Banders & Birders, We banded on three days this weekend; Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday's banding was to accommodate an annual Canadian Auto Workers event at the park where they bring local school children out to our site to learn about hawk identification and monitoring, bird banding, as well as repair and replacement of nest boxes for the endangered (in Canada) Prothonotary Warbler.
Among the many highlights of the weekend, we captured our first White-eyed Vireo ever for the station on Friday, Oct 3 (rather late?), which was shown to the school children, as it is a rather rare breeding bird in Canada, though many of them surely did not understand this adult's excitement over this little green and yellow bird. Several species made their first appearances of the season this weekend including: Eastern Phoebe (Oct 5), Brown Creeper (Oct 5), Golden-crowned Kinglet (1 each on Oct 3 & Oct 4), Yellow-rumped Warbler (2 on Oct 5), Indigo Bunting (Oct 5), White-throated Sparrow (1 on Oct 3, with very few in the area all weekend), and Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco (Oct 5). On Oct 4 we caught our 2nd Scarlet Tanager of the season, which was also only the 3rd ever for the station. A number of birds seem to be lingering late, perhaps seeming late more due to our November-like weather than the actual calendar date. Late birds included 5 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (3 on Oct 3, 2 on Oct 5 - our record late is Oct 13), an Eastern Wood-Pewee on Oct 5, 2 House Wrens on Oct 5 (none since August), 3 Tennessee Warblers (1 on Oct 3, 2 on Oct 5), 4 American Redstarts (1 each on Oct 3 & 4, 2 on Oct 5), and most amazing perhaps was 1 Blackburnian Warbler (not banded) on Oct 5 (we have not banded this species since fall 2000, and always before September 10). On Oct 5 there was an excellent influx of Nashville Warblers, with 25 banded our 2nd highest one-day total ever. Our 3 Common Yellowthroats on Oct 5, and 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks on Oct 4, were both one-day records for the passerine station. The three Ruby-throated Hummingbirds banded on Oct 3 remained on Oct 4 when they were recaptured repeatedly (and weighed at the beginning and end of the day). Two of these three remained on Oct 5. Since they were all juvenile males, we nicknamed them the three stooges! Curly, the heaviest of the three (4.1 grams), did not linger past Oct 4, but probably moved on. A total of 96 new birds of 28 species (good diversity) was banded this weekend, plus 9 recaptures. Two Monarch butterflies were tagged this weekend, with very little migration noted. Question Mark butterflies seemed more common this weekend than they have been thus far. Single Green Darners and Black Saddlebags were in the area as well. Photo highlights of this weekend will be posted on the HBMO website (www.hbmo.org). Note that the site has been rearranged with photos now in date order rather than alphabetical by species. Thanks Jason! Banding Results: Friday, October 3, 2003 7.50 hours from 05:30 - 13:00 E.S.T., 85.75 Net Hours. Temperature was 4-14 Celsius. Sky was overcast. Wind was SW at 25-40 km/hr (our nets are well sheltered from wind). 21 birds of 13 species. Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 3 Blue Jay - 4 Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1 (first of season) Gray-cheeked Thrush - 1 Swainson's Thrush - 2 Gray Catbird - 1 White-eyed Vireo - 1 (first for station!) Red-eyed Vireo - 3 Tennessee Warbler - 1 Nashville Warbler - 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler - 1 American Redstart - 1 White-throated Sparrow - 1 (first of season) Banders: Allen Chartier, Carl Pascoe Assistants: Rachel Powless Saturday, October 4, 2003 9.00 hours from 05:30 - 14:30 E.S.T., 124.50 Net Hours. A non-standard setup was utilized, as two 18-meter nets for owl banding were opened in addition, in the hopes of catching additional Blue Jays (unsuccessful, though 1 SSHA was captured). Temperature was 8-14 Celsius. Sky was overcast to mostly clear. Wind was W at 5-7 km/hr. 22 birds of 11 species, plus 3 recaptures. Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3 (record day) [Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 3 recaptures] Blue Jay - 2 Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1 Nashville Warbler - 8 Magnolia Warbler - 2 Black-throated Blue Warbler - 1 Black-throated Green Warbler - 1 American Redstart - 1 Wilson's Warbler - 1 Scarlet Tanager - 1 (2nd of season, and 3rd ever for station!) Northern Cardinal - 1 Banders: Allen Chartier, Bob Hall-Brooks, Carl Pascoe Assistants: Rachel Powless Sunday, October 5, 2003 9.25 hours from 05:15 - 14:30 E.S.T., 112.75 Net Hours (Russell Trap operated for hummingbirds only for 3.5 hours in afternoon). Temperature was 3-12 Celsius. Sky was clear to partly cloudy. Wind was WNW-S at 2-10 km/hr. 53 birds of 18 species, plus 6 recaptures. Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 2 (plus 2 recaptures) Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1 (late?) Eastern Phoebe - 1 (first of season) Blue Jay - 5 Brown Creeper - 1 (first of season) House Wren - 2 (none since August) Swainson's Thrush - 1 Red-eyed Vireo - 1 (plus 1 recapture) Tennessee Warbler - 2 Orange-crowned Warbler - 1 (second of season) Nashville Warbler - 25 (plus 1 recapture, second highest one-day total at station) Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler - 2 American Redstart - 2 Common Yellowthroat - 3 (record one-day total at station) Wilson's Warbler - 1 (plus 1 recapture) Northern Cardinal - 1 (plus 1 recapture) Indigo Bunting - 1 (first of season) Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco - 1 (first of season) Banders: Allen Chartier, Carl Pascoe, Steve Greidanus (trainee) Assistants: Rachel Powless, Bob Hall-Brooks 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.
