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, June 3, 2010

Banding at Chippewa Nature Center

Saturday, 15 May was the first day of banding at Chippewa Nature Center.  This was our migration banding day but we were also beginning our breeding season study as well.  Consequently, we caught several returning breeding birds along with some transient travelers.

We had a total of 37 individuals of 23 species of which 26 were new birds and 11 were recaptures.  We ran the usual ten nets from dawn until noon.  It was a remarkable day for one hit wonders.  Of the 37 birds captured seventeen were the only representative of their species!  Among the migrants were a couple of my favorites, including a beautiful male Magnolia Warbler,


a male Nashville Warbler,


and an equally pretty, if more subtle Lincoln's Sparrow.


Among the resident birds were several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.  Including this pair, caught in the same net together.


Also, this female Baltimore Oriole.


A couple of birds captured that breed in the area but haven't been banded at this site before were a Swamp Sparrow,


and this very huffy Philadelphia Vireo.


Finally, the most unusual bird of the day also turned out to be one of the most those commonly banded at this site.  This Gray Catbird was a recapture (as were all six of the catbirds caught that day) originally banded on 7/5/07 as an ASY female.  That means she was born in '05 or earlier.  A respectable age for any songbird.  However, her eye color is all wrong.


While gray would be in keeping with her name, a normal catbird has a deep walnut-brown eye.  Interestingly, I had no note on the original capture that indicated she had a gray eye at that time.  Apparently, this is something that she's developed since then.  I have no other record of her recapture since '07.

Here is the final tally:

Least Flycatcher  1 N
Philadelphia Vireo  1 N
Black-capped Chickadee  1 N
House Wren  1 N
Swainson's Thrush  1 N
American Robin  1 N
Gray Catbird  6 R
Blue-winged Warbler  1 N
Nashville Warbler  1 N
Yellow Warbler  4 N
Magnolia Warbler  1 N
Ovenbird  1 R
Common Yellowthroat  1 N,  1 R
Lincoln's Sparrow  1 N
Swamp Sparrow  1 N
Song Sparrow  1 N,  1 R
Northern Cardinal  1 N
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  3 N,  2 R
Indigo Bunting  1 N
Red-winged Blackbird  1 N
Brown-headed Cowbird  1 N
Baltimore Oriole  1 N
American Goldfinch  1 N

Our next banding day is Thursday 3 June.  Hope to see you out there.
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1 comment:

  1. Caleb PutnamJune 3, 2010 at 6:09 PM

    Could the GRCA's gray irides result from a pathological issue such as cataracts?

    ReplyDelete

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