Volunteer Doug Little to the rescue. Volunteers make the difference at the marsh!!!

I will never be able to capture what volunteers do for the marsh or how  what seems very routine for them makes such a big difference for us at the marsh.  Doug got in touch with us a while back when he heard we had some signs to put up at the marsh.                                                                             

                                                                       

 He donated the lumber and his time to come out to the marsh. For those who know me i hardly know which end of the hammer to use and it would have taken me two days to put up the signs and they would have be blown over with the wind we had Sunday.  So thanks so much Doug and Allee for enduring the bugs and allowing visitors to find the marsh with ease now .                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                             

The story of the signs should be told as well. One night we had a couple that came out to see owl banding at the marsh and in the dark they could not find the entrance to the marsh. After wasting a fair bit of time  trying to find us they arrived just in time to see and hold some sawwhet owls.

 That visit was followed up with a phone call the next day with an offer to purchase the marsh signs that have a reflective quality that will light up at night when car lights hit them making it all the easier for folks to find the marsh. The only condition was that the donation needed to be anonymous. So thanks so much to the couple who have made it all the easier for people to find us  so they can see  fine work that so many volunteers are doing to continue with our essential work for bird conservation at the Hilliardton Marsh.                                                                                                                              

I cannot  leave a blog thanking volunteers  without thanking Chris Sukha for all he did for us this spring not only did he run the banding site but he also entered all of the banding data. Last year the marsh was in a position  where we could pay him but this year he did it all as a volunteer. So thanks so much Chris we really appreciate all you do for us.                                                                           

Chris with the stations second ever piliated woodpecker 

 Chris will be missing the fall migration as he has taken the bander in charge position at Mackenzie bird observatory in northern British Columbia. It is a paid position and Chris will be making  around $12,000 dollars for his effort. He tells me they have the wonderful pleasure of enjoying a second hatch of black flies in August which makes the job all that more enticing. Good luck Chris,hopefully we can save some boreal and long eared owls for you to band when you return after thanksgiving .   

Bander in charge Chris Sukha with a northern water thrush

                    

I  appreciate all of the other volunteers at the marsh and if you are reading this wondering how you can help out at the marsh please visit our website  www.thehilliardtonmarsh.com and you can get involved . There are always projects big and small that we need help with.  There is a role for you at the marsh regardless of age or skill level so get in touch and join the fun . The hired marsh crew begins July 4th and fall migration begins August 1st which at the time of writing this blog is a mere 50 sleeps away!!!                                                                                                                                

Bird is the word!!!!

spring migration comes to a wet slow end or Chris is in migration denial

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 .

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  

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

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

Reed and Brodie trying to persuade a post into the hard clay

Sidd giving it her all

interesting technique

Brodie Medland is determined 

Thanks goodness for Ethan

Piliated woodpecker captured at our Dawson point site Friday 

Curtis being clever to  wear gloves to avoid  the pointy piliated parts

3 days before the rain, trees,and more rain.

It has been a crazy migration to say the least but it has been a lot of fun and the birds have given us a lot to think about. I am looking forward to analyzing the retrap data at the end of the season  as we have had a record number of retraps this spring which is not surprising as we banded so many birds last year.  OK to be honest I am looking forward to Sid  doing the  retrap data. She has been  compiling on the retrap data throughout the spring  and we have some  really neat retraps to share at the end of the season. We still have a week of banding to go and will be stretching the season a little further as we had to cancel two school classes this week due to  the rain. The rain however gives us  chance to catch up on data, sleep, and to get a few things done at the marsh that "running the nets " does not give us the chance to do. The timing of the rain was actually perfect as you will see we had the chance to get some trees in the ground by the feeder nets .

Amigo clowning around 

Thursday June 2nd big wind  

Reed rescuing a gosling separated briefly from parents during river check.

2 ruby throated humming birds
1 ruby crowned kinglet
1 chestnut sided warbler
2 american redstart
1 black and white warbler
2 alder flycatcher
1 common yellow throats
2 red eyed vireo
6 red winged blackbirds
1 common grackle
1 american goldfinch

20 birds
11 species


Friday June 3rd  tree day

2 ruby throated hummingbirds
3 least flycatchers
3 chestnut sided warblers
8 alder flycatchers
3 yellow warblers
1 mourning warbler
2 yellow bellied flycatchers

Ethan with  yellow bellied flycatcher

1 swamp sparrow
1 red eyed vireo
1 swainson's thrush
1 veery
1 cedar waxwing
1 gray catbird
4 red-winged blackbird
1 common grackle
1 american robin
2 american goldfinch
4 american redstart


40 birds
18 species

J12347 return hummingbird banded


Saturday June 4th  red headed pterodactyl day

2 least flycatcher
1 northern water thrush
3 common yellow throat
10 alder flycatcher
4 yellow warbler
1 black and white warbler

Chris excited to band the stations second ever piliated

4 american goldfinch
1 american redstart
3 red-eyed vireo
1 song sparrow
1 swamp sparrow
7 cedar waxwing
1 veery
1 gray catbird
2 red-winged blackbird
2 common grackle
1 piliated woodpecker  *** second ever for station  ***


45 birds
17 species

nice to see the business end is pointed away

amigo checking out the new habitat by the feeder nets . Notice the net is back up.

Malcolm from Demora construction with back up

Ethan a fish and wildlife grad from Sault College  was the perfect site coordinator for the planting of the trees . Ethan was very happy we did not have to dig the holes by hand  for the size of the root balls the trees have . Digging in clay would not have been fun

Some of  the most important jobs at the marsh are invisible . It took reed and Sid  almost 4 hours to fill the holes with soil and take care of the new habitat.  School groups are going to finish with planting  honeysuckles  making this habitat irresistible to birds and the Scots pine can be keep trimmed  at net height  to help ensure consistent habit in years to come . Well done Reed and Sid.  Thank  you Temiskaming Foundation for funding the trees more on that in  a future blog. Reed worked so hard today that not only did he break a wheelbarrow he also broke his glasses!!!  His attempts at sabotage were for naught as we borrowed nearby marsh supporter Cheryl Hibbs  wheelbarrow to get the job done .Thanks Cheryl

The forecast for the next two days is rain and more shoveling  as we prepare the site for planting by Haileybury public students and a class from Kirkland Central public school next week.  If you plant it they will come........... bird is the word!!!!

some missed photo's and migration is winding down

Today we were able to get started setting the nest up at  430  easily beating sunrise and the bugs. The photo below was taken after the nets were set up. knowing this was the last week of the true migration for us we wanted to make sure the nets were up to meet our bander in charge Chris Sukha's  protocol. With Thursday looking like a rain day we wanted to make sure we gave today every chance we could. While we will still be banding next week we have very little expectation  to catch many birds and our protocol has us banding to the end of the first week of June every year. Although the last week is always very slow.

A view few experience  but is always there for the taking. While I am truly not a morning person getting up early has its rewards. 

June 1st banding totals


1 least flycatcher
16 alder flycatcher
1 yellow bellied flycatcher
1 chestnut-sided warbler
5 yellow warbler
4 common yellow throat
2 mourning warbler
5 wilson's warbler
7 american redstart
1 philadelphia warbler
1 red eyed vireo
1 chipping sparrow
1 song sparrow
1 swamp sparrow
1 purple finch
1 american goldfinch
1 veert
5 cedar waxwing
1 gray catbird
3 american robin
4 red-winged blackbird
1 yellow shafted flicker


64 birds
22 species

Thanks to Reeeed Murphy, Siddd Coll EEEthan Quinton and Super Suuuukha  aka Chris Sukha our Bander in charge  another great banding day at the Hilliardton marsh!!







One of the nice things about banding in June is the arrival of cedar waxwings. Sometime they hardly arrive before we have to shut down our banding efforts but this year they arrived in the last week of May and we are hoping to get some good numbers. I was looking at our past data and with the waxwings we caught today the 10 birds we have banded this  spring  is above average for most years efforts

Reed and steady volunteer extractor Ron Judd with the first waxwings of the year

beautiful

Always lucky when we can band a northern parula

male and female blackburnian caught at our Dawson point site

Another view of these boreal beauties

Ethan holding our 4th yellow bellied flycatcher of the spring . Ethan is a past Terra student and our stewardship youth ranger crew leader  and great marsh personality. We al;ways appreciate Ethan's help and all the time he gives to the marsh.