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