After reading the highlights and totals from this week, continue reading for a basic summary of the season.
Highlights of the 26 birds banded on Friday, November 4 included only the second Tufted Titmouse this fall.
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| Hatch-year Tufted Titmouse |
This species is very uncommon in the banding area, and only a few are found in the park year-round. They can become quite secretive, especially in summer, as evidenced by the fact that the park bird checklist does not indicate that they are a breeding species. But having banded hatch-year birds over the past three years is certainly proof that this non-migratory species does breed in the park.
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| Hatch-year Tufted Titmouse |
A small number of kinglets was still present in the park, with both species banded. Numbers of kinglets banded this fall were quite low, for reasons unknown.
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| Hatch-year male Golden-crowned Kinglet |
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| Hatch-year male Golden-crowned Kinglet |
The only Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the day was the last bird banded this season.
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| Hatch-year male Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
As expected, the selection of birds banded included a wintery mix, starting with a good number of American Tree Sparrows. The bi-colored bill shows up well in the photo below.
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| Hatch-year American Tree Sparrow |
One Fox Sparrow was still lingering in the banding area, which they may do through November but few if any will remain through the winter.
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| Hatch-year Fox Sparrow |
Of course, Dark-eyed Juncos are the classic winter bird, although they have been in the banding area for almost a month already.
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| Hatch-year female Dark-eyed Junco |
Song Sparrows have not gotten a lot of attention in this blog. They are common as a nesting species, and quite a few over-winter every year, and we typically band well over 100 in a fall season, as we did this year.
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| Hatch-year Song Sparrow |
An adult male House Finch was the 11th banded this fall, the most since 1993 but short of the record of 16 in fall 1991.
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| After hatch-year male House Finch |
And we did very well with American Goldfinches this fall, with more than 400 banded being just short of last year's record. This photo shows a hatch-year female quite well, with her dull (not shiny dark) blackish wings and blurry dull whitish tail spots.
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| Hatch-year female American Goldfinch |
Interesting birds observed but not banded included a soaring Sharp-shinned Hawk, three Red-tailed Hawks, calling Eastern Screech-Owl and Great Horned Owl when it was still dark, and a flyover Belted Kingfisher. Perhaps the most interesting bird observed today occurred during a mid-morning net check. While we were out at the Field Nets, the half-dozen Mourning Doves in the dead tree in the center of the array suddenly flushed away, being replaced by a similar-sized gray bird. A Northern Shrike!
Banding could not have been done today without the help of three dependable volunteers, John Bieganowski, Dave Lancaster, and Tom Schlack.
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Banding Data
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FRIDAY, November 4, 2011
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 7:09
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 12:15
Hours Open: 6.50
No. of Nets: 5.00-13.50
Net Hours: 81.25
Temperature (F): 37-52
Cloud Cover: 80-0%
Wind: NE @ 1-3-5 mph
Barometer: 30.26-30.41
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 26 (plus 3 recaptured)
No. of Species: 13
Capture Rate: 35.7 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 9.0 hours, 5:00-14:00): John Bieganowski (6.0 hrs), Dave Lancaster, Tom Schlack.
Tufted Titmouse - 1
[Brown Creeper - 1 recaptured]
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
American Robin - 3
American Tree Sparrow - 7 (plus 1 recaptured)
Fox Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 2
Swamp Sparrow - 2
Dark-eyed Junco - 2
[Red-winged Blackbird - 1 recaptured]
House Finch - 1
American Goldfinch - 4
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2011 Fall Banding Totals
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First Banding Day: 7 August
Last Banding Day: 4 November
Total Banding Days: 25
Total Banding Hours: 169.25
Total Net Hours: 2057.375
Total Banded: 2115 (plus 302 recaptured and 53 released unbanded)
Total Species Banded: 79
Overall Capture Rate: 120.1 per 100 net hours
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1
Eastern Screech-Owl - 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 158
Downy Woodpecker - 9
Northern Flicker - 2
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 8
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 2
Alder Flycatcher - 3
Willow Flycatcher - 6
"Traill's" Flycatcher - 4
Least Flycatcher - 11
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Great Crested Flycatcher - 1
Eastern Kingbird - 1
Blue-headed Vireo - 2
Warbling Vireo - 19
Philadelphia Vireo - 6
Red-eyed Vireo - 11
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 2
Black-capped Chickadee - 13
Tufted Titmouse - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Brown Creeper - 27
Carolina Wren - 1
House Wren - 5
Winter Wren - 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 19
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 23
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Veery - 2
Gray-cheeked Thrush - 19
Swainson's Thrush - 25
Hermit Thrush - 50
Wood Thrush - 1
American Robin - 27
Gray Catbird - 29
Cedar Waxwing - 11
Tennessee Warbler - 34
Orange-crowned Warbler - 4
Nashville Warbler - 129
Northern Parula - 2
Yellow Warbler - 15
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 8
Magnolia Warbler - 51
Cape May Warbler - 3
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 34
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 58
Black-throated Green Warbler - 2
Blackburnian Warbler - 1
Palm Warbler - 5
Bay-breasted Warbler - 3
Blackpoll Warbler - 10
Black-and-white Warbler - 4
American Redstart - 18
Ovenbird - 13
Northern Waterthrush - 6
Mourning Warbler - 3
Common Yellowthroat - 53
Wilson's Warbler - 20
Canada Warbler - 2
Northern Cardinal - 8
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 3
Indigo Bunting - 6
Eastern Towhee - 1
American Tree Sparrow - 12
Field Sparrow - 2
Fox Sparrow - 15
Song Sparrow - 170
Lincoln's Sparrow - 12
Swamp Sparrow - 96
White-throated Sparrow - 240
White-crowned Sparrow - 32
Dark-eyed Junco - 4
Red-winged Blackbird - 56
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
Baltimore Oriole - 10
House Finch - 11
American Goldfinch - 445
Watch for the detailed fall summary at the end of the year at the Metro Beach Banding web page.
