Pictures!

Top to bottom; Pine Grosbeak, Common Redpoll, White Breasted Nuthatch, Northern Shrike

Unexpected birds in our nets!

Now that the banding season is drawing to a close, we have seen a drop in the number of birds banded and recorded on census. The weather has returned to being cold and wet, although we have been able to open nets on most days. The Trumpeter Swans have left, but Snow Buntings have been observed and a wave of American Tree Sparrows has arrived with the cold front. There have been a few late migrants banded, including a Red-eyed Vireo and a Gray Catbird. Buffleheads are moving through and we’ve observed Red-breasted and Hooded Mergansers in the basin, as well as a lone Horned Grebe on the bay. A Pigeon was an unusual sight just in front of Wingfield Cabin.

There have been a few Bald Eagles in the area: one adult on the 24th, and a 4th and 2nd year bird traveling together on the 25th. Other raptor observations include a Red-tailed Hawk and a juvenile Northern Goshawk.

To make up for the lack of banding numbers, we have been lucky to get a high diversity of rarely captured and interesting birds. On Oct 23rd we were excited to band two White-breasted Nuthatches, the first since fall of 2005, bringing the total number banded at the station to three. We also captured an adult Northern Shrike, and we’ve seen another brown juvenile. More Pine Grosbeaks have been banded as well; we were lucky to band a flashy male bringing the number banded this season to 3. Two additional un-banded Grosbeaks were seen in a nearby-birch tree.

Probably the most noteworthy species captured this week were the two Common Redpolls banded on the 25th. This is a first ever species for the Cabot Head Station and we were very surprised to band more than one. Both redpolls were female, with one hatch-year and one after-hatch-year bird.

Picture: Northern Saw-whet Owl

more pictures of good birds

We got news from Wye Marsh about the marked Trumpeter Swan that graced Wingfield Basin for several days: she was banded in LaSalle Park, in Burlington this spring, in April 2007 and seen in Wye Marsh in May. It was hatched in 2006, and as such, is too young to have bred. The cygnet with her is likely one that got lost and found her company.

Bottom picture: Pine Grosbeak; Top: Northern Shrike.

a few good birds!

While the banding hasn’t been as fast and furious as it had been during the surge of sparrows, we have been getting exciting birds in the last week. In a first for Cabot Head, there have been two Trumpeter Swans in the Wingfield Basin. They arrived three days ago and have been sighted swimming the basin every day since. One is tagged with plastic wing tag and we are trying to track down where it came from. We’ll keep you posted if we find out. Before the swans, we had a Surf Scoter in the Wingfield Basin. These deep water divers rarely come into small bays, so it was a treat to have one so close for a few days. In more typical scoter behavior, white-winged scoters have been seen flying over the bay, though none have been coming very close to the station.

Last weekend we caught a Pileated Woodpecker. She was the first we caught this season and only the fifth ever caught at Cabot Head. Also last weekend we caught a Pine Grosbeak. It was also a first for the season and only the third ever caught at Cabot Head. Three days ago we got a Northern Shrike in the nets. It nearly got out, but Stephane was right there and able to keep it in the net. This is the first for the season. Yesterday we caught a Fox Sparrow (another first for the season). We usually only get two or three of this large sparrow each fall. And today – believe it or not! - we banded a Northern Saw-whet Owl. When we attempted to catch these amazing little owls last weekend at night, we had no success, but this morning, on our first net run of the day, we found one in the nets. It was the first one caught this season. From this list of exciting birds, it’s easy to see numbers aren’t everything at Cabot Head.

The composition of the bird species seen and caught has been changing. We are now seeing more of the late fall migrants and winter residents. American Tree Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees, Orange-crowned Warblers, Dark-eyed Juncos, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Brown Creepers, Golden and Ruby-crowned Kinglets compose almost all of the birds we are now getting in the nets. All are late fall migrants or winter residents of the area. No longer are we finding Red-breasted Nuthatches or mid-fall warblers, which we were seeing only a few weeks ago.

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!