Banding at ACES on 26 July

We had a good day with lots of hatching year birds today at the Vestaburg Station.  There were a total of 19 captures of 11 species of which 17 were new, 1 was a recap, and 1 was unbanded.  The unbanded bird was a second-year male Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  It was showing just a few feathers in the gorget that were the brilliant red from which they get their name.  By next spring it should have a completely ruby-feathered gorget.

With only a few exceptions, most of the captures had at least one hatching year bird representing each species.  Especially cute are the young Baltimore Orioles.  Even though they aren't as flashy as their parents yet, they just look cute.

One adult we captured was already molting into his winter plumage.  This Rose-breasted Grosbeak was showing several of its brown and streaky body feathers that it will sport while in the tropics this winter.

So, here's the catch:

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1 U
Hairy Woodpecker  2 N
Northern Flicker  1 N
Acadian Flycatcher  1 N
Wood Thrush  3 N,  1 R
American Robin  1 N
Gray Catbird  3 N
Song Sparrow  1 N
Northern Cardinal  1 N
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1 N
Baltimore Oriole  3 N

Banding for CNC and ACES from 7/8 through 7/22

We've had two very successful banding days at Chippewa the past two weeks.  On 14 July we had our biggest day of the year so far with 34 total captures of nine species.  Of these 27 were new birds, four were recaps and three were unbanded.  It was  terrific day for Downy Woodpeckers, Gray Catbirds and Song Sparrows.  We posted our highest daily total for downies with six captures and all of them were young of the year.  Nine catbirds is pretty typical for this time of year.  We finally caught Yellow Warbler for the year, a pair of siblings, male and female.  The recaptures were highlighted by a Gray Catbird originally banded as an After Second Year in 2007.  This bird was two years old or older in '07 making it at least six years old now.  Very respectable.

Here's one of the young Downy Woodpeckers caught today:

Here's the tally:

Downy Woodpecker  6 N
Black-capped Chickadee  2 N
Tufted Titmouse  2 N
House Wren  1 N,  1 U
Wood Thrush  1 N,  1 U
Gray Catbird  7 N,  2 R
Yellow Warbler  2 N
Common Yellowthroat  1 N,  1 U
Song Sparrow  5 N,  2 R

On 21 July it was a bit slower due to the intense heat and humidity we've been having and the fact that I closed the nets a bit early because of that.  We caught a total of 17 individuals of six species and all were new birds.  The Song Sparrows continued to make an impressive showing with seven individuals of which six came out of the same net!  Most were young of the year as were several of the Common Yellowthroats and the Gray Catbirds.  The Willow Flycatcher was a treat, since there has been a male on territory by one of our nets for the past three years but we have yet to capture it.  So, we broke that streak.  This was the first day in a long time with no recaptures.

This Gray Catbird demonstrates a phenomenon called fault barring.

This occurs during the growth phase of feather formation.  If, as the barbs that make up the webbing of the feather (the part that extends from the feather shaft or quill), are being produced don't receive enough nutrients then the quality and number of barbs being made is reduced.  Consequently, a weak spot appears across the feather at that point where the barbs are thinner and paler.  If all of the feathers are growing in at the same time (which is the case with all young birds as they grow their first feathers before leaving the nest) then the bars line up from one feather to the next producing a pale line across the tail or wing.

Since this bird is a second-year bird (born last summer, '10) it still has the tail it left the nest with.  So, we can surmise that during its growth in the nest it went through a pretty rough stretch in which it wasn't getting much if any food and probably none of good quality.  Faintly visible in the right wing below my thumb is a corresponding fault bar in the primaries, which was also evident in the left wing when checked.  At the end of this summer it will molt these feathers and replace them one by one devoting more resources to each feather, resulting in better quality feathers, hopefully.  If fault bars form at this time they won't line up as they did in the juvenile since the feathers don't grow in simultaneously.

Here's the catch:

Willow Flycatcher  1 N
Gray Catbird  4 N
Common Yellowthroat  3 N
Song Sparrow  7 N
Northern Cardinal  1 N
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1 N

At ACES in Vestaburg we've had two banding days at both the old field and the forest sites since my last posting.  On 8 July, we had our biggest day of the year, so far.  There were 28 captures of 11 species of which 16 were new birds, eight were recaptures and four were unbanded.  We finally started catching Veery and were able to get radio tags on four birds.  Although it was late in the season we have still been able to follow a couple around and collect locations for each.  Robins dominated the captures with seven individuals coming to the nets and all were adults, which is a bit unexpected this time of year.  Our first Brown Creeper of the year showed up as well.  One of the veeries we recaptured was originally banded as an after hatching year bird in 2007 making it at least five years old.

Here are the totals:

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1 U
Downy Woodpecker  1 N,  2 U
Tufted Titmouse  2 N
Brown Creeper  1 N
Veery   2 N,  3 R
Wood Thrush  1 R
American Robin  4 N,  2 R,  1 U
Gray Catbird  3 N,  2 R
Common Yellowthroat  1 N
Ovenbird  1 N
Northern Cardinal  1 N

Our next banding day was 12 July.  We captured a total of 11 individuals of seven species of which 5 were new birds, four were a recaps and no unbanded birds.  No big surprises but we did get to band the young of the Eastern Phoebe's second clutch on the front porch.  None of the recaps were more recent than last year.

Here's the tally:

Downy Woodpecker  1 N,  1 R
Eastern Phoebe  3 L
Bluejay  2 N
Black-capped Chickadee  1 N,  1 R
American Robin  1 R
Common Yellowthroat  1 R
Song Sparrow  1 N

On 19 July we had a reasonably busy day and picked up a few infrequently captured species.  Our total captures were 14  of nine species of which 21 were new, one was a recapture and one was unbanded.  The exciting birds were the hatching year Northern Waterthrush, which breeds here but were in very low numbers this year, the Red-bellied Woodpecker and the Scarlet Tanager.  We had another good showing of Downy Woodpeckers also.  I think it is going to be a good year for that species.

Here is the male Scarlet Tanager we captured showing it changing from its striking breeding plumage to its more sedate greenish-yellow winter plumage.

Here's the catch:

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1 N
Downy Woodpecker  4 N
Black-capped Chickadee  1 N
Veery  1 N
Wood Thrush  1 N,  1 U
Gray Catbird  1 N,  1 R
Ovenbird  1 N
Northern Waterthrush  1 N
Scarlet Tanager  1 N

Finally, yesterday, 22 July, we caught a total of 15 birds of 11 species of which 12 were new and three were recaps, and no unbanded birds.  No big surprises but like the 19th, a few infrequently captured birds.  These included the Ruby-throated Hummingbird,  Northern Flicker, and the Acadian Flycatcher.  The recaptured Gray Catbird was originally banded as an after second year bird in 2008, making it at least five years old.  With the exception of the hummingbird and the flycatcher, all of the rest of of the species had at least one hatching year individual among the captures.  Lots of successful nests!

Here's the catch:

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1 U
Northern Flicker  1 N
Acadian Flycatcher  1 N
Bluejay  1 N
Black-capped Chickadee  1 N
Wood Thrush  3 N,  2 R
American Robin  1 N
Gray Catbird  2 N,  1 R
Common Yellowthroat  1 N
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1 N

Banding at ACES and CNC from 6/25 - 7/5

The last two weeks have been remarkably slow at both stations.  I don't have any explanations for this it's just not been very busy at the nets.

CNC  Sat. 6/25

After getting rained out on both Thursday and Friday at Chippewa, we got to open the nets on Saturday.  Unfortunately, though sunny, it was a very windy day, which is never ideal for banding.  We had a total of five individuals of four species, of which three were new and two were recaptures.

Gray Catbird  1 R

Common Yellowthroat  1 R

Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1 N

American Goldfinch 2 N

ACES  Tues, 6/28

The following Tuesday at the bog was a little better but still slow for late June.  We had a total of eight individuals of six species, of which four were new birds and four were recaptures.  We did, finally, get a Veery and successfully deploy a transmitter on her.  It's late in the season but we'll take what we can get!

Hairy Woodpecker  1 N

Wood Thrush  1 N,  1 R

Veery  1 R

Ovenbird  1 N

Northern Cardinal  1 R

Indigo Bunting  1 N,  1 R

CNC  Thurs. 6/30

Thursday at Chippewa continued to be slow with a total of seven individuals of five species, of which three were new and four were recaptures.

Wood Thrush  1 N

American Robin  1 N

Gray Catbird  1 N,  2 R

Common Yellowthroat  1 R

Song Sparrow  1 R

ACES  Tues, 7/5

Back at the bog on Tuesday was the best day so far with 12 individuals of eight species, of which eight were new, three were recaptures and one was unbanded (a bluejay that got out of the net before I could grab it).  We also got the remainder of the transmitters placed on the three Veery we captured.  Since we captured a juvenile Black-capped Chickadee and Wood Thrush I suspect most of the Veery have already fledged their young or will in the next few days. So, we may not get a lot of useful data from these individuals but we may be surprised.

Acadian Flycatcher  1 N

Bluejay  1 U

Red-eyed Vireo  1 N

Black-capped Chickadee  1 N

Veery  2 N,  1 R

Wood Thrush  1 N,  2 R

American Robin  1 N

Gray Catbird  1 N

CNC Banding Station Rain Date

Hey All,

Just letting you know that I've rescheduled the banding that was supposed to happen today (Thurs, 6/23) at Chippewa Nature Center for tomorrow (Fri, 6/24).

Chippewa Nature Center Station, June 2 and 17

We started our summer banding at Chippewa Nature Center on June 2nd.  It was a bit of a slow morning but we managed to dodge the threatening rain.  Due to the heavy rains in May the wet meadow was just that, and then some.  So much so that one of our net-sites was under about two feet of water, which prevented us from installing it.  Therefore, we were running one less net than normal.  Also a deer ran through another net, destroying it which closed that down for the day.  Now we were down to eight nets.  Great way to start the year!

We caught a total of 13 individuals of eight species, of which six were new, five were recaptures and two were unbanded.

The Swainson's Thrush is getting to be less and less of a surprise out here.  Especially early in the season (late spring migrants) or late in the season (early fall migrants).  I feel pretty confident that somewhere nearby in the county there may be a breeding population.  All you hotshot birders, keep your ears open for Swainson's Thrush song!

There were several recaptures.  The Gray Catbird and the Rose-breasted Grosbeak were both at least six-year old males.  The Common Yellowthroat was three years old and one of the chickadees was four years old.

Here't the tally:

Black-capped Chickadee  1 N,  2 R
Swainson's Thrush  1 N
Gray Catbird  2 N,  1 R
Common Yellowthroat  1 R,  1 U
Northern Cardinal  1 N
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1 R
Song Sparrow  1 N
Red-winged Blackbird  1 U

June 17 was our next banding day at CNC.  Things were still very wet so the meadow net was still not in operation, although we did get it set up.  We also reinstalled a net we haven't run since the first year of banding here in '04.  It is in the Phragmites along the pond in an effort to capture the ubiquitous but elusive blackbirds.  So we did have ten total nets opened.

Our capture total was 23 individuals of eight species, of which 17 were new, four were recaps and two were unbanded.  It was a nice diversity of species including a female Indigo Bunting, a common species here, but not one that we catch a lot of.

It was a particularly good day for Northern Cardinals and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.  Which means there were sore fingers all around!  Two female Red-winged Blackbirds is probably as many of that species as we've netted in one day.  I still don't know how the most numerous bird out here is one we catch so infrequently.

The recaptures included the same Common Yellowthroat we caught on the 2nd and a Gray Catbird banded earlier in the morning.  Another catbird proved to be an at least five-year old bird.

Here's the catch:

Black-capped Chickadee  2 N,  1 R
Gray Catbird  1 N,  2 R,  1 U
Common Yellowthroat  1 N,  1 R
Song Sparrow  3 N
Northern Cardinal  5 N
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  2 N,  1 U
Indigo Bunting  1 N
Red-winged Blackbird  2 N

Banding at the Vestaburg Station: June 3, 6, 13 and 20

OK, I'm just going to try to get caught up all in one go.  After returning from Ecuador at the end of May it was totally nuts getting ready for the summer field season.  As usual, we are doing our normal breeding bird banding study as well as our Veery foraging studies.  However, it has been difficult capturing Veery this summer and as of today we have only caught one banded male.

Here are the tallies for the banding days we've completed so far:

June 3 we opened the nets around the bog in an effort to capture as many Veery as possible to radio-tag.  In the ten bog nets we had a total of 14 birds captured of eight different species.  Of these eight were new birds, three were recaps, and three were unbanded (and none were Veery!).

Our two recaptures, a Black-capped Chickadee and a Gray Catbird, were originally banded in '10 and '09.  Both were HY birds when they were caught.  I guess they liked it so much here they stayed, in the case of the chickadee, and returned, in the case of the catbird.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  3 U
Downy Woodpecker  1 N
Eastern Wood-pewee  1 N
Blue Jay  1 N
Black-capped Chickadee 1 R
American Robin  3 N
Gray Catbird  1 N,  2 R
Northern Waterthrush  1 N

June 6 we ran the eight forest nets and also used audio playback at selected bog nets to try and attract Veery.   We had a total of 13 captures of seven species of which 10 were new, one was a recapture (our first Veery!) and two were unbanded.  Unfortunately, while attempting to affix the transmitter to our Veery, Señor Butterfingers (that would be me) bobbled the bird and it escaped.  I'm sure this really impressed my students.  The Veery was originally banded in '07 as an AHY bird.  So, this individual was at least five years old.

The Eastern Phoebes that nest on the porch are back and had three young that were old enough to band.  So we took this opportunity to band them.

While Downy Woodpeckers are one of the most common woodpeckers they are still attractive little birds.

These two American Robins demonstrate the difference in body plumage of an ASY male and an SY male.  The top image is of an After Second Year male, showing the very black head and strong rufous breast, sides and belly.  The bottom image is of a Second Year male with a much duller head and weaker rufous underneath.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  2 U
Downy Woodpecker  1 N
Eastern Phoebe  3 N
Black-capped Chickadee  2 N
Veery  1 R
Wood Thrush  1 N
American Robin  3 N

June 13 we ran the eleven field nets and also continued to audio-lure around the bog.  We had a total of 22 individuals of 13 species of which 19 were new, three were recaptures, and none were unbanded.  Once again we managed to recapture the same Veery we had trapped the previous week.  And once again, just as I had attached the transmitter, the bird struggled and left me holding two of it tail feathers with the transmitter while it flitted off into the bog.  Veery - 2, Bishop - 0.

The Nashville Warbler was welcome as they are an intermittent breeder in the bog.  This Indigo Bunting was welcome, because any bird this pretty should always be appreciated!  This is a second year male, notice the brown coverts on the upper wing and the brown secondaries and tertials among the flight feathers.

And here's a photo of the Northern Flicker we caught just 'cause they're so darned good lookin'!  Arguably the handsomest woodpecker in North America.

The recaptures included a four year old Hairy Woodpecker, an at least two year old Wood Thrush and a one year old Chickadee.  In this photo of the Hairy Woodpecker, you can see the retained primary coverts (the feathers covering the tops of the outer flight feathers).  Looking carefully you can see that they appear dull brownish-black in contrast to the more jet black primary coverts to the left.

By themselves these wouldn't allow me to narrow down the age of this bird, but coupled with the fact that all of the primaries, secondaries and secondary coverts are fresh and black tells me that the bird is at least an after second year.  However, because it was banded I can do that one better.  And that, my friends, is why we band.

Hairy Woodpecker  1 R
Northern Flicker  1 N
Blue Jay  2 N
Black-capped Chickadee 1 N,  1 R
Tufted Titmouse  1 N
Veery  1 R
Wood Thrush  2 N,  1 R
American Robin  5 N
Gray Catbird  2 N
Nashville Warbler  1 N
Scarlet Tanager  1 N
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  2 N
Indigo Bunting  1 N

June 20 we opened the bog nets as well as the forest nets, 18 nets in all.  We caught a total of 17 individuals of 12 species, of which 16 were new and one was unbanded.  By mid-morning we were continuing with our no-veery streak.  So, in order for my students to have something to do we radio-tagged a Wood Thrush.  Since we are trying out a new protocol in order to get more accurate locations of our birds, this will allow Emily and Morgan to identify and work out some of the snags and hopefully, before the breeding season ends we will have some Veery tagged.

The female Baltimore Oriole is the first one I've captured at the bog with a brood patch.

They nest here every year and every year we catch many of the young birds later in the summer after they've fledged.  They show up in the bog in large numbers for the abundant blueberries and huckleberries.  However, earlier in the season we don't catch many at all, primarily because they spend all of their time in the tree tops.

This Red-eyed Vireo nicely displays why it is so named.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1 U
Downy Woodpecker  1 N
Hairy Woodpecker  1 N
Acadian Flycatcher  1 N
Red-eyed Vireo  1 N
Black-capped Chickadee  2 N
Wood Thrush  2 N
American Robin  4 N
Common Yellowthroat  1 N
Ovenbird  1 N
Brown-headed Cowbird  1 N
Baltimore Oriole  1 N