The star of the day: a Clay-coloured Sparrow.
Someone pointed out that I had forgotten to include yesterday’s “Species Count”. Don’t know how I did that as it was very good: we encountered 75 species. I figured that would be hard to beat but…we tied it again today with a slightly different mix of birds; we had 7 new arrivals: Common Terns (we rarely ever see these birds along the river), Wood Thrush, Gray-cheeked Thrush (at least 2 weeks early), Northern Parula, Black-throated blue Warbler, Clay-coloured Sparrow, and Orchard Oriole. Although it doesn’t count as a “new” arrival (since we had one yesterday) we did count another Cerulean Warbler; again, it was just in along the Fox Den Trail – maybe the same bird….and maybe thinking about nesting. Matt Timpf lead the census walk and squeezed out 61 species including 11 species of warblers.
Today’s banding crew (with the CCSP).
Oh…did I mention the Whip-poor-will? It was singing again below Net 2 in the very early morning moonlight.
The Clay-coloured Sparrow feeding just outside the banding lab….heading for the traps.
As well as seeing a wide variety of species we also banded a large and interesting mix: 84 birds of 26 species – including the Clay-coloured Sparrow that we all “willed” into a ground trap. It was very accommodating. The heart of this bird’s range is in the prairies but in the past 75 years it has expanded eastward but is still uncommon in Ontario. It is said to prefer uncultivated open shrubby areas mixed with areas of grasses. As we take agricultural lands out of production at Ruthven and it reverts to forest, the numbers of this bird may increase in the area.
A very early Gray-cheeked Thrush.
We were quite surprised to net and band a Gray-cheeked Thrush. This is one of my favourite birds. It winters in the jungles of South America and may go as far as Alaska to nest – a real long-distance migrant. We usually don’t see it until the 3rd week of May…but here it was.
We also had a large influx of American Goldfinches. The males are well into their pre-alternate (or pre-breeding) moult. They make a colourful addition to the sunflower feeders. We banded 18 of them.
Banded 84:
2 Least Flycatchers
2 Tree Swallows
2 Blue Jays
2 House Wrens
1 Eastern Bluebird
1 Gray-cheeked Thrush
1 Wood Thrush
1 American Robin
1 Nashville Warbler
2 Yellow Warblers
1 Black-throated blue Warbler
7 Yellow-rumped Warblers
5 Western Palm Warblers
2 Black & White Warblers
2 Common Yellowthroats
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
3 Chipping Sparrows
1 Clay-coloured Sparrow
4 Field Sparrows
1 Song Sparrow
2 Swamp Sparrow
17 White-throated Sparrows
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
2 Baltimore Orioles
1 Orchard Oriole
1 Pine Siskin
18 American Goldfinches
Species Count: 75 spp.
Photo Gallery:
Back fro the Caribbean, a stunning male Black-throated Blue Warbler.
Wing detail of the Black-throated Blue Warbler – an ASY male.
First Wood Thrush of the year.
Male Black & White Warbler
Female Black & White Warbler for comparison.
ASY male Baltimore Oriole.
ASY female Baltimore Oriole.
For comparison: male and female Baltimore Orioles.
For comparison: Orchard Oriole on the left; Baltimore Oriole on the right.
Baltimore Oriole at a feeder. -F. Smith
Marilynn interviewing Matt in preparation for the Bird Festival on Friday and Saturday.
Sean, Liz and Nancy checking out the Clay-coloured Sparrow. -J. Chard
The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks returned just about on time.
-F. Smith
Rick