The first Fox Sparrow of the Fall – one of my favourite sparrows.
There was a hard frost last night – a killing frost it’s sometimes called. The sort of frost that pulls late migrants down from the north and late persisting leaves down from the trees, both of which ended up in our nets (leaves more so than migrants…much more so). We caught and banded the first Fox Sparrows of the season; and Hermit Thrushes and juncos appeared in increased numbers. But….the Yellow-rumped Warblers have pretty well gone through – this was the first day in October that we didn’t band any and our estimated total for them was only 3. The end of the migration is in sight I’m afraid.
An AHY Hermit Thrush missing most of its right leg – an old, well-healed injury.
It’s often thought that in the “survival of the fittest” only the fit survive. But this isn’t necessarily the case. Birds suffer from a wide range of afflictions and many of these survive. We often see flat, blood-sucking proboscid flies that emerge from under the feathers of their hosts. These are voracious, well-adapted to slipping under feathers and lying flat against their host’s skin while they suck blood. The fat loads and masses of birds carrying these don’t seem to be adversely affected. And today we came upon two birds with other anomalies. One, a Hermit Thrush, had lost most of its right leg. It was an old injury that clearly had healed well. The bird was at least in its second year and appeared to be thriving, carrying lots of fat. The other was a young White-throated Sparrow that had a greatly engorged tick emanating from its right ear. We removed the tick and will send it on to John Scott for examination. This bird too appeared to be in good shape. I guess, in the long run, the question would be: do these birds produce progeny or just “get by”?
An engorged tick protruding from the ear of this young White-throated Sparrow.
Banded 49:
3 Northern Saw-whet Owls (caught by Matt Timpf during the night)
1 Eastern Phoebe
1 Black-capped Chickadee
5 Golden-crowned Kinglets
7 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
11 Hermit Thrushes
1 American Robins
2 Cedar Waxwings
2 Fox Sparrows
1 Song Sparrow
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
12 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 American Goldfinch
ET’s: 39 spp.
Rick