whimbrel and more in June

The migration monitoring at Cabot Head Research Station has now come to a close. Hard to believe but summer is almost upon us, and true, there has been at least a couple of warm days! It was a very good season, filled with many birds, good volunteers, and great time!

In closing the blog for the summer break, I wish to apologize for the few and irregular postings. I hope you out there enjoyed them anyway. And here's the last of the news!

A very rarely seen shorebird at Cabot Head, a Whimbrel was seen flying West and fast over Gerogian Bay on June 2. Migration usually winds down in June but this spring, we had good days and banded a record number of birds during the 12 days of coverage. Most of them were American Redstarts, a very common bird on the Bruce. There were also good numbers of late migrants like Yellow-bellied and Traill's Flycatchers, Red-eyed Vireos, Swainson's Thrushes, and Mourning and Canada Warblers.

Surprisingly enough, species diversity in June was still relatively high. Even though only 2 more species were added to the total (Whimbrel and Black-billed Cuckoo), 50 species of more were detected in 7 of the 12 days of monitoring. On June 4, on a clear, cool, and calm morning, 60 species were detected, including 13 species of warblers. In total, 91 species were detected during this period.

During the last week of banding though, the birds detected were mostly singing, establishing territories and building nests. Migration was slowing winding to a close and on June 12, the nets were furled for the last time this spring. In the same afternoon, they were taken down and stored away for the summer. But we'll be back!

Enjoy summer! So long for now!