In the natural world there are a myriad of matchups. If you’ve watched any National Geographic specials you’ve probably seen some of them: Wildebeest trying to elude crocodiles while they cross the Mara River in Tanzania (the wildebeest that is); Killer Whales flopping up the beaches of Patagonia trying to snatch seal pups off the sand; cheetahs trying to outrun and pull down Thompson’s Gazelles; Polar Bears trying to sniff out unsuspecting seal pups in the Arctic ice pack. You might even think about throwing in the Toronto Maple Leafs trying to outgun the Montreal Canadians (i.e., if you bet on dead horses…).

Today it was a classic that is repeated every Fall: trying to keep the falling leaves out of the nets. Mother Nature threw everything she had at us – strong, gusting SW winds. And, although we had to really work at it, we were able to close all the nets, sans leaves, within 30 minutes! To put that into comprehensible terms, it would be like a Wildebeest crossing the Mara hopping from crocodile back to crocodile back.

The strong winds seemed to have limited migration during the night and certainly limited our catching capability by billowing the nets and forcing what birds were around into more sheltered habitats. On the day, we banded 38 birds.

We had one interesting retrap: a Gray-cheeked Thrush that had put on 3 grams of fat since his initial capture just 3 days ago. This bird is bulking up, waiting until conditions are right before taking off again.

Banded 38:
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 House Wren
2 Gray-cheeked Thrushes
4 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Tennessee Warbler
6 Magnolia Warblers
2 American Redstarts
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Scarlet Tanagers
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
3 White-throated Sparrows
11 House Finches
1 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 44 spp.
Rick