Oh no the migration is over!!!!
Well the 2016 spring migration season is over and it came to a slow wet ending. We missed Monday to Wednesday due to rain and Thursday and Friday totals were extremely slow and revealed that the migration is indeed over. Chris got up extra early Friday morning to get the nets set up as he was convinced that maybe just maybe there could be an early morning rush. No one joined his enthusiasm or his early morning effort and it turned out with near freezing temperatures that several of nets could not be opened as they were partially frozen. Even activity at the feeder nets have grinded to a halt and we are now scathing more insect eating birds then seed eaters. One interesting thing we have observed over the years is that red-winged blackbirds stop eating corn once the young have hatched and switch to eating tiny caterpillars that I have never identified. When we occasionally catch one we notice their mouths are full of these little protein bundles they are taking to hungry bundles of fluff that will one day fill the marsh with their iconic wetland calls . Despite having low numbers one of the greatest things baout running a anding station is we get to meet new people and on Thursday we had a vist from Abby and Gwen who came bright and early all the way from Temagami for a chance to see birds. Even though we like to see large numbers of birds moving thorugh all it takes is a 5 year old and her mother to delight in a few birds to remind us of the power of a bird in the hand .
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| Ethan showing Abbie a yellow warbler |
So here are the totals for Thursday and Friday
1 ruby throated hummingbird
1 least flycatcher
2 alder flycatcher
2 yellow warbler
2 american redstart
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| kids under 10 cannot hold birds in photographers grip but sometimes birds never being upside down will lay still for a moment in the hand |
2red eyed vireo
1 song sparrow
1 veery
1 cedar waxwing
1 gray catbird
2 red-winged blackbird
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| hummingbird garden bachelor buttons |
1 american goldfinch
17 birds
12 species
Friday June 10th
2 least flycatcher
1 alder flycatcher
1 chestnut sided warbler
1 common yellow throat
1 yellow warbler
2 american redstart
2 american goldfinch
1 red eyed vireo
2 white throated sparrow
1 cedar waxwing
2 yellow bellied sapsucker
1 yellow shafted flicker
18 birds
12 species
When banding is over often unseen and unrecorded work happens at the marsh unnoticed by the visiting public. perhaps that is a good thing
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| Reed and Brodie trying to persuade a post into the hard clay |
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| Sidd giving it her all |
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| interesting technique |
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| Brodie Medland is determined |
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| Thanks goodness for Ethan |
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| Piliated woodpecker captured at our Dawson point site Friday |
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| Curtis being clever to wear gloves to avoid the pointy piliated parts |
A few hours of hanging out at the marsh experiencing bird banding and our little bird nerd is sure that's what she'd like to do when she grows up. She's dreaming of how she can get her hands on one of those nets or make one herself - maybe out of fishing line... or thread...?
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to feed her love of birds. And don't worry, we won't let her dreams of finding nets to catch them in get too far out of hand ;)