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!