Pockets of birds dotted the site, mostly along the river and along the stream, taking advantage of feeding opportunities offered by the beautiful Fall conditions: mostly blue skies and sunshine. Although the temperature was cool, the lack of wind allowed the sun to heat things up so it was quite comfortable by mid-morning.
Unfortunately these mixed-species pockets did not find their way to the nets other than in dribs and drabs and we had another slow banding day – mostly singles of the various species. As an example, we saw lots of Magnolia Warblers around the site but caught only 1. The 3 Red-bellied Woodpeckers and single Northern Flicker did provide a lot of excitement for the visiting pre-school kids though.
A real long-distance migrant: Gray-cheeked Thrush.
We banded another Gray-cheeked Thrush today. This is one of my favourite birds. A real long-distance migrant, the ones we see in the Fall may have nested in the boreal forest as far northwest as Alaska; they still have another long flight ahead of them to get to the jungles of South America. Wouldn’t you just love to know where they have travel
Banded 23:
3 Red-bellied Woodpeckers
1 Northern Flicker
1 Gray-cheeked Thrush
4 Swainson’s Thrushes
1 Gray Catbird
1 Philadelphia Vireo
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Tennessee Warbler
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Bay-breasted Warbler
1 Blackpoll Warbler
1 American Redstart
1 Ovenbird
1 Scarlet Tanager
1 Indigo Bunting
2 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 53 spp.
Rick