GO JAYS!!!!!!!!
It has been a busy, hectic 4 days filled with banding, family celebrations, and nail-biting sports competitions (GO JAYS!!!…..OSKI WEE WEE….Ticats Eat ’em raw!!!). So I have found myself choosing sleep at the end of the day rather than posting a daily blog. But below you will find the latest banding news and lots of pictures (thankfully, most were not taken by me) from the past 4 days.
October 9th – Blustery Day
The rain that came through the night stopped by seven o’clock this morning and all of the nets were opened in anticipation of a busy day. It was unsettled all morning, winds switching to the northwest which brought cooler temperatures and eventually, nets full of leaves.
This Downy Woodpecker was hatched in 2006 and banded in 2007 – making it 9 years old now. -N. Furber
Banded 67:
2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
1 House Wren
9 Golden-crowned Kinglet
7 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
A young (HY) Hermit Thrush. -N. Furber
2 Hermit Thrush
A very late Red-eyed Vireo (with a brown eye telling you it’s a young bird). -N. Furber
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Magnolia Warbler
34 Myrtle Warbler
7 White-throated Sparrow
1 Slate-colored Junco
1 American Goldfinch
ET’s: 40 spp.
Nancy
October 9th; Fern Hill School: Robins Galore
Fern Hill is right at the transition between scattered woodlots and fields and the heavy urbanization zone of Burlington and Hamilton – which migrants must cross on their way south. It was interesting this morning to see large numbers of American Robins dropping down into the last wild refuge – the Fern Hill area – rather than start to make the crossing. Fortunately Fern Hill has a good berry/fruit crop that migrants can take advantage of. I counted (conservatively) 90 robins in the course of about 3 hours moving into the area. This underscores the importance to migrants of maintaining small wild areas wherever possible.
Banded26:
1 Hairy Woodpecker
9 American Robins
1 Blue-headed Vireo
1 Nashville Warbler
6 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 Chipping Sparrow
2 Song Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
2 White-crowned Sparrows
1 House Finch
ET’s: 29 spp.
Rick
October 9th – Bagger Banding:
Two of the Ruthven Baggers, Ben and Alessandra, were able to go hawk banding with Bill Read south of St. Thomas, close to Hawk Cliff. They caught and banded 6 Sharp-shinned Hawks and Alessandra discovered a baby Snapping Turtle. As Alessandra said: the hawk banding “was soooooo cool!”
An older Sharp-shinned Hawk (red eye). -A. Wilcox
Young Sharp-shinned Hawk. -A. Wilcox
Alessandra with a baby Snapping Turtle. -A. Wilcox
Baby Snapping Turtle. -A. Wilcox
Sharp-shinned Hawk with nets in the background. -A. Wilcox
October 10th:
We had a big first round but the catching dropped off dramatically when the sun got up and the day turned wondrous – drat this nice weather!!
Banded 54:
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Golden-crowned Kinglets
6 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Hermit Thrush
Orange-crowned Warbler.
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
8 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal
1 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
20 White-throated Sparrows
An adult (AHY) White-crowned Sparrow. -K. Vandenberg
1 White-crowned Sparrow
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
8 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 45 spp.
Photo Gallery:
Adhara and Erika releasing birds.
Justin releasing a Yellow-rumped Warbler. -K. Vandenberg
Cameron helps his dad avoid this cardinal’s bill. -K. Vandenberg
White-throated Sparrow. -K. Vandenberg
Bagger Banding:
The Baggers were pretty busy this morning, catching and banding 26 birds from their 7 river flat nets; a large majority were sparrows which seem to really like the scrubby second growth of the flats.
Banded 26:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Golden-crowned Kinglets
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Northern Cardinal
1 Song Sparrow
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
14 White-throated Sparrows
1 American Goldfinch
Bald Eagles have been sighted daily. -R. Camasta
October 11th – Beautiful Weather….Still
We had a pretty good movement of birds during the first half of the morning. The highlight was the catching of 6 Eastern Bluebirds. One was a recapture of a bird that was banded as a nestling in the Spring in a nest box at the farm just across the highway but the others were all “new”.
The 6 Eastern Bluebirds we caught at the same time in the same net.
Stunning male Eastern Bluebird. -A. Wilcox
4 male Eastern Bluebirds. -A. Wilcox
AHY male (top) and HY male (bottom) Eastern Bluebirds. -A. Wilcox
Bagger Banding; Banded 14:
1 Hermit Thrush
2 Tennessee Warblers
2 Yellow-rumped Warblers
2 Song Sparrows
7 White-throated Sparrows
Photo Gallery:
White-throated Sparrow numbers are beginning to wane. -R. Camasta
This White-throated Sparrow has a pronounced fault bar on its tail. -R. Camasta
Turkey Vultures are on the move. -R. Camasta
Western Palm Warbler. -R. Camasta
Rusty Blackbirds have begun to arrive. -R. Camasta
October 12th – The Car Show:
Over 400 classic cars found their way to Ruthven this morning….and parked just about anywhere there was space. I never fail to be amazed by the high state of polish that their owners achieve in getting the cars ready – they gleam. I parked my car in their proximity hoping that they would take pity on it and give it a good waxing but, alas, to no avail.
Just a few of the over 400 classic cars at Ruthven on Holiday Monday.
The heavy traffic coupled with the strong SW winds caused us to close up shop early. Birds were few and far between by 10 o’clock.
Banded 33:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
5 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
3 Hermit thrushes
3 Cedar Waxwings
11 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Blackpoll Warbler
2 Song Sparrows
5 White-throated Sparrows
1 House Finch
ET’s: 40 spp.
Baggers on the prowl.
Bagger Banding; Banded 15:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Common Yellowthroat
3 Song Sparrows
3 White-throated Sparrows
5 Dark-eyed Juncos
Rick