With the mix of cold, windy, rainy weather earlier this week, followed by the beautiful balmy days of these weekend, it always feels like there’s this need to get out and enjoy the remnants of “summer” before they give way to the cold, snowy days of winter. It’s days like this weekend that I enjoy the excuse to be outside half the day! This week I was able to band 3 days (2 of them in beautiful weather) with some great totals for me. I’m averaging about 33 birds a day with my 5 nets. A couple are usually closed due to the strong winds this week, but the others are producing some great numbers and interesting birds. In an effort to be able to open all 5 nets, I’ve shifted some around. One has moved closer and one is a bit farther. To access the nets in as short a time period as I can, I usually use my bike to get to my nets down the road. I’ll have to get a photo one day of me returning with 10-15 birds spaced out on my arm while riding back home.
Along with the large number of birds, I also had a few visitors on Saturday. Two of the visitors were a pair of young cousins with an interest in the outdoors. Once things slowed down for the day, I was able to give them a chance to band their own bird before they left. It’s always a treat to give people their first opportunity to interact with birds up close. You never know what interest it can spark!
Banded:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 14
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 3
Nashville Warbler – 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 2
Brown Creeper – 1
American Goldfinch – 3
Black-capped Chickadee – 12
Myrtle Warbler – 14
Swamp Sparrow – 3
Slate-coloured Junco – 4
Song Sparrow – 1
Eastern White-crowned Sparrow – 3
White-breasted Nuthatch – 3
White-Throated Sparrow – 11
American Robin – 1
Red-winged Blackbird – 1
Northern Cardinal – 4
Brown Thrasher – 1
Recaps:
Black-capped Chickadee – 16
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 1
Song Sparrow – 3
Myrtle Warbler – 2 (one of which was banded Oct 1 and captured again Oct 20th)
Total: 104 (Banded 82, Recaps 22)
Female White-breasted nuthatch. There have been a pair nesting around the corner from us, but rarely do we get them at our feeder. These migrants aren’t hesitating to come eat though! You can see the gray on the head of these female, contrasting with the black of the male in the photo below. FAS
Male White-breasted nuthatch. You can kind of see the darker black on the top of his head. FAS
Brown creeper – first for my nets. FAS
Nice treat in my net by the bees this morning, a Brown Thrasher. You can see the very pale yellow of the eye, indicating a hatch year bird. FAS
Helen, one of the visitors this weekend releasing one of her favourite birds, an Eastern White-crowned Sparrow. HO