It certainly didn’t feel like the middle of May today. Rain/drizzle for parts of the morning and afternoon, windy (NE), and temperatures hovering around 8 degrees – hypothermia conditions. We got a bit of a reprieve from the rain around 7:30 so we opened a couple of nets (we had already set out traps). Both nets and traps were catching although retraps outdid new bandings by about 2:1. A couple of the retraps were quite interesting: a Rose-breasted Grosbeak that was 5 years old and a Red-winged Blackbird that was 7 years old.

We were joined this morning by a highschool class from Cayuga and by members of the Burlington chapter of the CFUW – Canadian Federation of University Women (of which I am an honourary member). Fortunately we had some nice birds to show everyone, making the day a lot nicer than it could have been.

Banded 27:
1 Least Flycatcher
1 House Wren
3 Eastern Bluebirds (nestlings from the box just up from the Gatehouse)
1 Veery
1 Gray Catbird
1 Nashville Warbler
4 Yellow Warblers
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Ovenbird
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Red-winged Blackbird
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds
1 Baltimore Oriole
6 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 40:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Blue Jay
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
3 Blue-winged Warblers
1 Yellow Warbler
1 Northern Waterthrush
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Northern Cardinal
4 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
2 Indigo Buntings
7 Chipping Sparrows
3 Field Sparrows
1 Song Sparrow
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
1 Red-winged Blackbird
8 Brown-headed Cowbirds
1 Baltimore Oriole
6 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 67 spp. (including new arrival Bay-breasted Warbler)

Rick