The first banded bird of the Fall season: a young House Wren,
I shudder to think this but….today is the 27th Fall season that I have tried to monitor the flow of migrating birds through the area by banding and counting. It was a tough slog getting ready as I’ve been away for much of the Summer and, in my absence, the plant growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. The net lanes were relatively easy but the trails getting to them have been a chore. I started clearing/cutting yesterday and made some headway and fortunately Diane Green was available today to help put up the nets (one person can do it but it’s really difficult) and do more trail clearing. We got the 6 nets up on the west side of the pond and about 200 m. of trail through the wetland and heading for the other lanes cleared. Tomorrow we will continue clearing and, hopefully, will get the other nets up.
Preparing for the migration monitoring season can take many forms. Some people study field guides or listen to tapes while other (to my mind, more enterprising) people bake muffins. Amy’s baking makes the day worthwhile, birds or no birds. -AT
We ran a couple of the early nets and were rewarded with the capture of 5 birds:
Banded 5:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
3 House Wrens
1 Common Yellowthroat
Rick
Yum!!!!!
Alright, don’t know if you’ll see this, but I just arrived home. I’ll come out and help clearing if you have a weed wacker. (I can’t bend down and pull by hand because I have bit of a health issue ) but wacker no prob. I’ll see if I can borrow some ear protectors. I can come today.(Friday) not Saturday, but possible Sunday and next week.
Amy’s muffins look so good! I just hope I don’t get the ones labelled pipe cleaners… wonder if she cuts them up before adding them into the muffins or if she swirls them around to fit in the muffin tray?