October 17th – What A Difference A Day Makes

Titmice are becoming commonplace at Ruthven.     -K. Duncan

Titmice are becoming commonplace at Ruthven. -K. Duncan


Yesterday there were birds everywhere and we were catching throughout the day. When the dust settled we had banded 211 but for me the real indicator was that we caught birds at the rate of 124 per 100 net hours. ONe net hour is equal to one 12-meter net being open for an hour. It isn’t very often that you get a rate of >100 birds per 100 net hours. But the conditions were right: a front moving through with unfavourable winds (SW – headwinds) and precipitation to bring migrants to ground.

Today was a much different story. The front had passed; the wind shifted to the W; and precipitation was many hours away. The result was that we banded only 56 birds, caught at the rate of only 39 birds per 100 net hours. The drop in numbers was very noticeable as the flocks of Cedar Waxwings that we witnessed yesterday had moved on and we banded only 3, compared to 108 the day before.

Still, our first net round was pretty solid but after that, and as the skies cleared, the numbers dwindled so that by closing time we were catching nothing.

The European Starling we caught the other day with a lump on its bill also had a small lump over the right eye.  -K. Duncan

The European Starling we caught the other day with a lump on its bill also had a small lump over the right eye. -K. Duncan


Banded 56:
1 Brown Creeper
5 Golden-crowned Kinglets
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Hermit Thrush
12 American Robins
3 Cedar Waxwings
11 Myrtle Warblers
1 Chipping Sparrow
4 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
12 White-throated Sparrows
4 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 40

Rick

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