So…..we’ve had great conditions for Snow Buntings for quite awhile now: cold temperatures and snow (you must be getting tired of listening to my mantra in this regard). I’ve been trying to take full advantage of them. Well….almost full advantage. Not long ago my brain had a conversation with my body and asked: do you really want to go at this hard-core in these conditions? My body responded: well, I think I still could. The real question is do I want to go at this hard-core…in these conditions? After some deliberation the outcome was a compromise: you will go at this hard-core but for only 3 or 4 hours a day (which, you might think, isn’t really hard-core but – hey – let’s not equivocate).

Even at this rate it’s been very productive; today I passed the 1200 Snow Buntings banded mark. Not a world record but…respectable. Over the last few days I’ve been finding that the number of retraps has been increasing. Retraps are birds that I’ve banded previously and then have recaptured. Many of these were banded recently but quite a few date back to January and even December. In fact, there’s been a number from other years going all the way back to 2017! One thing that is clear is that the “York Airport” site is a good place for Horned Larks to spend the Winter. And unlike Snow Buntings, that tend to move around a fairly extensive range, Horned Larks – or, at least, “my” Horned Larks – seem to stay closer to home. I keep catching the same ones.

Today I banded only 24 birds (8 larks, 16 buntings). However, I handled 67 birds, processing 43 retraps; of these 36 (84 %) were Horned Larks and only 5 (12%) were buntings – even though buntings doubled the number of larks banded. For the larks, the airport seems to be their home location. Interestingly, of the 36 lark retraps, 75% of them were males. This is a Winter male hangout for sure. the number of males banded over the course of the season mirrors this as well. Where are the females? Likely further south in less harsh conditions. (Similarly, male Snow Buntings tend to winter further north than females. Again interestingly, while I usually have a female:male sex ratio of buntings of ~3:1 I’m currently sitting with a ratio of 1.9:1. The conditions have been pushing the males down.)

For the first time at this site we’ve caught and banded American Tree Sparrows. They’re not a bird that likes empty, wide-open spaces with no shrubs to escape into with the approach of a predator. But we’ve caught and banded 4 so far and retrapped a couple of these – so some are coming back to take advantage of the nutritious, readily-available food. Along the road behind me on the other side is a thin line of small shrubs and weeds. I think that these birds have probably been working their way along this hedge row gleaning whatever it afforded. They became aware of the busy feeding activity of the larks and buntings about 30-40 meters away and decided to take a chance – and it paid off for them. And that’s the way it works: birds pay close attention to what other birds in their vicinity are doing. And if they’re making feeding actions then it just might be worth a look.

Here’s a recap from the last week or so:
February 9th:
2 Horned Larks
56 Snow Buntings
February 10th:
13 Horned Larks
134 Snow Buntings
3 American Tree Sparrows
February 11th:
9 Horned Larks
42 Snow Buntings
February 12th:
9 Horned Larks
1 Lapland Longspur
3 Snow Buntings
February 13th:
4 Horned Larks
6 Snow Buntings
February 14th:
Valentine’s Day – an internationally-recognized banding holiday…imposed by my wife.
February 15th:
15 Horned Larks
1 Lapland Longspur
36 Snow Buntings
Sarah and Eila banded at Marnie and Duncan’s farm on Irish Line:
29 Snow Buntings
1 American Tree Sparrow
February 16th:
SNOW
February 17th:
It was VERY windy at the airport blowing snow across the open expanses and would have filled the traps and covered the corn almost immediately, so….I stayed home. But, not to be daunted by the conditions, Sarah and Liam banded at M & D’s farm:
49 Snow Buntings
Some photos:



February 18th:
29 Horned Larks
1 Lapland Longspur
40 Snow Buntings
February 19th:
8 Horned Larks
16 Snow Buntings
Rick