[cayugabirds-l] Dickcissels seen & heard vs. what may be there.

[Lee Ann van Leer]

Based on the distance apart we heard males singing we were guessing there were probably 3 males. However for eBird I only entered in 2 just in case the male at the big oak happened to have moved to Main Loop at the point we were hearing 2 birds singing.  As you can see from Kevin's photo the bird had a black bib. When I was viewing it in scope it didn't appear to extend down the breast to a V but seemed rounded just a bib.  I was comparing it to Sibley & the drawings and photos in iBird app. I'm not sure how often one views/finds the males that have the full V or the line of black that goes down to the center of the chest that is shown in those pictures and drawings.   This was the first Dickcissel I ever saw and I was quite pleased.  I think there could be several Dickcissels there but not sure we'll see or hear them all. The news from Jay McGowan of the female carrying nesting material is exciting.   Ever since I completed the Bander Training Course at Braddock Bay Bird Observatory in May, my notions of what birds are findable has changed.  While doing net runs I would hear all sorts of bird species singing or see birds that we were NOT catching in the nets that day.  For instance Blackpolls were singing everywhere for a couple of days before we were catching any in the nets. The same thing happened with Black-throated Blue Warblers.   Conversely,  and more surprising to me,  we were catching all sorts of numbers and species of birds in the nets that neither I nor one of my top notch birder classmates were seeing or hearing on those days.  There seemed to be not very much correlation between what was being seen and heard vs. what we were catching.  It makes me wonder how many silent and hidden birds go unnoticed.   I'm not sure if any studies have been done comparing mist netting totals to birding census totals but I'm thinking of perhaps doing something like that sometime.    Perhaps some of the birders on this list that also have done mist netting can verify if they have similar experiences. -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! --