The banding volunteers have been wonderful this fall, as always, with many of them expanding their skills. Banding could not have been done without their help. Thanks to Terri Chapdelaine, Stevie Kuroda, Dave Lancaster, Mary Mangas, Steve Mangas, Tom Schlack, Edie Schmitz, Michelle Serreyn, Bruce Watson, and Blanche Wicke.
Highlights of the 48 birds banded on Sunday, October 20 included the first bird of the day, an Eastern Screech-Owl. In late October, we can get our nets open nearly two hours before the sun rises, allowing a brief period for audio luring for owls, which has been done for the last 5 years, but this is only the second owl captured at this station, the first being a screech-owl banded in 2011.
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| Hatch-year Eastern Screech-Owl |
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| Hatch-year Eastern Screech-Owl |
This late in the season, it is always nice to catch a warbler, and the only one today was this Yellow-rumped Warbler.
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| Hatch-year female Yellow-rumped Warbler |
It wasn't a very busy day, but as always it was an early day, so some of the volunteers took an opportunity to "recharge" their energy...
Interesting birds observed but not banded included a flyover Great Egret, a Cooper's Hawk, and a calling Eastern Phoebe.
Highlights of the 78 birds banded on Thursday, October 24 included the 32nd and 33rd Winter Wrens of the season. The previous record was 26.
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| Hatch-year Winter Wren |
It was a record day for Field Sparrows, with three banded. This ties the previous record for an entire SEASON, and there were already 3 Field Sparrows banded this fall, so today doubled the previous record year.
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| Hatch-year Field Sparrow |
And the first Fox Sparrows of the season (2) were banded today, almost 3 weeks later than the first ones are expected.
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| Hatch-year Fox Sparrow |
A total of SIX Dark-eyed Juncos today was only one short of the record for an entire fall season.
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| Hatch-year female Dark-eyed Junco |
And American Goldfinches haven't made the highlights for a while. Today saw the 700th goldfinch of the season banded. The previous seasonal record was 515.
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| Hatch-year female American Goldfinch |
Interesting birds observed but not banded included 3 flyover Double-crested Cormorants, 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers, an Eastern Towhee that eluded capture all day despite being within a few yards of a net, and a flyover Lapland Longspur.
Highlights of the 71 birds banded on Sunday, October 27 included the last Yellow-rumped Warbler of the season.
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| Hatch-year female Yellow-rumped Warbler |
The one day record for Field Sparrows didn't hold up for long, as FOUR were banded today, bringing the season's total to 10. The 10-year average per season is 1.1.
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| Hatch-year Field Sparrow |
The 100th White-crowned Sparrow of the fall was captured today. The previous season record was 44.
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| Hatch-year White-crowned Sparrow |
Two more Dark-eyed Juncos brought the season total to 9, a record season (previous record was 7).
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| Hatch-year male Dark-eyed Junco |
Interesting birds observed but not banded today included a calling Eastern Phoebe, and in the early morning a single calling Great Horned Owl, and an Eastern Screech-Owl calling back to the owl tape (the Northern Saw-whet Owl tape actually got him calling).
Highlights of the 92 birds banded on Wednesday, October 30 included a Hairy Woodpecker, a species that is not banded here every year.
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| Hatch-year male Hairy Woodpecker |
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| Hatch-year male Hairy Woodpecker |
The 79th species of the fall season, tying the all-time record set last year, was a White-breasted Nuthatch, which does not find its way into the swamp woods of the banding area very often.
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| Hatch-year female White-breasted Nuthatch |
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| Hatch-year female White-breasted Nuthatch |
The 80th species of the season was the first Carolina Wren of the fall, another infrequently captured species.
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| Hatch-year Carolina Wren |
Two warbler species were captured today. The Orange-crowned Warbler was a bit late, but the most expected species in late October.
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| Hatch-year male Orange-crowned Warbler |
Much less expected, and quite late, was a Common Yellowthroat.
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| Hatch-year Common Yellowthroat |
The four American Tree Sparrows captured today were the season's first, only a few days later than expected. They were also the 81st species for the fall, the only new species that was expected today.
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| Hatch-year American Tree Sparrow |
Interesting birds observed but not banded today included a calling Eastern Screech-Owl, a late Marsh Wren, two flyover Eastern Bluebirds (rare in this park), two flyover American Pipits, an Eastern Towhee that again eluded capture, and a Field Sparrow.
Highlights of the 57 birds banded on Sunday, November 3 included the second Red-tailed Hawk ever banded at the station, and the second this fall season. Most of the same volunteers were working today as were helping on August 31, so once again Stevie helped with digging out the larger bands and pliers from my backpack, helping open the band, and release the bird.
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| Hatch-year Red-tailed Hawk |
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| Hatch-year Red-tailed Hawk |
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| Hatch-year Red-tailed Hawk |
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| Stevie Kuroda releasing Red-tailed Hawk |
A Winter Wren banded today brought the record season up to 36, a single Hermit Thrush brought the season total to a record-tying 110, and the 9 Song Sparrows banded today brought the season total to a record of 282 (the previous record was 220 in 2008). The last bird of the fall season was the 11th Dark-eyed Junco of the fall, which is also a record for a single season.
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| Hatch-year female Dark-eyed Junco |
Interesting birds observed but not banded included a small hawk migration that included 2 Northern Harriers, 13 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Red-shouldered Hawks, and a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk. A Wilson's Snipe was flushed in the dark near the Field Nets, a Belted Kingfisher flew over, an Eastern Phoebe eluded capture calling from the opposite side of the road from most of the nets, and two Snow Buntings flew over.
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Banding Data
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SUNDAY, October 20, 2013
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 6:51
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 12:45
Hours Open: 7.0
No. of Nets: 5.0-14.0
Net Hours: 94.50
Temperature (F): 39.57
Cloud Cover: 50-90-20-80%
Wind: SW-S @ 3-5-12 mph
Barometer: 29.89 - 29.95
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 48 (plus 26 recaptured)
No. of Species: 15
Capture Rate: 78.3 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 9.0 hours, 5:00-14:00): Terri Chapdelaine, Stevie Kuroda, Bruce Watson, Blanche Wicke.
EASTERN SCREECH-OWL - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
[Black-capped Chickadee - 3 recaptured]
Brown Creeper - 1 (plus 1 recaptured)
Winter Wren - 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Hermit Thrush - 8 (plus 1 recaptured)
American Robin - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Song Sparrow - 9 (plus 5 recaptured)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 1 (plus 2 recaptured)
White-crowned Sparrow - 4 (plus 8 recaptured)
American Goldfinch - 12 (plus 6 recaptured)
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THURSDAY, October 24, 2013
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 6:56
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 12:45
Hours Open: 7.0
No. of Nets: 5.0-14.0
Net Hours: 91.00
Temperature (F): 34-52
Cloud Cover: 40-60%
Wind: WSW @ 5-7-12 mph
Barometer: 29.99 -30.05
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 78 (plus 26 recaptured and 2 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 14
Capture Rate: 113.2 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 9.0 hours, 5:00-14:00): Dave Lancaster, Steve Mangas, Tom Schlack, Blanche Wicke.
Brown Creeper - 1
Winter Wren - 2 (plus 1 recaptured)
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1
Hermit Thrush - 6
American Robin - 1
Field Sparrow - 3
Fox Sparrow - 2
Song Sparrow - 16 (plus 3 recaptured, 1 released unbanded)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 3
Swamp Sparrow - 3
White-throated Sparrow - 18 (plus 1 recaptured)
White-crowned Sparrow - 1 (plus 2 recaptured)
Dark-eyed Junco - 6
American Goldfinch - 15 (17 recaptured)
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SUNDAY, October 27, 2013
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 7:00
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 12:45
Hours Open: 7.0
No. of Nets: 5.0-14.0
Net Hours: 91.00
Temperature (F): 36-50
Cloud Cover: 100-30-80%
Wind: SW-SSW @ 5-7 mph
Barometer: 30.06 - 30.10
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 71 (plus 25 recaptured, 1 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 14
Capture Rate: 106.6 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 9.0 hours, 5:00-14:00): Stevie Kuroda, Mary Mangas, Steve Mangas, Michelle Serreyn (2.5 hrs), Bruce Watson
Mourning Dove - 1
[Black-capped Chickadee - 1 recaptured]
[Winter Wren - 1 recaptured]
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
Hermit Thrush - 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Field Sparrow - 4 (plus 1 recaptured)
Fox Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 23 (plus 5 recaptured)
Swamp Sparrow - 4
White-throated Sparrow - 12 (plus 4 recaptured, 1 released unbanded)
White-crowned Sparrow - 1 (plus 2 recaptured)
Dark-eyed Junco - 2 (plus 1 recaptured)
American Goldfinch - 19 (plus 10 recaptured)
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WEDNESDAY, October 30, 2013
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 7:03
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 13:15
Hours Open: 7.50
No. of Nets: 5.0-14.0
Net Hours: 98.00
Temperature (F): 36-61
Cloud Cover: 0-30%
Wind: NE-SE @ 1-3-5 mph
Barometer: 30.23 -30.17
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 92 (plus 14 recaptured, 1 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 19
Capture Rate: 109.2 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 10.0 hours, 5:00-15:00): Dave Lancaster, Tom Schlack, Edie Schmitz (7.5 hrs), Blanche Wicke (7.5 hrs).
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
[Black-capped Chickadee - 1 recaptured]
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Brown Creeper - 1
Carolina Wren - 1
Winter Wren - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 30 (plus 1 released unbanded)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 4
Hermit Thrush - 5
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 1
American Tree Sparrow - 4
Fox Sparrow - 2 (plus 1 recaptured)
Song Sparrow - 24 (plus 3 recaptured)
Swamp Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 3 (plus 1 recaptured)
White-crowned Sparrow - 1 (plus 1 recaptured)
[Dark-eyed Junco - 1 recaptured]
American Goldfinch - 9 (plus 6 recaptured)
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SUNDAY, November 3, 2013
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 7:08
Time Open (E.S.T.): 6:30
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 13:15
Hours Open: 6.75
No. of Nets: 5.0-14.0
Net Hours: 88.75
Temperature (F): 37-46
Cloud Cover: VAR%
Wind: NW-SE @ 3-5-7 mph
Barometer: 30.29 -30.43
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 57 (plus 10 recaptured,)
No. of Species: 15
Capture Rate: 75.5 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 8.5 hours, 6:00-14:30): Stevie Kuroda, Steve Mangas, Bruce Watson, Blanche Wicke.
RED-TAILED HAWK - 1
[Mourning Dove - 1 recaptured]
[Black-capped Chickadee - 3 recaptured]
Brown Creeper - 4
Winter Wren - 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 16 (plus 1 recaptured)
Hermit Thrush - 1
American Tree Sparrow - 6
[Fox Sparrow - 1 recaptured]
Song Sparrow - 9 (plus 1 recaptured)
Swamp Sparrow - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 2
Dark-eyed Junco - 1
Northern Cardinal - 1
American Goldfinch - 14 (plus 3 recaptured)
