I banded at the Farm on the 7th, 8th, and today (10th). It’s obvious that the migration is winding down, certainly in terms of the number of species that can be observed. I’m still banding half decent numbers…but the mix has changed. Instead of Swamp and Song Sparrows I’m getting American Tree Sparrows and juncos. It’s a good trade off. The Farm is the Winter home for a number of Tree sparrows. On the 7th I retrapped 3 birds that I had originally banded on April 8th & 9th, 2023. In this instance, I caught them at the same time in 2 nets that are right side by side. Do you think they spent the intervening time in close proximity or was this just a coincidence? On the 8th I retrapped another 2 that had been banded on April 2nd and 12th. Wouldn’t it be great to know where they’ve gone and returned from?

The 7th was windy and an interesting “raptor day”. I observed: Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Northern Harrier, Rough-legged Hawk, and Merlin. I closed early as the nets were billowing and the oaks were (finally) releasing their leaves for them to catch….
November 7th; Banded 11:
3 American Tree Sparrows
5 Dark-eyed Juncos
3 Song Sparrows

November 8th; Banded 64:
1 Purple finch
3 House finches
4 American Goldfinches
33 American Tree Sparrows
19 Dark-eyed Juncos
3 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow

November 10th; Banded 34:
1 Eastern Phoebe
2 American Goldfinches
23 American Tree Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
7 Song Sparrow
This was an interesting day – I thought the end had come: when I opened the nets (and this was later than usual by half an hour), there were NO sparrows to be seen. Half an hour later I had a couple of nets full. Like me, I guess they had slept through the alarm and were reluctant to get moving before the sun started to warm things up….
Rick