T.G Talks Tussling birds

By Bronwyn Robinson 

Male and female northern parula always exciting to capture and band a parula so far this fall we have banded 10 in the fall after not getting any in the spring 

Sometimes the inability to chill out is distinct to a bird’s personality. Back home in ye olde Brampton, I’ve got two budgies, one of whom has terrible anxiety and despises any beast that isn’t herself, her reflection, or her far more rational sister. Even earlier today we had a male and female Northern parula (shown below), and while the fluffy boy exercised patience, his lady counterpart (the angry blur) gave us heck. Sometimes, however, it’s just their tendency as a species to stress out. There are a few species we band here at the marsh that are more likely to lose their cool than the usual back talking sparrow.

Thrushes, like the Swainsons and Veerys we see a lot of, are prioritized for banding when we bring them in from the nets. While many birds tolerate being handled by us and shown to the public, thrushes are a little less willing, and it’s our job going along the nets, collecting birds and banding them to minimize stress. Catbirds too, like the family of four we had today, are banded first before the warblers and sparrows that don’t mind waiting an extra few minutes.

Another species prioritized for banding is the Canada warbler, like the handsome lad I plucked from the net today, shown below. These little guys have a fabulous speckled collar and bold eye ring that really stands out. Since they’re a species at risk, they’re prioritized in the banding queue, as would any other threatened species we don’t want to hold onto for too long.

Canada Warbler  our banding protocol requires us to band this species at risk first  so far this fall we have banded 21 in the fall after banding 21 in the spring . In contrast we have only banded 1  olive sided flycatcher which is another species at risk

My northern migration from Virginia by Sarah Biesemier

Sarah with the rail she flushed into the net. Super rare for us to catch a Virginia Rail in a net, is it a coincidence that she is from Virginia and she caught a Virginia rail? I think not!  (editors note)

I came to the Hilliardton Marsh relatively new to bird banding, and within a week I have already learned so much about extracting birds from mist-nets, handling songbirds, and identifying the different species that frequent this Northern Jewel. I am originally from Virginia and feel very fortunate to be able to come work in a beautiful part of Ontario and experience a new part of the world. We have a great team of people working at the marsh this fall and besides the occasional “aye” spoken into a conversation or the pronunciation of the word “out” that remind me I’m in Canada, I sometimes forget that I am so far away from home (even if the habitat and bird species are a bit different).

common yellowthroat

So far, one of the most challenging parts of songbird banding for me has been learning to distinguish between the different warbler species that migrate through the marsh. Lucky for me I have excellent co-workers who are teaching me what characteristics to look for, such as the presence of an eyering, coloration patterns, and size, to help identify each bird. Some of the warblers we band at the marsh include, Wilson’s, Nashville, Mourning, Tennessee, Canada, Common Yellowthroat, and Yellow Warblers.

starting from the top  left to right  Nashville warbler, Wilsons warbler Canada warbler, mourning warbler, yellow warbler, Tennessee warbler

This past week I have become acquainted with some of the commonly caught birds this fall, such as Alder flycatchers, red-eyed vireos, purple finches, white-throated sparrows, and pine siskins, and have also had the opportunity to see some not so commonly caught species as well. On our first net check early in the morning a few days ago, I heard the rattling call of a Belted Kingfisher and was shocked to discover that not one, but two kingfishers were in our nets, one male and one female. Female Belted Kingfishers are more brightly colored than the males, and have a blue and a chestnut band across their chests while males only have blue.

fourth and fifth kingfishers ever caught and banded at the marsh, very exciting indeed! Note the beautiful colour of the female. 

Also, the day before the kingfishers found their way into our nets, we caught and banded a Virginia Rail. We have certainly had an exciting past few days at the marsh! I am excited to see what other bird species migrate through the marsh this fall. My plan right now is to learn everything the Hilliardton Marsh has to offer and improve my bird banding techniques. I can’t wait for owl banding season to begin! 

Nick with a broad-winged hawk 

Hello Marsh enthusiasts, lovers, and followers! My name is Nick Alioto and I am the Marsh’s 2018 banding intern and I can’t begin to explain how happy I am to be back at the marsh for the fall 2018 banding season! After working odd jobs throughout the summer which included modeling and landscaping it feels good to back doing what I love!

This fall we have assembled an “A-Team” to help run the station, led by local legend Bruce Murphy. Some come from far and some from within Ontario (myself included). Needless to say, we have great comradery and it is shaping up to be an amazing fall. Our fall protocol commenced on August 1^st and since then we have been getting up before the crack of dawn to see what feathered friends have stopped over at the Marsh before continuing their journey further south to their respective wintering grounds.

leucistic alder on the right an incredible rarity 

The month of August was very successful for the marsh in terms of both species diversity and total captures. This month we banded 2,759 new birds of 64 species! The most abundant banded bird of August was the Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax alnorun) with 320 being banned which is truly incredible. The reason being is that as you go further south the Alder flycatchers range starts to overlap with the Willow flycatcher and these two species are so similar that banding stations in the south often have to call these flycatchers a “Traill’s” when captured. This a term used by banders which means we are not sure what species we have but we know it is one of the two. However, at the Marsh since we are so far north we are within only the Alders breeding range and therefore we know we are catching them and not Willow. This is unique to only a few banding stations in Ontario. They are also distinguished by their call which has an associated pneumonic which sounds like it is saying “Free Beer”…. now that’s my kind of bird! The highlight among all these Alders was catching a leucistic Alder Flycatcher (See picture below compared to normal Alder). Leucism is defined as the loss of pigment in an animal resulting in pale, white or patchy coloration. In this case, the feathers appear more pale and brown. This is very uncommon among animals and it super interesting to see a bird in hand resulting from this condition. The flycatcher below appears brown in coloration as opposed to being the olive color which is normal for this species. Apart from the Alders this month saw high capture rates of Purple finch, Red-eyed vireo, and many warbler species. I have included a top 10 species banded chart at the bottom of this blog so you can see what birds were most frequently during August.

sarah flushed this beauty into the QEW net  what a find 

Other highlights include catching a Hatching year Virginia Rail on the 31^st (Pictured above) along with being able to band two Broad-winged hawks which were both rehabbed in Sudbury and were then successfully released (Pictures below).

Nick banding a rehab broad-winged a successful release well-done nick! and what a great job by the rehab team at wild at heart in Sudbury

As we enter into September we expect to see another push of migrants as the temperatures continue to drop and we slowly transition into the beauty that fall has to offer. This also means that owl migration will begin shortly and for those of you that don’t know I spent the last year in Northern Michigan as an owl bander and cannot wait to help run the owl protocol here at the marsh and share my knowledge with all of the new crew… Especially Mohammad who knows of my love for the strigids! Until next time stay classy Hilliardton!

Top Ten Species Banded August 2018:

Species	Total Banded
Alder Flycatcher	320
Purple Finch	253
Red-eyed Vireo	233
American Redstart	186
Least Flycatcher	143
White-throated sparrow	139
Common Yellowthroat	130
Swamp Sparrow	97
Veery	85
Nashville Warbler	81

A female belted kingfisher showing her prominent colours on the left we have never caught two kingfishers at once and these two represent the 4th and 5th ever banded at the marsh a very special day indeed!

Bronwyn Robinson blog

This blog is writing itself!” or so Mo says, though everyone is still looking to me to make the announcement: first western palm warbler of the season! Did I take pictures of it? No.

 

beautiful adult black-throated blue warbler 

I make it up to you with a handsome blue-throated blue and incredibly unimpressed northern waterthrush. Both undoubtedly had very strong words to say to me, but they kept it to silent glares. I don’t think my ego could handle it should I spontaneously be able to understand the abuse they’d throw my way. The white-throated sparrows we plucked like fluffy ripe berries from the feeder nets would probably have the worst to say.

Northern water  thrush the thrush that is  a warbler 

In other news, I continue to be humbled by Swainson’s thrushes (meaning my hand was stained blue and I wonder how they manage to hold that much fecal matter for the sole purpose of inking me). I’m also rather envious of the fluff they’re hauling. How could evolution fail us humans? Give me down and feathers. I feel a failure of a bipedal. Even my feet, regardless of whatever armor I equip, leave me wanting. I thought my hiking boots could handle the morning dew but spoilers: I was wrong.

photo of the author

volunteers have migrated to the marsh fall and hummingbird banding by Mo Fahmy

So lucky to have such a great flock of volunteers

volunteers from left to right Mo Fahmy  (Egypt) Sarah Biesemier (Virginia)  Bronwyn "T.G" Robinson (ontario) Nic Alioto (Ontario)

close up of the birds the crew is holding in the first photo from left to right  veery, hermit  thrush swainsons thrush

Once again we are super lucky to have been able to attract some wonderful people to the marsh to allow us to carry out our songbird and owl migration monitoring. We have had a very successful August so far and will be blogging about our results at the end of the month.

Sarah Biessmierer with her first flicker fantastic fun  try saying that five times fast

 We have had an excellent month so far. The fine crew has had their collective arms twisted and will be each contributing to the blog on a daily basis. First in line is a contribution from Mo Fahmy so without any further adieu here is what Mo has to say

Hummingbird banding by Mo Fahmy

Banding hummingbirds was not what I expected upon my return to the Hilliardton Marsh. Murph and Jo took me under their wing and showed me how to band the minute birds. Weighing no more than 4 grams, the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds travel south from Canada (their breeding grounds) to Central and South America by crossing the Gulf of Mexico.

MO displaying the perfect  way to hold a hummingbird

To band, a hummingbird is different from banding even the smallest of songbirds. First, one wraps the bird “like a cat”, as Murph would say. Then, one holds the bird between the ring and little finger. Afterward, one isolates a leg (the right leg in our protocol) from the cloth the bird is wrapped in. Now the band can be attached to the leg and the bird acquires a unique number for identification when caught again. Most of the hummingbirds we have been catching the last few days are birds that have hatched this year, which are known to have grooving along with the sides of their bill. Their parents tend to migrate earlier (around the first week of August). Only the adult males adorn the ruby gorget feathers on their throats, which creates a challenge in identifying the sex of younger birds. However, when one cannot find ruby gorget feathers, two important measurements help identify the sex of the hummingbird: the length of the wing and the culmen. Female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are larger than males. So, they have a longer bill and wings.

Tiny tiny bands for a hummingbird as you can imagine 

We have banded 62 hummingbirds since the beginning of August. We banded three today (August 29, 2018). 74 hummingbirds were banded in August 2017, and 150 in 2016. We are already eager for their return next Spring as we bid them farewell upon their departure.

Data Data Data

If you are around and would like to help out the marsh and have some fun please join us for our annual fund raising golf tourney Saturday September the 8th. The "forecast" is "fore" fun!!!!

            

the migration is on

slow start to the banding season as we are waiting for water to drain so we can  get all the nets up all in good time 

Rough legged hawk

Now that I have your attention  these photo's will introduce you to our spring 2018 banding crew they are a great bunch and I am excited to have them here and they are already making an impact more to come . I am hoping they will take on the task of introducing themselves by blogging this season.  It is a challenging spring as the volunteers have to tent  but they are a hardy bunch and are embracing the boreal experience.  You can find out more about them by checking out our podcast  bird banter with boreal bruce  The crew has already made a big impact as you are soon to discover.  The migration is on  warblers are just arriving and the crew is ready.

Nick with the fist ever broad winged hawk we have ever banded at the marsh well done nick and the crew!!! They managed to band 3 which is phenomenal some years 3 are not banded in the province !!!

Chrissy took out and banded the first warbler of the season a lovely palm warbler

palm warbler 

Frances with the first white crowned sparrow of the season

Jess with the first  American golfdfinch

Tree swallow box cleanout

Cleaning out boxes at the  old north cobalt lagoon after a day of banding  a long day for volunteers 

team Quinton assembled and ready to clean out tree swallow boxes at the marsh

Frances with a spring  sawwhet owl 

Nick holding 1 of the 2 long eareds hey banded this spring  we attempted a pilot spring owl banding project which may lead us to deploy some  motus tags on some owls. First we had to show we could band a few in the spring  which proved to  be a difficult task. Nothing like our numbers in the fall

i

boreal banding adventure starts in a tent hopefully our raise the roost campaign will house volunteers in a nice warm 64 foot trailer 

Well after taking forever winter has been usurped by spring  and we are banding birds. Our crew has arrived and have a week under their collective banding belt and things are going really well and we are enjoying an awesome positive group of banders and the birds are arriving  just as we are ready.

pictured here is our spring crew 2018 right of me is  Chrissy Barton from Virginia, Jessica Baille  from Ajax Mohammed Fammy from Egypt Nick Alioto from Sunderland  and Frances Whalen from Kalamazoo Michigan and what a great crew.

Mo with a roughlegged hawk we banded

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!!!