Saturday was wet – it rained on and off (but mostly on) throughout most of the morning and into the afternoon….and then into the night. We had a very enthusiastic crew of young birders ready to go first thing Saturday morning (in fact, some of them got there before I did!). But it was a hurry up and wait sort of situation. While waiting for a lull in the rain we discussed things like ethics (if you lived in 1933 would you would you kill Hitler? – a question one of the kids was faced with in an ethics class at school) and played brain teasers. But when the lull came we zipped up some nets to see what we might catch. But the birds weren’t fooled by the lull; they largely stayed hunkered down out of the weather….and well away from the nets. And then it started to rain again……


The most interesting birds of the day were the shorebirds that hung out on the gravel bar at the head of Slink Island. There was a Killdeer, Great Yellowlegs, 3 Spotted Sandpipers, and a Solitary Sandpiper. The Solitary showed some very interesting behaviour: with wings raised it hopped back and forth quickly, splashing with its wings. I had never seen this before.

Today was a different story. The rain during the night delayed migration from starting and we were surrounded with migrants when it got light. These were likely birds that had set off north of Toronto and put down as soon as they could once they had cleared the lake. This was the first time that the “Baggers” – the young guys, the hope of the future so to speak, had a chance to try out their nets. And hats off to them: they did great! They caught and banded (at the BAGend banding station – hence the name “Baggers”) 52 birds of 19 species; 72% of them were warblers! These nets don’t figure into our overall migration monitoring data collection – most of the nets for that have been in place and in use for over 15 years. But the BAGend nets do allow us to sample the bird movement in the river flats for comparison with what we’re catching in the main banding area.

We had a couple of exciting birds: the first Connecticut Warbler of the year was one; the other was the first ever buteo caught at the station – a young Red-tailed Hawk. We surprised it chowing down on a Song Sparrow as we approached net 4. It flew up and right into the net and just lay there, not knowing what to do. Extracting hawks requires great care – a big raptor can sink its talons right through your hand. But once the legs are secured they’re fairly easy to handle. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a band large enough to put on it.

September 12th; Banded 10:
2 Eastern Wood Pewees
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Warbling Vireo
1 Philadelphia Vireo
3 Red-eyed Vireos
2 Chestnut-sided Warblers

ET’s: 44 spp.

September 13th; Banded 77:
6 Eastern Wood Pewees
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Gray cheeked Thrush
1 Gray Catbird
2 Cedar Waxwings
1 Warbling Vireo
1 Philadelphia Vireo
14 Red-eyed Vireos
11 Tennessee Warblers
5 Nashville Warblers
2 Chestnut-sided Warblers
5 Magnolia Warblers
1 Black-throated Warbler
4 Black-throated Green Warblers
1 Blackburnian Warbler
6 Bay-breasted Warblers
7 Blackpoll Warblers
2 American Redstarts
1 Ovenbird
1 Wilson’s Warbler
1 Connecticut Warbler
1 Scarlet Tanager
2 Song Sparrows

ET’s: 61 spp.

Bagger (RiverFlats) Banding: 52 birds:
1 Eastern Wood Pewee
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Swainson’s Thrush
1 Gray Catbird
6 Cedar Waxwings
1 Red-eyed Vireo
10 Tennessee Warblers
2 Chestnut-sided Warblers
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Black-throated Green Warbler
2 Blackburnian Warblers
1 Western Palm Warbler
6 Bay-breasted Warblers
9 Blackpoll Warblers
2 Black and White Warblers
1 Canada Warbler
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Wilson’s Warbler
4 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks

Photo Gallery:

Rick