Thursday, June 10, 2010

Metro Beach banding - spring summary



A more complete summary of banding this spring at Metro Beach Metropark will be posted on my website, but for now I provide some basic numbers.
Banding was conducted on 16 days between 3 April and 4 June, with nets open a total of 99.50 hours (1186.625 net hours). A total of 576 new birds of 61 species were banded, plus 188 recaptures (including 109 returnees from previous years) and 25 released unbanded, for a total of 789 captures and a capture rate of 66.5 birds per 100 net hours.

TOTALS BANDED
(Species in bold are unusual for this banding station or season)

Cooper's Hawk - 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 6
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Alder Flycatcher - 1
Willow Flycatcher - 3
"Traill's" Flycatcher - 2
Great Crested Flycatcher - 1
Warbling Vireo - 7
Blue Jay - 1
Tree Swallow - 13
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 53
Barn Swallow - 19
Black-capped Chickadee - 9
Tufted Titmouse - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Brown Creeper - 4
House Wren - 6
Winter Wren - 1
Marsh Wren - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 7
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Veery - 4
Swainson's Thrush - 16
Hermit Thrush - 10
Wood Thrush - 1
American Robin - 25
Gray Catbird - 15
Brown Thrasher - 1
European Starling - 4
Nashville Warbler - 2
Northern Parula - 1
Yellow Warbler - 26
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 3
Magnolia Warbler - 12
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 5
Palm Warbler - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 1
American Redstart - 6
Ovenbird - 7
Northern Waterthrush - 4
Common Yellowthroat - 26
Wilson's Warbler - 5
Canada Warbler - 6
Northern Cardinal - 3
Field Sparrow - 1
Savannah Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 9
Lincoln's Sparrow - 15
Swamp Sparrow - 40
White-throated Sparrow - 37
White-crowned Sparrow - 3
Dark-eyed Junco - 1
Red-winged Blackbird - 52
Common Grackle - 8
Brown-headed Cowbird - 10
Baltimore Oriole - 5
House Finch - 2
American Goldfinch - 58

The photo below, taken on June 9, 2010, shows how well the cattails have come back after the controlled burn in April in the south marsh. They're now about 4-feet tall. The Field Nets are around the base of the dead ash tree in the back center of the photo.

2 comments:

J. Andrew Boyle said...

How the heck do you capture swallows?

Allen Chartier said...

J.

The swallows were caught in mist nets, the same as the other species. Most days it is fruitless, but certain conditions at this site can sometimes produce captures of swallows, especially during migration. I'm sure the high winds that day, keeping them low, was a significant factor.