A handful of male Cape May Warblers festooned the large spruce trees in front of the Mansion this morning. -MMG
The long-distance migrants are upon us…..and flowing through. The cloudy, cool conditions with a NE wind brought a good number of them down and they foraged fairly low – at net level for many. Thirteen warbler species, including the first Cape May and Tennessee Warblers of the year, were encountered in the course of the morning. We also picked up the first Scarlet Tanager and Least Flycatcher of the year.
Banded 58:
1 Least Flycatcher
First Least Flycatcher of the season. -MMG
2 Blue Jays
2 House Wrens
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
2 Veerys
5 Gray Catbirds
2 Nashville Warblers
Male Nashville Warbler -MMG
1 American Redstart
1 Ovenbird
1 Northern Waterthrush
4 Common Yellowthroats
4 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
2 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
1 Baltimore Oriole
2 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 67 spp.
Photo Gallery:
The stunning beauty of the early morning. -MMG
Evidently my car has a pot of gold in it. -MMG
Ovenbird. -MMG
Male Red-bellied Woodpecker. -MMG
Western Palm Warbler. -MMG
ASY male Baltimore Oriole. -MMG
ASY male American Redstart. -MMG
And some people were asking me if we got any flooding during the heavy rains at the beginning of the month:
The Grand River at bankfull – a meter ahead of me is a drop of about 3 meters. -C. Jones
Censusers at the head of the Fox Den Trail, now under water. -C. Jones
And at Fern Hill Burlington Today……
Thank you so much, and to all of the staff and educators that gave the Fern Hill grade four students their time and expertise on our trip Tuesday and Wednesday. We all concur: it was a great success! I had so many students thanking me for bringing them to that I just had to pass on their thanks and mine! This morning the grade fours announced the highlights from the trip including all of the species of birds caught yesterday, firsts for many of them! We’re all riding that Ruthven high! We had a great crew out in the morning and at recess which was wonderful to see, and fortunately we had some interesting birds to look for and to handle despite the relatively cooler weather and overcast skies.
Janice and I had some interesting first observations throughout the day including a Palm Warbler, a Baltimore Oriole, a Caspian Tern, a Green-Winged Teal, and two Trumpeter Swans. After the nets were opened we had an interesting recaptured Black-Capped Chickadee, originally banded in 2013 by Joanne Fleet! She (we can now call her) had a brood patch so after 5 years we can confirm she is a female! In the banding department we had a total of 7:
1 Brown Thrasher (our second of the Spring)
1 Red-Winged Blackbird
1 Common Grackle
2 Brown Headed Cowbirds
2 American Goldfinches
Overall a great day!
KAP