2017’s birdathon was last Sunday, May the 14th. The day started around 5am as the Baggers woke and began getting ready. This years team was Rick Ludkin, Giovanni and Ezra Campanelli, Alessandra Wilcox and Samuel Strachan who filled in for Ben Oldfield, a long time skilled Bagger who unfortunately was unable to attend as he had been sick on the days leading up to the 14th.

The “Ruthven Ringers” started as usual with a census, the same route done each morning. The census was lead by Matt Timpf, a Ruthven Ringer alumnus. Around a
quarter to 7 the team was ready, and leaving Matt in charge of Ruthven, we headed out.

We started down River Road, finding a variety of species and then made a brief stop at Loretta Mousseau’s backyard who was nice enough to let us bird there; there we eventually found a bobolink. A quick Tim Hortons Trip and we headed to the Townsend Sewage Lagoons. The Lagoons were much more barren than expected. The team of 2016 found many species of waterfowl, sandpipers, with high numbers of individuals as well. This year we found a only few sandpipers, a small number of ducks and left with a mere 13 species.

We then travelled to a known Clay-coloured Sparrow location (in Simcoe), and within minutes heard it’s distinctive song. With that we headed south to Backus Woods and in search of a Prothonotary Warbler.

Backus hosted a range of new species. After waking a few sleeping Baggers we headed down the main trail. Warblers were plentiful, but diversity was low. We were around 90 species at this point, and steadily approaching 100. As we headed into an old growth section, lined with forested ponds we found the Prothonotary Warbler, or 3 to be exact. Backus is one of the few places remaining in Norfolk where they will breed. Shortly after seeing this Samuel spotted a Black-legged Tick on Rick’s back (pictured _[below, above]]_), it was removed before any harm was done. We are lucky at Ruthven to only have Dog Ticks, a larger species that don’t carry Lyme Disease.

As we followed the loop back to the parking lot, 99 species in, Giovanni made a wonderful spot – a SY male Summer Tanager, normally found in the west. This was our 100th species, counted at around 11:47 Am.

This started the part of the day in which we traveled to a range of woodlots, finding a few more species at each stop. One of the more productive woodlots was St. Williams Conservation Reserve, a nice habitat that turned up Ruffed Grouse, Hooded Warbler and others. As Noon came we began to plateau, as we made our way farther into Long Point. We started to realize we needed to pick it up since we only had until 6:30, when our driver (Rick) had to leave.

We decided to head into Old Cut, the site of well maintained trails and a CMMN banding station. This stop was a load of fun. Many species of warbler were seen with relative ease, most were in full breeding plumage. It was a boost of morale for the team and a chance to get many new warbler species, and our first thrushes.

As the day wound down we walked down to the Long Point conservation area, and similar areas until Rick dropped us back at Ruthven where we did a quick observation, and a brief try for owls until we called it a day around 9 PM. It was much fun for all involved, we totalled 128 species. Many thanks to all who donated, to Matt for taking care of banding in our absence, and shout out to Ethan Gosnell, a dedicated Bagger who did his own big day that weekend, totalling a solid 85 species.

But wait there’s more! There is still time to donate to our birdathon, all donations go towards bird conservation efforts in Canada, so any contributions would be greatly appreciated. Simply go to www.birdscanada.org/birdathon and donate to the Ruthven Ringers.

Species List:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Ruffed Grouse
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Short-billed Dowitcher
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
N. Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Winter Wren
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson’s thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Blue-winged Warbler
Lawrence’s Warbler
Black and White Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
American Redstart
Cape May Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green W.
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-coloured Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Samuel & Alessandra

May 17th at Ruthven:

It got HOT quickly, and usually this greatly reduces our catches, but not today. We are bearing the full brunt of the Spring 2017 migration!! Things are moving through in good numbers and great haste – making up for lost time.

Banded 68:
1 Black-billed Cuckoo

1 House Wren
1 Veery
1 Wood Thrush
11 Gray Catbirds
4 Warbling Vireos
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Tennessee Warbler
17 Yellow Warblers
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Black-throated blue Warbler
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Blackburnian Warbler
4 American Redstarts
1 Mourning Warbler
7 Common Yellowthroats
5 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
2 Indigo Buntings
1 Chipping Sparrow
4 Baltimore Orioles
1 American Goldfinch

ET’s: 72 spp.
Rick

Fern Hill – Burlington:
Today was a scorcher! We banded an interesting variety of birds throughout the day despite the heat. At the end of the day we had a total of 10 birds throughout the day, and an estimated total of 38 species observed throughout.

We banded 10:
1 Trail’s Flycatcher (first of the year!)
1 American Robin
2 Gray Catbirds
2 Tennessee Warblers (first of the year!)
2 Baltimore Orioles
2 American Goldfinches

We also kept ourselves busy checking the tree swallow and bluebird nest boxes, and observing a small family of Canada Geese wandering about the school yard. All in all, a beautiful Spring Day to be outside!

Katherine