The Alma College Bird Observatory is operated by Mike Bishop of the Alma College Biology Department. The ACBO operates from April through October banding breeding birds and transient migrants as well as conducting directed studies of various breeding and overwintering species. The Vestaburg Station is located in Vestaburg, MI about 16 miles west of Alma. It is situated at the Alma College Ecological Station. The station is 186 acres of mixed hardwood forest, old fields, willow marshes and a relic boreal bog and lake. The Chippewa Nature Center Station is located at Dragonfly Marsh on the property of the Chippewa Nature Center near Midland, MI. It is approximately 96 acres and is a mixture of old fields, young forest and a large mitigated wetland.


Thursday, April 29, 2010

OK, I'm waiting...

I was only able to keep the nets open for a few hours this morning.  And, since the promised south winds didn't live up to my expectations we didn't have a big influx of new migrants as I had hoped.  I did manage to hear a few new birds but none of them entered the nets.  More on those later.

I had a total of four individuals of three species and they were all recaptures.  The oldest of the lot (as far as when it was banded is concerned) was a male Northern Cardinal.  He was originally banded in '05 as a hatching year (HY) bird.  Today he was caught in a net adjacent to the net in which he was originally captured.  So, he's spent his whole life, presumably, in a small section of the old field.

The next oldest was one of the two Tufted Titmice.  She was originally banded in '07, also as a HY bird.  Today she was showing a well developed brood patch that indicated that she is finishing laying and getting ready to brood.  She also came out of a net very close to the net of her original capture.  The other titmouse was a male originally banded last summer as an after hatching year (AHY) bird.

Finally, I got another Blue Jay.  This one was banded last year as an after second year (ASY) bird and was showing a brood patch then just as she was today.  Her's indicated that she has probably just begun to lay eggs.

Other species seen or heard but not captured included the Vesper's Sparrow that sang its heart out all morning for us.  I also finally had some warblers appear; a Yellow-rumped, a Nashville, and a Blue-winged.  Of those three the Blue-winged is the most likely to be a returning breeder.  Yellow-rumps, for the most part, breed further north and Nashville's only breed in the bog.  Migration is happening even if it is keeping us guessing.

I won't be banding at the station for the next couple of weeks as my field ornithology course starts on Sunday when we take to the road.  However, I plan to upload posts from the locations where we will be banding during that time.  So, watch for announcements of tallies and exploits from our travels.
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