finally something to blog about and new podcast

female American Kestrel

Yesterday I was pretty giddy and found myself humming a Christmas tune  as we made our way to the j trap. Red winged blackbirds while having been here for weeks had their calls muted by bands of geese and the calls of sand hill cranes. Well come to think of it I do not know how someone would describe the call of a sand hill, the trumpet? It would be kind of like  describing coffee to someone who has never tasted coffee. The Christmas tune in my head was  "the most wonderful time of the year" We banded our first american tree sparrows of the year and managed to band our first gold finch and also captured a number of purple finches and noted there are still around 50 common redpolls at the feeders!!

Frances and an American tree sparrow

 Robins seemed to be everywhere and in astounding numbers. I wish we had kept count as we traveled area roads looking for  kestrels to band  but I do not think it would be outrageous to throw a number of 10,000 around as small flocks of 30 to 40 birds were ever present as they scooted along fields destined for wormy delights to the north. Rough legged hawks northern harriers and kestrels were not hard to find traveling concession roads through farm country.  Tree swallows and king fishers are also back and there was a report of a flicker. Also Nick banded  an American woodcock on April 22nd to add to the spring wave of birds. A more detailed picture of migrants can be found on Milton's migration Mondays provided by local birder Mark Milton.

Nick and our first goldfinch

     We begin our banding season officially on Tuesday may 2nd. Normally we begin on May 1st but this year we are doing some outreach with three school classes that are  coming together  at kerns public school to have a "bird rendezvous" The kids are going to be banding , building bird houses and learning a bit more about  how to identify birds by sight and beginning to learn how to bird by ear. It promises to be a great day. I had a great time last Friday visiting the kids at in grade 4/5 and 6 at central school in Kirkland lake we chatted about ebird and bird feeding and set up some feeders in their school yard. Nice to see kids excited about feeding birds and was impressed wit the quality of questions and how well behaved the students where. Great things happening at Central School. Looking forward to the rendezvous at Kerns public.

Bird feeders  hung by a rope until a shepherds hook can get through ice

     Our volunteer banding crew for the season has been assembled and they are starting to arrive . Nick Aliotto an Frances Whalen have arrived from Michigan and we also will be joined by Jessica Baille from Ajax Ontario, Chrissy Barton from Virginia and Mohammed Famy from Montreal will all be arriving on Sunday to round out our crew. We are looking forward to their arrival and the birds that have brought them to us.

Nick with a purple finch perhaps the worst name for a bird ever 

      As folks are no doubt aware this year they will be tenting as we continue our funding drive to purchase a 64 foot trailer  to accommodate future volunteers at the marsh. Anyone wishing to help out with this critical fund raising campaign can do so online at www.thehilliardtonmarsh.com and you will receive a tax receipt as we are a charitable organization. You can feel wonderful about yourself knowing that your contribution is going to help researchers as these young people are giving up the chance to make wages  to pay off student debt by  joining us so the ability to house them is of critical importance. In addition your donation is being matched by the gosling foundation which will make you feel twice as good.
      Recently with the help of the creative energy and technical know how of Ben McPherson  we have started a podcast which is currently available at 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wr_FTQ_JiE&feature=youtu.be

the podcast is called Bird Banter with boreal Bruce  and is an attempt to chat about the happenings at the marsh and the people who make it all happen. Currently it is on a youtube site but we are looking into having it hosted on our website which will allow folks to download it onto any device they like. So far I have not been responsible for anyone drifting off to sleep while behind a steering wheel but there are rumors of playing it to toddlers at bedtime to induce sleep. I am excited to introduce folks to our volunteers and many topics about the marsh.  I would love to get feedback and ideas about future episodes so if there is anyone out there with suggestions please send them my way . I can also be reached at birdboy369@gmail.com . I really appreciate all the work and ideas from Ben who really is a technical whiz and we think the podcast will be a nice way to get out the word about what we are doing at the marsh and will hopefully be helpful to birders young and old alike.
     It really is the most wonderful time of the year we will be updating the blog as often as we can with highlights of the spring migration. Not sure if it is okay to sing a  Christmas song in April but I just cannot seem to help myself. Bird is the word!
   

Nick holding an American Woodcock in "Popsicle grip" check out that snoz!!!