’s a good thing as it was a busy morning for me!  I was able to open 4 nets, but my bee net remained closed due to frost (it’s in a slightly lower area than the others) and I left it closed as there were enough birds in the other nets to keep me and my new proteges busy for the morning.

Banded:
American Goldfinch – 7
Myrtle Warbler – 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 1
Slate-coloured Junco – 2
Chipping Sparrow – 1
House Finch – 2
White-throated Sparrow – 1
Song Sparrow – 3
American Robin – 1
Blue Jay – 2

Recaps:
Black-capped Chickadees – 3
House Finch – 2

Total 30 (25 banded, 5 recaps)

Tia measuring the wing chord for her bird.

A scribe? What a great idea! Banding on your own involves a lot of dexterity and speed. It was nice to have some people by this weekend to help make the process more enjoyable. Thanks Shelley.

Jenna holding the first SCJU for my site this year. They’ve been around but this was the first to find a net.

Not only did she get to release the Blue Jay, but she got a bit of extra time to enjoy it hanging out in her hand before it decided to fly away. Both Blue Jays today were the first ones I’ve caught outside of my feeder net.

Tristan returned for some more banding and luckily this time we had a few more birds for him to band.

October 9th

Earlier in the week, Liam took some time to come out and help me set up a net lane, hopefully where we won’t run into poison ivy… As you can see in the photo, the little pocket in the evergreen plantation is full of dogwoods, goldenrod and a plethora of other vegetation.  I was hoping to get a few more birds in this net over the weekend, but my meadow nets seem to be the ones filling up with birds.

Banded:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 2
Myrtle Warbler – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 2
House Finch – 1
Brown-headed Cowbird – 1
White-throated Sparrow – 5
Eastern White-crowned Sparrow – 1
American Robin – 1

Recaps:
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 1

Total: 18 (14 Banded, 4 Recaps)

Liam checking out the net lane after we set up. We did get a Golden-crowned Kinglet and a Chickadee that evening.

Welcome October!  Fall is a great time for banding as the birds are not moving at quite the pace they are in the spring. I find it quite interesting to see what others are banding at their sites compared to mine.  Nancy and Mike who are about 1/2 hour southeast of me had no Myrtle or Palm warblers yesterday, yet those were the only warblers I had. I haven’t seen the list from Lowville yet, but I’m curious as to what is moving around in other areas.

From October 1st:

Banded:
American Goldfinch – 2
Western Palm Warbler – 2
Black-capped Chickadee -2
Myrtle Warbler – 4
Chipping Sparrow – 1
House Finch – 1
Eastern White-crowned Sparrow -1
White-throated Sparrow -1
Hairy Woodpecker – 1
American Robin – 1
Northern Cardinal – 1

Recaps:
Black-capped Chickadee – 5
Song Sparrow – 1

Total: 24 (18 Banded, 6 Recaps)

Autumnal banding. I set up and band just outside my backdoor.

First White-throated sparrow in the nets at my place. I’ve been hearing them for almost 2 weeks now, but this is the first banded.

First Eastern White-crowned sparrow (tan morph) for this season as well.

One of my two Western Palm Warblers

While I thoroughly enjoyed working with the teens Saturday morning, I did arrive home not quite feeling that I’d really had my bird fix given I hardly handled any birds that morning.  As I watched out my back window and say an Eastern Phoebe and some Yellow-rumps flitting about, I decided there were still a few good net hours before I headed out to my neighbour’s Hootenanny scheduled for later that afternoon.  These are my neighbours who let me set up nets on their property. Feel free to google Hootenanny.  I was open from 2:30-4pm and caught a few good birds in that time, including a new first for my area, a Magnolia Warbler and my first Ruby-crowned Kinglet for the fall.

Banded:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet -1
Magnolia Warbler – 1
American Goldfinch – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 1
Myrtle Warbler – 2
Song Sparrow – 1

Recaps:
Black-capped Chickadee – 5

Total: 12 (7 Banded, 5 recaps)

Bonfire at the Hootenanny

Sunday the rainy weather put a halt to any early morning birding, but I was able to open in the early afternoon for about 2 hours with some really fantastic results!  A new bird for my area was a Cape May Warbler!  I’ve had them in my backyard before around the oriole feeder in the spring, but not in a net.

Banded:
Chipping Sparrows – 2
House Wren – 1
Warbling Vireo – 1
Myrtle Warbler – 1
Cape May Warbler – 1
House Finch – 1
Song Sparrow – 1
Blue Jay – 1

Recaps:
Black-capped Chickadee – 4
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Song Sparrow – 1

Total: 15 (9 banded, 6 recaps)

Winter Wren/House Wren – ok, so Liam is telling me that in spite of the size difference, colour and short tail in comparison to the bird I had earlier this week, that this is another House Wren.  I’ll get a WIWR yet this fall!

Cape May Warbler

As an educator, I really appreciate HBO’s core belief of providing people of all ages the opportunity to get out and learn more about the birds that live and pass through our province every spring and fall.  The station in Lowville is there today because Ben connected with HBO at a young age (I’m sure there’s a photo of him somewhere!).  As I arrived in Lowville early Saturday morning, teenagers (yes, teenagers) were already there set to spend their day off studying birds.  Their dedication to learning and sharing their knowledge with each other is truly inspiring.

On a side note, something truly uninspiring was the utter lack of baked goods!  Now I will acknowledge that Maggie did contribute a box of delicious chocolate cookies, they were were however, store bought.  Rick had better come back soon and whip these guys into shape.

Saturday was my first time to meet Sarah, who has been coming out to Lowville for a while and had the opportunity to also volunteer at Long Point this year.  Her quiet confidence and her readiness to share what she has learned with the others, and HBO’s newest bander, Micah, made my role for the day purely supervisory! While the day was pretty light on birds, they made the most of it and left with dreams of one day getting a painted bunting in one of the nets…

The group of mostly teens out for the morning.

Micah banding his first bird.

Renessa walking him through how to band and determine the other data collected when banding.

A very elated Micah, ready to release his first bird.

The meadow just as the sun was rising. By the afternoon it was filled with the droning of the bees as they gathered pollen. Surprisingly few monarchs, in fact I’m not sure I saw even one. The day remained quite cool though, even until we closed around 11:30am.  I believe Ben now has 6 nets set up in the general area with the promise of some great birds to come.  Now that I’m thinking of it, the meadow there may be about as concentrated in bees as my net near the hives!  Perhaps there is something to the birds and the bees…

First Eastern White-crowned Sparrow of the season (RJV)

Total: 20 (15 banded, 5 recaps)

In my purely supervisory role, I was lax in gathering the species count after all the day’s totals had been counted.  I do know we had our first Eastern White-crowned Sparrow and the first Ruby-Crowned Kinglet for the season.  Should someone get the chance to check the book next time they’re out, we could add the species count in after the fact 🙂