Banders & Birders, The persistent southeast winds of the past few days has been depressing migration region-wide, and this was reflected in this past weekend's banding results. Many people enjoy the sounds of crickets and grasshoppers, but for a bander hoping to hear warbler chip notes and thrush calls at their station, it is a depressing sound! Suffice it to say that numbers of all birds was down this week, though observations at our Hawk Tower provided better than expected numbers. Despite these low numbers, our first (of three) Hawk Festival weekends was well attended and very successful. Visitors were shown hawks, warblers, and hummingbirds in-hand, and we did talks on their ecology and migration, and why we band them. We also tagged a number of Monarch butterflies as one of the activities for the children.
A total of 24 hours and 300 Net Hours was covered on the three days. A total of 37 birds of 16 species was handled. Despite the low numbers, there were highlights. On Friday, September 12, we caught the first Sharp-shinned Hawk of the season at the passerine station (the hawk station of course had already caught several). A surprise was the snack that this juvenile female was carrying. Over the past 7 years, we've had a couple other hawks come into our nets while carrying food they were eating. In this case it was a Blue Jay. But this Blue Jay was banded; banded at our station on August 16. Another highlight was our first Gray-cheeked Thrush of the season, which was one of only three thrushes banded this weekend. On Saturday, September 13, we caught our first Brown Thrasher of the season. On Sunday, September 14, the 5 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds banded (11 for the weekend) put us "over the top" with a season total of 110, a new record for us (we've been banding hummers for 4 years). A juvenile female Rose-breasted Grosbeak was our third for the season (our record is 4), and was very popular at the public banding demonstration area. Butterfly and dragonfly numbers remain low, with some movement of Monarch Butterflies, but no noticeable movement of Green Darners. Photo highlights of this weekend have been posted on the HBMO website (www.hbmo.org). Banding results: Friday, September 12, 2003 8.00 hours from 05:00 - 13:00 E.S.T., 100.00 Net Hours. Temperature was 21-28 Celsius, sky was clear, wind was SSE @ 15-20 km/hr. 11 birds of 8 species, plus 2 recaptures. Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 (first of season) Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 2 [Blue Jay - 1 recovered dead via SSHA banded 16 August] Gray-cheeked Thrush - 1 (first of season) Swainson's Thrush - 2 Magnolia Warbler - 2 (plus 1 recapture) American Redstart - 1 Wilson's Warbler - 2 (Northern Cardinal - 1 recaptured, banded 16 August) Plus 2 Monarch butterflies tagged Banders: Allen Chartier, Carl Pascoe, Bob Hall-Brooks Assistants: Rachel Powless Saturday, September 13, 2003 8.00 hours from 05:00 - 13:00 E.S.T., 100.00 Net Hours. Temperature was 21-27 Celsius, sky was clear, wind was SSE-SE @ 5-7 km/hr. 12 birds of 8 species, plus 1 recapture. Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 4 Gray Catbird - 1 Brown Thrasher - 1 (first of season) Chestnut-sided Warbler - 2 Magnolia Warbler - 2 Black-and-white Warbler - 1 American Redstart - 1 (Northern Cardinal - 1 recaptured, banded 9 August as Local-unknown, now a HY-F) Plus 1 Monarch butterfly tagged. Banders: Allen Chartier, Bob Hall-Brooks, Carl Pascoe. Sunday, September 14, 2003 8.00 hours from 05:00 - 13:00 E.S.T., 100.00 Net Hours. Temperature was 22-29 Celsius, sky was partly cloudy (fog) to clear, wind was SE @ 1-5 km/hr. xx birds of x species, plus 1 recapture. Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 5 Nashville Warbler - 2 Magnolia Warbler - 2 (plus 1 recapture, banded 13 September) Black-throated Blue Warbler - 1 Black-and-white Warbler - 1 American Redstart - 2 Wilson's Warbler - 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 1 Plus 5 Monarch butterflies tagged. Banders: Allen Chartier, Carl Pascoe, Steve Greidanus, Daniel Webb Assistants: Bob Hall-Brooks, Rachel Powless Butterflies in the area included: Monarch - several tagged, a few migrants Cabbage White - several Pearl/Northern Crescent - a few Common Sulphur - 1 Giant Swallowtail - 1 Silver-spotted Skipper - 2 Dragonflies in the area included: Green Darner - several Swamp Darner - 1 daily Twelve-spotted Skimmer - 1 or 2 Eastern Pondhawk - a few Blue Dasher - 1 or 2 Black Saddlebags - Several 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" Website: 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.
