a boom of sparrow

after a long period of relative calm (hence the silence of the blog), we had a big day of banding yesterday! but first, let's remember those first days of fall when only the calendar and the birds and some leaves turning red would convince us that it really was fall.

most of the warblers were gone, as well as the red-eyed vireos, the flycatchers. no more big flocks of Canada Geese or Blue Jays. But the temperatures stayed way high, accompanied by humidity and south winds. it didn't feel right and frequent dips in the cold water of Wingfield Basin were necessary to keep our cool. nonetheless, it was fall and it is fall: the days are getting shorter, the leaves are turning color, and the cohort of birds have been shifting accordingly.

it is now the time of the sparrows, and the kinglets, and the chickadees, and the juncos, and the late warblers (Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped, Palm)... and the conditions must have been right for sparrows a couple of nights ago to move en masse, but also to be grounded en masse at the station. actually, as far as my sleep pattern could tell, it rained 2 nights ago sometimes before dawn. when we opened our nets at 7am, it was quiet but for a few chips here and there. but as the sun rose up and brought some light through the clouds and fog, the ground came to life with sparrows!

they were everywhere around the station, in swarms. everytime we walked by, they would scatter in all directions in impressive numbers! and sure enough, they started hitting the nets too! at the end of a busy morning, we had bagged and banded 141 birds, including 83 White-crowned Sparrows (more White-crowned Sparrows in a day than the highest total for an entire season!). There were also quite a few Juncos, some White-throated Sparrows, and a sprinkle of Lincoln's Sparrows. We also got the first American Tree Sparrow of the fall. Hermit Thrushes were also quite abundant during this exciting day!

A strong West wind finally cleared the sky that day, and as I stood outside watching dusk turning into night, I knew that most of those sparrows would be gone the next morning. and indeed, despite the rain that started in the middle of the night, almost no sparrow was around this morning; none banded yesterday were recaptured and a meager 5 white-crowned sparrows were banded!

boom and bust! that's migration!