White-throated Sparrow starting life as a banded bird. -E. Tjepkema
We had a mostly clear night with cold temperatures and light winds out of the North. Nancy stayed up to 2:00 trying for Saw-whets but to no avail. I opened nets in moonlight – always a marvellous sensation – but had difficulty with a number of them as some were frosted shut or the poles were too slick to hold them up. But, as it turned out, this didn’t matter too much as the majority of captures took place well after the sun was up. Evidently the many migrants that had moved into the area last night were sun worshipers and stayed hunkered down in sheltered thickets waiting for its warmth.
Another budding ornithologist – Zoe demonstrates the right way to hold a Blue Jay.
Yesterday’s blog talked about migrants doing some early morning searching for suitable habitat before settling down for the day. We saw a good example this morning: I watched a Ruby-crowned Kinglet descend from quite a height spiralling down until it was about 100 m. above the ground. Then it zigzagged back and forth at treetop level for another minute or so until finally deciding on a final landing destination – a tree just starting to catch the morning light.
The deep maroon eye indicates that this Dark-eyed Junco is an adult (vs juvenile) bird.
Numbers picked up again today, possibly a function of the northerly winds. Clearly there had been a fresh pulse of migrants during the night.
For comparison: plumage detail of male American Goldfinches; HY bird on the left, AHY on the right.
Banded 79:
1 Blue Jay
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Brown Creeper
2 Winter Wrens
17 Golden-crowned Kinglets
11 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
5 Hermit Thrushes
2 American Robins
1 Cedar Waxwing
5 European Starlings
1 Blue-headed Vireo
1 Tennessee Warbler
1 Nashville Warbler
6 Myrtle Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal
5 Song Sparrows
10 White-throated Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco
4 Purple Finches
1 House Finch
2 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 45 spp.
Bill Read contemplating the meaning of life.
Rick