Although it has the veneer of a psychiatric disorder, it isn’t. NDD – or Nature Deficit Disorder – was cleverly coined to draw attention to the large, and growing disparity between humans, especially children, and an awareness of the natural world around us. Most children in our culture can not identify 5 bird species…but can recognize, on average, 200 corporate logos. As most of us are aware, the well-being of the world we live in is on thin ice. It’s important that “people” start to do what they can to protect “the environment”. But that’s sort of an empty sentiment when most of the “people” don’t know what is in that environment – how can we ask them to protect and maintain something they have no idea about?

Fern Hill School has seen this disconnect as a problem and, following Joanne Fleet’s initiative, has fostered a field studies aspect to their education which includes the study and banding of birds. It’s a line of teaching that’s right up my alley, something I really believe in. After setting up nets last week we got going in earnest this week. What is encouraging is the interest that the students show in birds. We are starting our “Young Ornithologists” Club this week. It was supposed to be Thursday but we had enthusiasts, some of whom had been involved with banding in the Spring, run with it today, as soon as the opportunity arose. There’s a real hands-on aspect to their involvement – I try to get interested students “doing” as soon as possible – from youngsters scribing to older students walking through holding birds and then, with help, actually banding. We’ll have no trouble filling this club. Hopefully, those involved will carry this interest and knowledge into the future.

Yesterday (18th) at Fern Hill Burlington we banded 23 birds:
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 House Wren
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 American Robin
5 Gray Catbirds
1 American Goldfinch
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
3 Tennessee Warblers
2 Nashville Warblers
1 American Redstart
2 Common Yellowthroats
1 Northern Cardinal
ET’s: 29 spp.

September 19th at the Farm:

I don’t think I was ever meant to be a hermit but I must admit that being on my own at the Farm today was a treat. Blue skies, light winds and a river of birds moving along the edges and filtering through the treetops. Unfortunately I didn’t get much of a chance to just kick back and take it all in. Birds were finding the nets. At one point a flock of 18 juvenile Cedar Waxwings decided to pile into Net #1 at the same time. They’d been feasting on grapes as my hands would have indicated……Interestingly, the “late” warblers, Myrtles and Blackpolls are starting to move through as are White-throated Sparrows, a species I usually associate more with October.
Banded 72:
4 Eastern Wood Pewees
2 Blue-headed Vireos
3 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 House Wren
2 Marsh Wrens
1 American Robin
18 Cedar Waxwings
2 White-throated Sparrows
6 Song Sparrows
3 Swamp Sparrows
5 Nashville Warblers
4 Common Yellowthroats
1 Magnolia Warbler
2 Blackpoll Warblers
1 Western Palm Warbler
14 Myrtle Warblers
1 Northern Cardinal
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
ET’s: 39 spp.
Rick

In these days, if you listen to the news at all, it’s difficult not to get depressed with each new climate disaster – fires, floods, storms, disease outbreaks. A recent article in the Guardian notes: Earth’s life support systems have been so damaged that the planet is “well outside the safe operating space for humanity”, scientists have warned. A sense of hopelessness seems to be setting in and that disaster in inevitable. It’s a difficult feeling to ignore. There’s also a sense of helplessness, that nothing I do (or we do) can make a difference. I’ve given up on hoping that governments will do the right things and I’m putting my hope (what little remains) in the collective impact of small initiatives that individuals and groups can do. I really do think that decision makers are missing the boat and we’re simply trying to put band-aids on the results of the main problem, the one that is driving this change: over-population. Just recently I heard about an international conference in which nations expressed the need to increase their populations, that many countries were concerned that their populations were, in fact, decreasing. Other than having a work force to feed pensions, how is this a bad thing? It’s go me shaking my head.

But I have to do something, not just give up. So I have been trying to find some small way to do what I can. The above article outlined two important issues that must be addressed: Phasing out fossil fuel burning and ending destructive farming are the key actions required. That’s why the Hurkmans Farm project is so important to me. We’re taking a small 7-acre field, historically used to grow soybeans and corn, and turning it into a meadow of prairie grasses and native wildflowers. On the one hand it’s been a labour of love; on the other, it’s a lot of hard work.

The grasses (Big Blue Stem, Native Switch Grass, and Indian Grass) were planted last Fall and, with the good growing conditions resulting from this Summer’s rains, have “exploded” and are now head-height….or taller. The next step was to begin the planting of native wildflowers to go along with the grasses and diversify the habitat for insects and birds. On Saturday a “team” of 23+ volunteers arrived to plant over 1,250 wildflower plugs. The flower seed is locally sourced and grown at Kayanase Greenhouse at 6 Nations of the Grand River in Oshweken.

We worked in small teams through much of the morning until all the plugs were in the ground. The wildflowers included: Dense Blazing Star, Brown-eyed Susan, Butterfly Weed, Hairy Beardtongue, Nodding Onion, Lance-leaved Coreopsis, Spotted Bee Balm, Purple Coneflower, Wild Bergamot, Swamp Milkweed, Blue Vervain, Boneset, and Spotted Joe-Pye-Weed. The plantings targeted the northern 10 meters of the field and were divided between dry and wet areas depending on the species. It was a big job but, as the saying goes, many hands make light work. And while we had many hands I don’t think my knees and back would agree with the light work part. I will be watching with great interest how this project unfolds – and I hope some of you take the time to visit the site and wander the paths through the meadow. In the great scheme of things it’s only 7 acres but if we made it a point to develop small wild spaces, even very small ones (like in our yards), their collective area and value would improve the world around us greatly..

And while all this activity was going on, we ran some nets to do some banding. It was a slow day – even well before all the planters arrived. I had been thinking that lots of birds would have required my having to band or oversee the banding thus providing an excuse to shirk my planting duties. But the birds didn’t co-operate.

Banded 8:
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
3 Common Yellowthroats
1 Indigo Bunting
ET’s: 44 spp.
Some pictures from the day:

Today, the 17th, it seemed even slower than yesterday even though there was considerable cloud cover that got my hopes up. There was almost no activity up high in the treetops but….we still managed to band 17 birds including the first Blue-headed Vireo and Blackpoll Warbler of the migration.

Banded 17:
1 Blue-headed Vireo

1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 House Wren
4 Song Sparrows
2 Lincoln’s Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
3 Common Yellowthroats

1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 Northern Cardinal
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
1 Indigo Bunting
ET’s: 27 spp.
Rick

It’s been a hectic four days in which I’ve been bouncing back and forth, splitting my time between the Farm and Fern Hill School’s Burlington campus. The Farm is magic with it’s acres of waving prairie grasses – which will be augmented tomorrow with a planting of over 1200 native wildflower plugs. It’s really exciting to watch how this project unfolds and to see its impact on the natural life of the area. Fern Hill is also magic but in a much different way: if you stand at the field studies building (aka banding hut) and look south all you can see is the buildings and highways of Hamilton but leading to it is a wonderful green corridor of edge habitat that Fern Hill provides. Over the years we’ve shown that it provides an important route for migrating passerines, providing food and shelter.
September 12th – Fern Hill: The first thing we had to do was clear net lanes and get a start on putting up nets. We managed to only erect and run two….but it was a start.
Banded 12:
1 House Wren
1 Gray Catbird
1 Cedar Waxing
1 Tennessee Warbler
2 Nashville Warblers
5 Chipping Sparrows
1 Song Sparrow
ET’s: 20 spp.

September 13th – the Farm:
A significant migration had been forecast for the night of the 12th but I find these things are sort of like weather forecasts: sometimes they’re right and sometimes…. An influx of migrants was NOT evident, although we did get a few “new” birds. If anything, a large number of our edge-loving sparrows had heard the prediction and had decided to take off and join in the rush.
Banded 27:
2 Eastern Wood Pewees
1 Yellow-bellied flycatcher
1 Least Flycatcher
2 Eastern Phoebes
1 Red-eyed Vireo
2 House Wrens
2 Gray Catbirds
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Cedar Waxwing
4 Song Sparrows
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
4 Swamp Sparrows
2 Common Yellowthroats
2 Bay-breasted Warblers
1 Indigo Bunting
ET’s: 33 spp.

September 14th – Fern Hill
I was busy clearing another net lane when teacher Alex Webb (henceforth just Alex) brought a class of grade ones around to see how this thing was done. I was talking to them about birds when this one little guy pointed up to one soaring overhead. Great! A Red-tailed Hawk. But then….HOLY MACKERELS! High above the red-tail were a bunch of dots circling in a thermal. These dots, on closer scrutiny turned out to be a kettle of Broad-winged Hawks. And behind it was another kettle of them….and then another. Circling dots are very difficult to count but I estimated that there were over 100 between the 3 groupings. The grade ones moved on probably wondering what the big deal was and certainly thinking that this old guy was making much ado about nothing. Broad-wings continued to move in from the east, catch the rising thermal, quickly reaching great heights before breaking out of it and moving on to the SW. I counted well over 200 Broad-wings.Just as quickly as it had started, it ended. I became aware of this migratory movement at 9:30 and it was finished at 10:05. What a marvellous passage. I wonder how far they got before roosting for the night.

Banded 19:
1 Northern Flicker
4 Black-capped Chickadees
1 Eastern Bluebird
1 Gray Catbird
2 Red-eyed Vireos
2 Song Sparrows
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Black-throated Warbler
1 Bay-breasted Warbler
4 Common Yellowthroats
ET’s: 29 spp.

September 15th – the Farm:
The cool temperatures last night knocked the mosquitoes back: they weren’t a factor until the sun was well up around 10 and even then weren’t nearly so aggravating as they’ve been earlier. Still, there’s always that one that seems to find your ear hole with its incessant drone….There wasn’t a lot of activity in the treetops or along the edges, although the first round was pretty good. After that it was slow but steady with all nets catching. With today’s catch of 42 birds, our Fall total stands at 152, with only 4 days of operation. Last year, when the weather was so lousy, we managed only 96 birds banded over 10 days. So is it just weather making the difference or is the “new” field having an impact. My guess is that both are involved. Interestingly, 42% of the birds banded are seed-eating sparrows.
Banded 42:
3 Eastern Wood Pewees
1 Eastern Phoebe
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 House Wren
3 Gray Catbirds
11 Song Sparrows
3 Lincoln’s Sparrows
3 Swamp Sparrows
8 Common Yellowthroats
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
1 Myrtle Warbler
2 Black-throated Green Warblers
2 Northern Cardinals
1 Indigo Bunting
ET’s: 30 spp.
Rick

Liam was out bright and early Sunday morning; in fact, he had the nets opened before I even got there shortly before 7:00. You gotta love youthful zeal! And this zeal was rewarded: we banded 63 birds of 13 species, one of our highest totals at the Farm. And it shows (or at least I think it shows – it’s not just a coincidence) that the prairie grass meadow is starting to pay off….for both birds and insects. There was a lot of movement of birds between the meadow and the forest/wetland edge – in both directions. There’s now a LOT of food in the meadow, it’s no longer a soybean desert. This activity was quite noticeable and both Liam and I agreed that we had never seen this level of activity at the Farm before. We’re pretty certain there’s a connection. The brush piles along the edge, made up of the buckthorn that was cut down in the Spring, help a lot too. We can move birds on the edge along toward nets by walking slowly toward them and flushing them from their brush pile hiding places.

And it’s not just birds that seem to be benefiting. Karen spent a lot of time roving along the meadow edge and noted (numerous times) that there seemed to be more butterflies and other sorts of insects about (besides mosquitoes – which the Summer rains have produced in droves). It would be interesting to have an “insect person” do an inventory of the field and environs. Anyone out there interested?
We ended up banding 63 birds:
2 Eastern Wood Pewees
6 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Black-capped Chickadee
4 House Wrens
1 Carolina Wren
3 Gray Catbirds
1 Swainson’s Thrush
21 Song Sparrows
8 Swamp Sparrows
1 Nashville Warbler
6 Common Yellowthroats
2 Magnolia Warblers
7 Indigo Buntings

ET’s: 42 spp.

Some of Karen’s Pics: