It was a busy weekend. Marnie and Liam held the fort on Saturday while Laurel, Anna, and I took over today. The number of sparrows has been spectacular, especially Song Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows. The two-day total for Songs was 54 and for Swamps 73. These numbers just continued to swell the Fall totals for these two species to 362 and 307 respectively. We’ve never seen anything like it at the Farm before and it has to be the direct result of the conversion of the field to prairie grasses.
October 21st: Banded 81:
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
7 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
2 White-breasted Nuthatches

1 Brown Creeper

2 Field Sparrows
1 Eastern White-crowned Sparrow
3 White-throated Sparrows
33 Song Sparrows
2 Lincoln’s Sparrows
28 Swamp Sparrows
1 Myrtle Warbler
Birds per 100 net hours: 163
ET’s: 39 spp.

October 22nd; Banded 100:

1 Blue-headed Vireo

2 Golden-crowned Kinglets
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Hermit Thrush
1 American Robin

1 House Finch
4 American Goldfinches
2 Field Sparrows
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
5 White-throated Sparrows
31 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
45 Swamp Sparrows
1 Myrtle Warbler
1 Northern Cardinal
Birds per 100 net hours: 204
ET’s: 30 spp.

The title of this post should actually read: One Busy & One VERY Busy Day. We banded 239 birds over the course of these two days. Both were characterized by light northerly winds, cool temperatures, and mostly overcast skies. Both days were also characterized with two good crews of extractors, banders, and scribes which made the processing of the birds relatively efficient and safe.


On both days the field has been filled with sparrows – mostly Song and Swamp Sparrows with a smattering of others. They have resulted in a large percentage of our catch. Interestingly a large proportion of the catching has been done by the 6 nets to the West of the banding hut; the 4 to the East side account for quite a few less. Both sets of nets are close to the grassy meadow but the main difference is that the West end has a significant growth of of shrubs associated with the edge habitat while the East side has much less. We have been concentrating our efforts to date on improving the edge habitat on the West side – and it’s paying off. Now we have to do the same at the other end. Dogwoods are especially important in the shrub mix and attract a lot of birds.

October 15th; Banded 76:

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay

12 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Hermit Thrush

4 Dark-eyed Juncos
3 White-throated Sparrows
19 Song Sparrows
2 Lincoln’s Sparrows
27 Swamp Sparrows
3 Myrtle Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal

Today, the 17th, was an especially notable day. We were catching from first light on into the afternoon. And when the dust – or feathers – had settled, we had set a new Farm record – 163 birds banded!! This id only a few days after we set the last record of 160 birds. Our team, which consisted of Joanne, Anna and myself were constantly on the go and the birds, which normally begin to take a rest later in the morning and tail off, just kept coming. It was exciting and extremely interesting.

At one point we decided to simply “ring and fling” Song Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows to save time. As well as sparrows, we also caught a good number of kinglets and the first Purple Finches of the Fall migration.


Banded 163:
2 Black-capped Chickadees
29 Ruby-crowned Kinglets

2 Golden-crowned Kinglets
3 Hermit thrushes
11 Cedar Waxwings
2 Purple Finches
11 American Goldfinches
2 Field Sparrows
1 Dark-eyed Junco
4 White-throated Sparrows
47 Song Sparrows
5 Lincoln’s Sparrows

28 Swamp Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
1 Common Yellowthroat
3 Myrtle Warblers

1 Northern Cardinal.

More Pics:

Friday the 13th has for ages, literally, been associated with terrible myths and activities from the betrayal of Christ to the gathering of bikers in Port Dover (the latter a very clever marketing ploy by the town I would imagine). There was nothing auspicious about this particular Friday the 13th – maybe a little chirping from the edges as I strolled beside the meadow enjoying the crisp air and the colours of a coming dawn but nothing to hint at what was to come.

The sun slowly broke the horizon gilding the meadow and trees….and stirred an abundance of birds that had likely moved in during the night and were awaiting this moment to begin replenishing the energy they had used up getting here and to store more so that they could move on. And these birds had found a bonanza: surrounded by soybean deserts (and local farmers had been busy taking off their crop before the coming rain) was a 7-acre cornucopia of grass seeds and associated insects.

I knew something was up when birds were hitting the nets before they were even fully opened. For the next 6 hours there was a constant movement of birds – mostly sparrows – over the meadow and between it and the edge. It was almost overwhelming, so I was very glad to see Karen Petrie’s arrival, someone with good net extraction skills. Even so, it was “ring and fling” for several hours to stay on top of the rush. Karen would feed me bags filled with birds that needed banding and I would feed Karen with empty bags that needed filling. [Ring and fling refers to a reduced banding methodology in which the bander puts a band on the bird (“rings”), identifies it, determines the age and sex, and then releases it without taking any morphometric measurements (“fling”). When the dust had settled we tallied up our efforts: we had set a new banding record for the site – 160!!
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Gray-cheeked Thrush
7 Hermit Thrushes
5 American Goldfinches (4 of which were adult females going through a complete moult)

5 Dark-eyed Juncos

1 Savannah Sparrow

5 Eastern White-crowned Sparrows

28 White-throated Sparrows
60 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
44 Swamp Sparrows
1 Northern Cardinal
ET’s: 40 spp.
I promise that I’m not going to keep on harping about this but you’ll notice that sparrows make up 90% of the number banded today. Skeptics might weigh in that the numbers of sparrows we’re catching this year might simply be a fluke, a coincidence. And, you know, they might be right but….I can’t see that being the case. I think the dramatic increase in sparrow numbers here is a direct result of the conversion of a soybean field to a meadow with prairie grasses and the seeds they produce enticing these birds to stop and feed. Haldimand is festooned with industrially farmed fields that yield next to no food. In fact, this style of farming has been identified as one of the major causes of the dramatic decline of bird numbers that has been documented from the 1960’s. I feel pretty strongly that what we’re seeing here is no coincidence; it’s the direct result of the growth of a natural food source. Sort of an oasis in a desert.

Comnpared to last year we’re way ahead already in the number of some sparrows banded: Song Sparrows (232 vs 77); Lincoln’s Sparrows (50 vs 4); Swamp Sparrows (169 vs 82). We currently sit at 80 White-throated Sparrows (vs 124) but our records show that the bulk of this species comes through during the second half of the month…so we’ll see where our total ends up.
Rick

Over the 5 days from Thursday to today (Tuesday) there has a been a big shift in the weather….thank goodness. It was beginning to feel like Summer would never let go! Hot, muggy conditions persisted throughout September…and so did the mosquitoes. I certainly hope this isn’t the “new normal” but I’m pessimistic enough to think that it just might be. Anyway, the Summer finally broke with a downpour through Wednesday night limiting me to a late start on the 6th. It was still warm but not hot and the forecasts were all predicting the coming of cold. I think a lot of birds took off from the Farm ahead of the rain and weren’t replaced by newcomers from farther north. Even the meadow was quiet.
October 6th; Banded 11:
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 House Wren

1 White-throated Sparrow
3 Song Sparrows

4 Swamp Sparrows
I tried for owls the night of the 6th but got nothing. they’re yet to come….

The 7th was much cooler. It was noted that there “was a lot of sparrow action in the meadow.” Compared to the soybean desert across the road (the beans were taken off when it was hot and dry), the number of birds using the meadow is phenomenal – the grasses provide so much food. It’s sobering to let your mind drift back to the days when grasslands and old hay fields were a common part of the topography. The soybean fields are much more extensive but provide NO food, especially for seed-eaters. It will be interesting to see if our 7 acres become a common stopover site for travelling sparrows.
October 7th; Banded 31:
1 Eastern Phoebe
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Gray Catbird
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 White-crowned Sparrow
1 White-throated Sparrow
10 Song Sparrows

2 Lincoln’s Sparrows
10 Swamp Sparrows
2 Common Yellowthroats

The 8th was cool and windy with rain threatening…but not materializing. Again, the meadow was busy with sparrows. The birds can readily be seen flying up and then dropping back down into another feeding spot or flying from the meadow to the edge…and back again. A full 90% of the birds banded today were sparrows. But we’re noticing that warblers, especially the late-migrating Myrtle Warblers, are few and far between. The wind was again a factor, billowing the nets and filling a few with leaves. We spent a fair amount of time clearing them – but couldn’t come close to the record set by Elaine Serena and myself when it took an hour and a half to clear and close a double net situated under a Black Walnut canopy.
October 8th; Banded 32:
1 Winter Wren

1 Gray Catbird
1 Hermit Thrush
1 White-throated Sparrow
14 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
13 Swamp Sparrows

October 9th was a journey down Memory Lane and a stark warning of the changes wrought by Time and Age. Check out these photos:

Despite the cold wind, we were pretty busy as the meadow was again awash with sparrows which made up almost 77% of the day’s catch.
October 9th; Banded 43:
2 Eastern Phoebes
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Tufted Titmouse
4 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Field Sparrow
1 White-crowned Sparrow
14 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
16 Swamp Sparrows
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Western Palm Warbler

October 10th; Another day of cold wind. Sparrows weren’t quite as active as they have been in the past couple of days. Interestingly, they seemed to have shifted to the east end of the field leaving the more heavily netted area to the west. Not sure why but the east end was more sheltered from the winds. Sarah counted over 30 using the eastern edge of the meadow while she was doing a census. I wonder what we’d catch if we had the nets and the personpower to run a line of nets around the field on the 3 sides away from the road…..
The new meadow is paying off in terms of sparrow numbers, especially for 3 sparrow species. But for warblers we’ve been having a fairly dismal season. So far this Fall, warblers have made up only 13% of our banding totals vs 58% for sparrows. And in October, a time when Myrtle Warblers should be swelling our totals we’re at only 4% for warblers vs 76% for sparrows. Further, the sparrow numbers are made up largely of just 3 species: Song, Lincoln’s, and Swamp. White-throat numbers are down (but hopefully will pick up soon). Here’s some numbers for comparison:
Species 2021 2022 2023
White-throated Sparrow 38 124 52
Song Sparrow 21 77 172
Lincoln’s Sparrow 1 4 49
Swamp Sparrow 26 82 125
Myrtle Warbler 6 163 20
We still have about 3 weeks to go so these numbers will change but I’m hoping that White-throats and Myrtles will show an influx.
October 10th; Banded 24:
3 Eastern Phoebes
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
8 Song Sparrows
9 Swamp Sparrows

1 Ovenbird

Rick