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.


Monday, July 26, 2010

Banding at Vestaburg Station, ACBO

Today we ran most of the nets around the bog and five of the forest nets and caught more air than birds.  We had a total of 12 individuals of 11 species of which seven were new, two were recaptures and three were unbanded.  It was simply a slow morning, but not without some surprises.
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Of our two recaptured birds, the cardinal was originally banded in July of '08 as a hatching year bird.  So, it has remained here to set up a territory and breed.



The Ovenbird was originally captured in July of '05 as an AHY bird.  So it was born in '04 or eariler.  That makes it a six year old bird or older.  It has been recaptured in '06 and again in '09.  And always in the same basic location.  He really likes his territory in the bog!  We also caught its close relative, a Northern Waterthrush.  Side by side you can see a lot of similarities between the two.



The Scarlet Tanager was a female that had clearly bred locally.  Her brood patch was in its later stages but not she was not yet molting her body feathers.



The Blue Jay was a bird born this summer, as was this Wood Thrush caught with its dad.  The juvenile bird is on the left and the adult is on the right.  Notice the spotty plumage characteristic of most baby thrushes.



Finally, we had the earliest recorded Magnolia Warbler for the station.  The earliest capture date for this species was previously 25 August.  We're a full month ahead of that date.  This was a female in full molt.  She had bred as her brood patch was still discernable as it was being refeathered.  So, the question is, how close was her breeding ground.  Unfortunately, we'll never no as she left us before we could band her or get pictures!

Here's the catch:

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1 U
Blue Jay  1 N
Black-capped Chickadee  1 U
Veery  1 N
Wood Thrush  2 N
American Robin  1 N
Magnolia Warbler  1 U
Ovenbird  1 R
Northern Waterthrush  1 N
Scarlet Tanager  1 N
Northern Cardinal  1 R

Tomorrow (Tuesday, 27, July) we will be banding in the old field at the Vestaburg Station.
Hope to see you out there.
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1 comment:

  1. Steve SmejkalJuly 28, 2010 at 12:22 PM

    As a hobby I'm trying to take a picture of every known wild species of bird in Michigan. I have around 140 bird photos.

    Is the public allowed at the Vestaburg site?

    Does anyone know if there is a map that shows the wildlife areas in Michigan that are open to the public?

    ssmejkal@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete

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