Banders & Birders, The Holiday Beach Migration Observatory, Ontario, Canada, kicked off its fall 2003 banding season this past weekend. The Beach Station (passerines and hummingbirds), operating for the seventh season, was modified to include 12 nets (10 last year), all within the same 50-meter square area within 50 meters of Lake Erie at the Holiday Beach Conservation Area as in previous years. Only 23 birds were banded in the two days, though a trickle of early migrant warblers, and the expected Empidonax flycatchers were of interest. It was also a good weekend for butterflies (see list below), and good numbers of Green Darner dragonflies were present, possibly hinting at a significant migration this season. Beginning in September, we will again post photo highlights of the banding operations on our website (see below). Also check out dates for our festivals in this, our 30th year of hawk counting.
9 August 2003 Station was open for 9.00 hours from 05:00 - 14:00 E.S.T. for a total of 90.00 net hours. Temperature was 18-25 Celsius, skies were clear, and wind was N @ 3-5 km/h. Birds banded were: Willow Flycatcher - 1 "Traill's Flycatcher - 2 Carolina Wren - 1 Yellow Warbler - 1 Prothonotary Warbler - 1 (Endangered in Canada) Northern Cardinal - 2 Common Grackle - 2 Thanks to Bob Hall-Brooks, Carl Pascoe, Rachel Powless, Steve Greidanus, and Jason Sodergren. 10 August 2003 Station was open for 8.00 hours from 05:00 - 13:00 E.S.T. for a total of 96.00 net hours (2 nets added today). Temperature was 17-27 Celsius, skies were mostly cloudy, and wind was N @ 1-5 km/h. Birds banded were: Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker - 2 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 1 "Traill's" Flycatcher - 2 Blue Jay - 1 Carolina Wren - 1 House Wren - 1 Gray Catbird - 1 Yellow Warbler - 1 Prothonotary Warbler - 1 (Endangered in Canada) Northern Waterthrush - 1 Canada Warbler - 1 There were 2 recaptures of birds banded on 9 August 2003, and a Northern Harrier was briefly caught in our nets today, nearly making it a first for the passerine station. Thanks to Carl Pascoe and Rachel Powless. Butterflies seen through casual observation this weekend included: Giant Swallowtail Tiger Swallowtail Black Swallowtail Monarch Viceroy Cabbage White Clouded Sulphur Question Mark Red Admiral Pearl/Northern Crescent Eastern Tailed Blue Silver-spotted Skipper Holiday Beach Migration Observatory (HBMO) is an organization devoted to monitoring migration at the Holiday Beach Conservation Area, Essex Co., Ontario, administered by the Essex Region Conservation Authority. In addition to a hawk-watch/passerine count that has been in operation since 1974, HBMO operates three banding stations, two for raptors (since 1987) and one for passerines and hummingbirds (since 1997). The Holiday Beach Conservation Area was designated an Important Bird Area by Conservation International in 2000. Lat: 42-01'54.1" Long: 083-02'41.6" For directions and information on our site, go to the HBMO website at: http://www.hbmo.org Allen Chartier [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1442 West River Park Drive Inkster, MI 48141 Website: http://www.amazilia.net Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet/index.htm "Allen Chartier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving and joining the list. As well as general information and content guidelines.
