Another cold but sunny morning; -10 degrees at 8:00 AM. I set out a few traps, opened a couple of nets and did a census – getting ready for the daily ritual of migration monitoring that will start on April 1st. I was struck by just how quiet the skies were – virtually NO birds flying by. Even when the temperature shot up to +1 at noon, there was still no movement. The only thing I would call visible migration was the passage of 2 Turkey Vultures and, because of the cold temperature and consequent lack of thermals, they were having to do a lot more flapping than they would have liked to…..

The only interesting thing was the variety of ducks I saw on census along the river – 8 species: Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal (new for the year), American Black Duck, Mallard, Ring-necked Duck (new), Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, and Common Merganser. Most of these were sitting in the water close to the west bank of the river where they were out of the NW breeze and soaking up the heat caused by the sun hitting the exposed bank.

Banded 16:
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
3 Black-capped Chickadees
2 White-breasted Nuthatches
2 American Tree Sparrows
3 Song Sparrows
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Red-winged Blackbird
1 American Goldfinch

Retrapped 23:
1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Eastern Tufted Titmouse
2 Black-capped Chickadees
2 White-breasted Nuthatches
10 American Tree Sparrows
3 Song Sparrows
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 American Goldfinch

>ET’s: 35 spp.

Rick