redpoll reign at Hilliardton

beautiful after second year male common redpoll  the colour almost wills the snow to melt. Clearly I am urging the snow to melt and set the stage for spring migration.

Well  it has been a long time since I have written in the blog  and there is so much to write about but I am going to be single minded and write about redpolls. It occurs to me that single minded is a very odd expression when referring to such a flock oriented bird as redpolls.  There was a time that I wondered why we were banding redpolls until a redpoll banded at the marsh appeared in Alaska  and over the past decade it appears that we are almost the only site banding redpolls in Ontario. This is more due to snow conditions and the fact that in most years redpolls do not migrate much further then then the cover of the boreal so we have a unique opportunity.  Redpolls are known for having "irruptive " years  making it into southern Ontario but large flocks are usually predictable in the north. So far this winter we have banded  1, 487 common redpolls . 941 have been banded at the marsh, 413 have been banded at our Dawson point site and 133 have been banded by the school site at Kerns Public school.  A huge part of our success this year has been due to a donation from the Temiskaming Foundation to purchase some very effective traps and the construction of our J trap at the marsh which was also funded by the Temiskaming foundation as well. The great part of these traps is that it is a great way to introduce kids  to the world of banding that is stress free for the birds. We often see the birds enter the traps and after realizing they are caught the birds start to feed seemingly unconcerned about their momentary lack of freedom.
     We have been surprised by the lack of  hoary redpolls banded this year  as we have only banded 7 after a high of 60 last year. There is a great deal of speculation that this species is about to get lumped into a single species of redpoll but I believe this has not happened yet and I will leave it to greater minds to explain the rationale for making this taxonomic change .

Northern shrike  the gloves show the respect their bill deserves 

     Just recently the flocks of redpolls have been joined by birds that want to eat them and we were lucky enough at our Dawson point site to capture and band a Merlin and a northern shrike  as these species make their way north.  Each winter we have managed to capture a few shrike  but march seems to be the month we capture the most and the Merlin stands out as it is only the 4 th we have ever banded and 2 of these have been captured at Dawson point and both were in march as well almost to the day.

Merlin's  are always  exciting perhaps the fastest bird I have ever caught

     This years redpoll numbers  represent our fourth best year year having banded 1216 in 2011 and 1108 in 2015 and 999 in 2005. Numbers seem to be dropping dramatically the last couple of days and we are  catching a a great deal of retraps  right now suggesting that the flock at the marsh is mostly banded.  It has become a bit of a tradition over the years to mix green and red  as we celebrate St Patrick's day by showing interested observers how we band redpolls at the marsh . So perhaps you will make it out to the marsh and we will finish the phrase "Top of the day to you  with the customary Irish response ... and the rest of the day to you!!!! Happy St Patty's and happy birding. If you wish to join us take note we will be banding from 9 to 12  and will be featuring some Irish stew  made with wonderful grass fed beef form Marsh Meadows organic farm.

Ouch!!! waiting to happen