The fairly lousy April weather continues with temperatures going from -3 C. on the night of the 16th/17th up to +20 this morning. But the most aggravating thing has been the wind with gusts up to 53 kph this morning, billowing many of the nets so they weren’t worth opening. Still, this is the hand we’re being dealt this year and we just have to play it.

Generally banding has been lousy, even though the 17th showed promise. This promise was dashed in the next two days but….on the 18th 3 keen observers, Irsha, Ethan, and Andy, through a census and then a river watch, turned up an amazing 62 species(!) including a first ever for the site – Red-necked Grebe – and a first for the Spring at the site – Wilson’s Snipe. As well, they had a number of firsts for the season: Green-winged Teal, Caspian Tern, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, Vesper Sparrow. I can’t remember a species count this high at the Farm so early in the season.

But this didn’t translate to the netting area where “new” migrants have not yet shown up and we watch the billowing nets with increasing frustration. This has got to change….it’s just a matter of when.
April 17th; Banded 16:
1 Eastern Phoebe
1 Northern Flicker
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
2 American Robins
1 Field Sparrow

1 American Tree Sparrow
2 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
5 Red-winged Blackbirds
1 Common Grackle
ET’s: 41 spp.


April 18th; Banded 3:
1 American robin
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
1 Common Grackle
ET’s: 62 spp.


Dave and Ethan Gosnell (and maybe Elaine?) redug the outhouse hole and got the outhouse back on its feet….so to speak. Dave even fixed the door. So we’re ready to go…whenever you have to.
April 19th; Banded 4:
1 Blue Jay
1 American Robin
1 American Goldfinch
1 Red-winged Blackbird
ET’s: 32 spp.

Rick

The urge to get to the breeding ground is a powerful driver. Early birds have an advantage so it is worth their while but….there are inherent risks usually associated with the weather. We’ve had a long string of cold, windy, wet days and for insect-eating birds this can be a death sentence, as it was for the Tree Swallow pictured above. We found this bird in the river flats. It was severely emaciated. Given the long string of poor conditions, I can only imagine that this bird only represents the tip of a gigantic iceberg. On some days one could see several hundred swallows flying low over the river (downstream from York is a good area to spot them) looking for any insects emerging from the water. And if the conditions aren’t conducive to insect development, the birds will suffer. Early birds make a dangerous decision which, sometimes, just doesn’t pay off.

It’s been a slow week banding at the Farm with adverse winds limiting the number of viable nets and rain/sleet/snow shortening the day. Still, we did what we could do whenever we got a chance to the extent that the conditions allowed. And by paying close attention we noticed that the number of species encountered each day began to climb indicating that migration was going on – although birds in the banding area seemed to be the same and we were getting more recaptures than new birds in the nets. When this weather “dam” breaks there will be a big push as the birds that are being held up now will be on their way further North
April 8th; Banded 15:
2 White-breasted Nuthatches
3 European Starlings
1 American Tree Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
6 Common Grackles
ET’s: 38 spp.

April 9th; Banded 13:
1 Eastern Phoebe
1 Eastern Bluebird

4 American Robins
1 American Goldfinch
1 American Tree Sparrow
3 Song Sparrows
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
1 Common Grackle
ET’s: 40 spp.

April 10th; Banded 18:
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 American Goldfinch
1 American Tree Sparrow
3 Song Sparrow
5 Red-winged Blackbirds
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds
4 Common Grackles

1 Northern Cardinal
ET’s: 28 spp.

April 12th; Banded 7:
1 White-throated Sparrow
2 Song Sparrows
4 Red-winged Blackbirds

ET’s: 49 spp.

And other hijinx:

Of course, if you adjust the picture a little, it takes on a completely different “feel”:

Rick

The last few days have been a shocker…to say the least. Sarah, in the log notes on the 4th, noted: “exceptional flooding”. Here’s the water situation when we left on the 4th – creeping up toward the new banding lab:

This was just the beginning. All the rain we’ve had in the past week augmented by the heavier rains and snow in the northern part of the Grand River watershed ended up rushing through the system on the 5th and 6th. As the river rises it stops and then backs up inflows from other sources and this happened all along its route. All the low lying fields along the route were flooded. I’ve lived in York for 50 years now and I’ve never seen this level of flooding before. The river’s rise also backed up the pond’s outflow so it had nowhere to go but…up. Higher and higher. I would have been happy if the level had stayed where it was on the 4th but I knew that it wouldn’t. But I wasn’t prepared for what I saw on the 5th:


I took a look at the buildings…and the net lanes…and just shrugged. There simply wasn’t a damned thing I could do about. I just had to wait. On the 6th, the water was still running high and it wasn’t until the late evening when I visited that I thought that maybe it had gone down an inch(?). I’d have to wait to see what the 7th brought.
To give further examples of the water height here’s pictures of some of the net lanes for those of you that can remember them:






You get the picture. So this brings us to today: April 7th.
One thing about the Grand River: it can go up quickly but it can also go down quickly. I just can’t imagine the enormous amount of water that must have flowed through while I was sleeping. To my great relief here’s what I found:

Today we were able to open 4 nets and did reasonably well considering, banding 9 birds and recapturing 7. The new Net #2 is going to be dynamite…I think.

Banded 9:
1 White-breasted Nuthatch (female with a developing brood patch and carrying an egg)
1 American robin
2 American Tree Sparrows
3 Song sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Red-winged Blackbird

ET’s: 43 spp.
In case you’re interested in flooding, here’s some pictures of the little park in York:

Rick

Maybe, I thought, I should break with the April 1st tradition in which I try to present the unbelievable as believable. Well, maybe I just might. After all, who would – could – believe that, after working my way through the wetland to the river just to see what was there, I should come upon 2 Black-headed Gulls! Now these are a European gull that have fairly recently established a breeding population on the East Coast but who would ever think that they might actually show up in the Canadian interior – on the Grand River no less! I was gob-smacked to say the least but….there they were, cavorting. Unbelievable!

After 32 days at sea on a research vessel (CCGS Jacques Cartier), what a treat it was to feel solid ground under my feet (although I can still feel it rocking just a little) and to sit at the picnic table and watch Blue-winged Teal on the pond and an Eastern Phoebe and 2 Myrtle Warblers hawking insects around it. When It warmed up a little with the emerging sun the midges decided to leave the pond and make their mating foray – to provide fuel for migrating birds.

Saturday’s work crew did a great job setting up 7 nets and clearing up a lot of the deadfall. I opened just after 7 and it wasn’t long before I got the first bird of the season. An American Tree Sparrow – a very nice way to start. These birds won’t be around too much longer before they head off on their long journey to the tree line to nest. There were a number of Little Brown Jobs around: Tree Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Swamp Sparrow, and White-throated Sparrows. Some I caught, others I just saw…but it was a nice start.

I must say that I’m a little intimidated by the new banding lab – so neat and clean. [While I was away my wife, Marg, did a major cleaning of the house so I’ve been instructed…forcefully…that I can’t mess anything up or drop any crumbs.] I’m afraid that this “mantra” sank into my being so I was reluctant to even set foot in the new building. I’m sure I’ll get over it, but it might take awhile.
We ended up banding 8 birds (listed below) and retrapping 6 – one, a Song Sparrow that had been banded in the Spring of 2023, so it had come home so to speak.

But the thing that I enjoyed the most was the variety of species that were already present – 33 species. Kind of jump started things. The pond was an important place for water birds: a pair of Canada Geese (getting ready to nest), at least 6 Blue-winged Teal, 2+ Wood ducks, 2 Mallards, 2 Hooded Mergansers. A pair of Sandhill Cranes flew right overhead.

Banded 8:
2 Black-capped Chickadees
4 American Tree Sparrows
2 Song Sparrows

ET’s: 33 species