warblers ducks and a push and Ron judd's hand modeling career comes to an early tragic end

female northern shoveler note her beauty spots

We have had a couple of great days of banding but knew when we went to bed last night with a cool night in the forecast that a cold front was going through and we were hoping for a "push". Birds take advantage of cold front as the cooler winds make the air more dense and easier to fly and today was a great push the most notable bird that seemed to be filling each net were  Nashville warblers.  It was difficult to give up a day of banding  on Tuesday but after a late night banding ducks with the  air boat crew form The Ministry of natural Resources and forestry the banding crew took a much needed break and  took advantage of the  cold front on Wednesday. Our August banding has come to a close and we will see what September brings . We had a record august and I will be posting our totals in the days to come  some very interesting result but I will save it for later and in all honesty 5 am comes way too early and I have to get to bed. It is supposed to go down to plus 7 which is awesome unless you are clinging on to summer  and are trying to hold back the wave of birds that we are trying to monitor. Bird is the word...embrace the wave  of birds !!!

we are not the only ones trying to trap early in the morning 

August 29th


ruby throated hummingbirds   6
yellow bellied flycatcher   1
alder flycatcher  4
american goldfinch 3    

great blue heron enjoying the view from the motus tower

Savannah sparrow 1
white throated sparrow 7
song sparrow    2
Lincoln's sparrow 1
swamp sparrow   2
rose breasted grosbeak  2
red eyed vireo 16
Philadelphia vireo  2
Nashville warbler   6

Tennessee warbler   3
magnolia warbler   1
chestnut sided warbler   3
palm warbler  1
ovenbird 2
norther watertrush 1
common yellow throat 13
Wilson's warbler 1
american redtstart 5
grey catbird 1
red breasted nuthatch 1
veery 7
swainson's thrush 2


94 birds
26 species

Ron  using his fingers to learn the difference between a grosbeak and purple finch bite these two grosbeaks showing who is boss. Female on the left , Male on the right. Ron said his fingers will never be the same and there goes his career as a hand model! Kramer was seen at the marsh being consoled by his friend Gerry Seinfeld  between sobs exclaiming his hands were so exquisite.

       

it is easy to smile when the pain has stopped

26 species

despite being late Sidney still has a smlie

MNRF airboat

Ethan with an american coot

we helped the air boat banders band a lot of birds  including

american black duck
mallard
ring necked duck
wigeon
northern shovellor
blue winged teal
american green winged teal
hooded merganser
american coot
pied billed grebe

we will know the totals at the end of the season

pied billed grebe is it any wonder scientists think birds evolved from dinosaurs

August 31st

our 4th mourning dove of the season before this year we banded 3 in total for all of the years 

american kestrel 1
mourning dove 1
ruby throated hummingbird 1

 

HMREC member Jocelyn with a donation of mixed seed thanks so much in return she was able
to photograph some very cool birds  

alder flycatcher 6
least flycatcher  2
american goldfinch 1
white throated sparrow   6
swamp sparrow 3
rose breasted grosbeak 3
red eyed vireo  5
Philadelphia vireo  2

wilson's warbler 

Nashville warbler  28
Tennessee warbler  7
northern parula  2
yellow warbler 4
black throated blue warbler   1
yellow rumped warbler   3
magnolia warbler   3
chestnut sided warbler 4
bay breasted warbler 1
palm warbler 2

nashville warbler in french its name is grey cheeked  u be the judge which name is better 

ovenbird 2
northern waterthrush 1
mourning warbler 1
common yellowthroat 14
wilsons warbler 7
america redstart 8
red breasted nuthatch 1

young hunter with a chickadee

black capped chickadee 3
golden crowned kinglet 1
swainsons thrush   5


132 birds banded
32 species

Our first golden crowned of the season hopefully more to come 

Deb Murray the scribe demonstrating how serious  the job of the scribe is in the banding operation. Actually as I said it is THE most important job but it doesn't mean you can't have fun

a very young bay breasted warbler 

kestrels always attract a lot of attention our second of the season caught in a mist net

Saturdays are for the birds!!!

Hilliardton marsh banding continues to be a great deal of fun and we are learning a lot about the fall migration. My favourite banding day now is Saturday. Despite the banding lab being open to the public daily it seems that Saturdays are the day that people have the time to make it out to see what we do and to see the birds .  This Saturday was no exception as we had a young family come out as well as some grandparents with their grand daughter. We are totally dependent on memberships and the drop in fees that we have to support the research we are doing  and appreciate all of the memberships people are getting and the donations folks make to keep us going. I also have been enjoying the encouragement to keep the blog going and hopefully you will enjoy the photo's here  showing  some of the many species we  have been banding and documenting at the marsh. For more information about the marsh I encourage you to visit the website www.thehilliardtonmarsh.com and if there is anyone who would like to volunteer please get in touch with our volunteer coordinator via the website. This Saturday we could not run all of our nets  as we did not have enough people to monitor them in a way that guarantees the safety of the birds, which is the first priority of all banders. We were able to run all the nets that are part of our standardized protocol so the small dip in our total numbers  for Saturday do not reflect a change in the  number of birds present in the area. Hopefully Monday we will be back to running all of the nets and have more to report. This morning  I enjoyed  sleeping in  as our protocol calls for 5 days of banding per week and  I need the rest. We will be back at it with nets up at 6 am all week weather permitting.  Thanks for reading the blog and for your support  of the Hilliardton Marsh. Bird is the word
August 26th

ruby throated hummingbird  6  

northern parula 3rd of the fall

yellow bellied flycatcher  1
alder flycatcher  7
least flycatcher  2
american goldfinch 1
white throated sparrow  1
song sparrow 2
rose breasted grosbeak  1
red eyed vireo  5
Philadelphia vireo  1
Nashville warbler  10
Tennessee warbler 2
northern parula  1
yellow warbler 2

Volunteer extractor Ron Judd  with aprula

magnolia warbler 2
chestnut sided warbler 2
mourning warbler 4
common yellowthroat  9
Wilson's warbler 1
Canada warbler 1
american redstart  7
veery   5
swainson's thrush 1
hermit thrush  1

79 banded
24 species

Young Louis feeling the effects of  5 am starts in the morning  nets are up at 6

Banding and scribing . The scribe is the most important person in the banding lab Delphine Churman is very good at it. 

August 27th  no river nets !!

Sidney is learning to band  she is hoping to get her permit one day

Ruby throated hummingbirds   2
least flycatcher 1
purple finch  8
american goldfinch  7
white throated sparrow   1
swamp sparrow 1

Yellow bellied flycatcher  always nice to band. 

rose breasted grosbeak  1
red eyed vireo 3
Philadelphia vireo 1
Nashville warbler 3
yellow warbler 1
yellow rumped warbler 1
magnolia warbler 4
chestnut sided warbler 1
ovenbird   2
northern waterthrush  2
common yellowthroat  6
wilsons warbler 2
american redstart 1
black capped chickadee  1
veery    4


53 banded birds
21 species

Confusing fall warblers!! Mourning warbler on the left and a common yellowthroat on the right. 

Comparing the size of rose breasted grosbeak on the left and a purple finch on the right.

Ovenbird, my students said rather then their iconic call of "teacher teacher" thought  they really are saying pizza pizza!! Note the pizza sauce on the head, and where do you put a pizza????......In the oven!

Close cousin to the ovenbird is the northern waterthrush both are considered warblers.

Maddy Goetz holding her first chickadee

Visitor Susan Welsh brought out this donation of bird seed thanks so much Susan. Donations make a huge difference to us as you can imagine we spend a  lot of money on bird seed so we really appreciate these acts of kindness. Sparrows love eating mixed seed  so this will help attract white crowned and white throated sparrows. Last year we banded our first fall white crowned on September 19  so we have a little bit of time before we get very busy with them This spring we banded 157. Thanks again Susan!

2 more days of great boreal birds

3rd Merlin for station  we have caught them 2 years in a row now 

August 24th        

true or false brodie is  6 foot 6 making these very tall sunflowers?

MERLIN

ALDER FLYCATCHER  6

LEAST FLYCATCHER 1

PURPLE FINCH   1

WHITE THROATED SPARROW 2

SONG SPARROW  2

SWAMP SPARROW 1

RED EYED VIREO 8     

our banding program is in capable hands  Jacob LaChapelle and  Ethan Quinton

PHILADELPHIA VIREO 1

NASHVILLE WARBLER   5

CAPE MAY WARBLER 1

YELLOW WARBLER 1

BLACK THROATED BLUE WARBLER  1

MAGNOLIA WARBLER  3

CHESTNUT SIDED WARBLER 2

OVENBIRD 4

MOURNING WARBLER 3      

Jacob and the merlin faceoff

COMMON YELLOWHROAT 9

WILSON WARBLER

AMERICAN REDSTART  12

VEERY  2

marsh director Delphine churman

71 birds banded   21 species

21 species

AUGUST 25th

DOWNY WOODPECKER   1

the Black Throated blue warbler femald Delphine was holding 

RUBY THROATED HUMMINGBIRD  1

ALDER FLYCATCHER   10

LEAST FLYCATCHER  5

EASTERN PHOEBE   1

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH  3

WHITE THROATED SPARROW   2

CEDAR WAXWING  1

RED EYED VIREO  18

PHILADELPHIA VIREO  3

NASHVILLE WARBLER  4

TENNESSEE WARBLER  1

Reed Murphy with 2nd phoebe of the year 5th ever for station

YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER  2

MAGNOLIA WARBLER  6

BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER  1

OVENBIRD 3

MOURNING WARBLER 2

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT  2

WILSON'S WARBLER 2

louis Churman with a brown creeper   bird he was very happy about

AMERICAN REDSTART  4

BLACK CAPPED CHICKADEE 2

RUBY CROWNED KINGLET  1

VEERY  2

SWAINSON THRUSH 3        

brown creeper

90 BIRDS BANDED

29 SPECIES

The truth about Broidies  height and the  rest of the SYR crew  thanks for all of the help and  the positive impact you all made 

hot and windy but still more birds

female black throated blue

 On a day that threatened rain we were able to dodge the rain but not the wind which we are pretty sure had an impact on our results . The fall is often an inconsistent time to band and one of our best nets checks was the last net check of the day which is very odd indeed . For me the highlights of the day included  a female black throated blue warbler  and the continue stream of  vireo's which for some reason are  one of my favourite species . I am looking forward to posting out totals for the month as i am sure there are going to be some pleasant surprises. We will be back at it tomorrow but it is supposed to be hot and muggy so we shall see what the day brings

Canada warbler

ruby throated hummingbird  9
alder flycatcher     9

nice adult red winged blackbird

least flycatcher   9
red-winged blackbird   1
purple finch 2
american goldfinch  5
white throated sparrow  1
song sparrow  1
Lincoln sparrow  1
cedar waxwing    1
red eyed vireo     5
philadelphia vireo    4
black and white warbler    2
nashville warbler   1
Tennessee warbler   1
cape may warbler   1
yellow warbler     1
black throated blue warbler
magnolia warbler     5
chestnut sided warbler    2
ovenbird     3
mourning warbler   3
common yellowthroat  5
wilson's warbler  2
Canada warbler1
american redstart  14
black capped chickadee  1

purple finch showing the ravages of moult it seemed embarrassed

veery      5
swainson thrush 2



92 birds
29 species


Thanks to the syr crew and Jacob LaChapelle
for another great day at the nets  

Lincoln sparrow note the buff colour

banding in the boreal does it get any better than this

blackburnian boreal beauty

Another great day banding at the Hilliardton Marsh thanks to our stewardship ranger crew. they are gaining great experience  seeing what it is like being part of a banding operation and at the same time allowing us to run our river nets which is revealing a very bright future for the  potential of research at the marsh.
       This year the trend of some capturing some boreal specialists continues and we seem to be having a record fall for  cape may and blackburnian warblers  2 species we sometimes do not see at all in a migration. We are currently tweaking our data organization system and hope to have  full numbers available  very soon, thanks Sidney Coll!!!   Banding operations are always tweaking things while  staying true to protocols as it is important to establish a standardized approach to banding. Sidd and I have come up with a new form for representing our daily captures which will allow us to represent the order that species will be posted on the blog in taxonomic order rather than by band size  as we have been doing. No doubt this  will please birders and banders alike who may have found it frustrating  seeing the order i have been representing the birds . It will also allow us to enter or daily totals in a much more organized fashion so we can have a current running total of our season. Past bander in charge (BIC)  Chris Sukha is going to be so happy.  Always tweaking, always tweaking!!  Alder flycatchers seem to be moving on and yet we were able to catch a yellow warbler which for us is the first warbler to suddenly be gone so our numbers are still high and diversity is still up so hopefully we will have a chance to band  tomorrow and report on what we were able to band.  Bird is the word!!!

yellow shafted flicker  1
ruby throated hummingbird 2
alder flycatcher          2
least flycatcher     4
american goldfinch     6
pine siskin     1
white throated sparrow   8
song sparrow    3
swamp sparrow      6
rose breasted grosbeak    3

a retrapped  kingbird  most likely from the spring the interesting part of this is that we only  banded 2

cedar waxwing     6
red eyed vireo    12
philadelphia vireo    5
black and white warbler   2
nashville warbler   2
tennessee warbler  1
cape may warbler 2
yellow warbler  1
myrtle warbler 1
magnolia warbler  3
chestnut sided warbler  1
blackburnian warbler  2
ovenbird   3
common yellowthroat  7
wilson's warbler  2
american redstart   9
grey catbird  1
red breasted nuthatch   1            

Reed with a blackburnian

black capped chickadee   1
veery     7                                  
swainsons thrush   4



109 birds
31 species

pine siskin!! last year we banded 1 in august so we are wondering if we will increase that total by 100% with another one  tomorrow

As is our custom I like to post the extractor of a new species for the season. Here is kiara who 

 found the siskin in a feeder net