Female Red-winged Blackbird. -B. McCreadie
Although it went down to 7 degrees last night – a perfect night for Saw-whets although we didn’t get one – it warmed up quickly this morning and by mid-morning was t-shirt weather. Hot sunshine, deep blue skies, light westerly winds….hardly felt like Fall at all, despite the leafless trees.
The birds weren’t nearly as noticeable today as they have been in the past couple of days. Sure, there were still lots of Cedar Waxwings and Yellow-rumped (or Myrtle) Warblers around but they weren’t abundant. As well, the variety of birds was lower. We will need a change in the weather to perk things up.
I find that one of the best indicators of the level of bird numbers at the site on a particular day is the birds banded per 100 net hours (1×12 meter net open for 1 hour = 1 net hour). On the 7th it was 112; on the 8th 54; and today 32. So things have been tailing off. There’s still lots of birds to come…they just aren’t here yet.
Cedar Waxwings are abundant throughout the banding area right now. -B. McCreadie
The Cedar Waxwings are fun to watch. They move in tight knit flocks of variable size – from 5 or six up to 80 or more. They are especially fond of grapes and, this year, we have a bumper crop so they’re taking full advantage. Right now they spend most of their time in the treetops getting the higher-up berries but before too long they will be descending to get at the big clusters below (and closer to the nets). But they’re also good flycatchers and after it warms up you can see them expertly hawking insects over the river. Larger catches they beat back and forth on a branch to get them to a more manageable size for ingesting.
A pair of Killdeer have been hanging around the parking lot for some time now….possibly staking out the territory for next year. -B. McCreadie
Today we counted 4 Monarch Butterflies (yes, we keep track of these too). This is the highest count so far this Fall. But this is so far down from previous years (as everyone else is experiencing). It’s concerning actually. What does this indicate about our environment? Is the big Monarch Butterfly migration a thing of the past? What are we doing…….?
Large flocks of European Starlings dot the local countryside. -B. McCreadie
Banded 56:
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Gray-cheeked Thrush
6 Hermit Thrushes
7 Cedar Waxwings
1 Nashville Warbler
20 Myrtle Warblers
4 Chipping Sparrows
2 Field Sparrows
2 Song Sparrows
10 White-throated Sparrows
ET’s: 38 spp.
Rick