As the cooler weather comes and the leaves change colour, my attention somehow shifts from the colours in the sunrise when opening, to the radiant colours of the leaves.  I’m not sure if the cooler nights have added to the vibrancy of the colours, but they seem extra bold this year. Saturday I had a number of people join me for the morning, some learning how to scribe, others how to band and it’s a good thing as it was a busy morning for me!  I was able to open 4 nets, but my bee net remained closed due to frost (it’s in a slightly lower area than the others) and I left it closed as there were enough birds in the other nets to keep me and my new proteges busy for the morning.

Banded:
American Goldfinch – 7
Myrtle Warbler – 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 1
Slate-coloured Junco – 2
Chipping Sparrow – 1
House Finch – 2
White-throated Sparrow – 1
Song Sparrow – 3
American Robin – 1
Blue Jay – 2

Recaps:
Black-capped Chickadees – 3
House Finch – 2

Total 30 (25 banded, 5 recaps)

Tia measuring the wing chord for her bird.

A scribe? What a great idea! Banding on your own involves a lot of dexterity and speed. It was nice to have some people by this weekend to help make the process more enjoyable. Thanks Shelley.

Jenna holding the first SCJU for my site this year. They’ve been around but this was the first to find a net.

Not only did she get to release the Blue Jay, but she got a bit of extra time to enjoy it hanging out in her hand before it decided to fly away. Both Blue Jays today were the first ones I’ve caught outside of my feeder net.

Tristan returned for some more banding and luckily this time we had a few more birds for him to band.

October 9th

Earlier in the week, Liam took some time to come out and help me set up a net lane, hopefully where we won’t run into poison ivy… As you can see in the photo, the little pocket in the evergreen plantation is full of dogwoods, goldenrod and a plethora of other vegetation.  I was hoping to get a few more birds in this net over the weekend, but my meadow nets seem to be the ones filling up with birds.

Banded:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 2
Myrtle Warbler – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 2
House Finch – 1
Brown-headed Cowbird – 1
White-throated Sparrow – 5
Eastern White-crowned Sparrow – 1
American Robin – 1

Recaps:
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 1

Total: 18 (14 Banded, 4 Recaps)

Liam checking out the net lane after we set up. We did get a Golden-crowned Kinglet and a Chickadee that evening.