Hey COBirders, Not numbers for today - I am sitting inside for the first morning since 8/1 !! What to do with myself ???
Last week Meredith M. opined that things might be heading my way after a great day of Wilson’s Warblers for her at Barr Lake. The following is a summary for the weekend: Friday 9/4 was exceptional for numbers - 152 birds netted - 78 Chipping Sparrows (CHSP), 22 Wilson’s Warblers (WIWA), 6 Lark Sparrows (LASP), 8 Vesper Sparrows (VESP), 8 Lincoln’s Sparrows (LISP), and a bunch of mixed Clay-colored (CCSP), Brewer’s (BRSP), Gambel’s White-crowned (GWCS), and Savannah Sparrows (SAVS). One of my busiest days ever. Saturday 9/5 - 89 birds, 41 CHSP, 15 mixed CCSP, BRSP, LASP, SAVS, LISP, VESP, a N Waterthrush, 25 WIWA, and a FOS Cassin’s Vireo. Sunday 9/6 - 79 birds, 38 CHSP, 20 mixed sparrows as above, a MacGillivray’s Warbler, Orange-crowned, Yellow and only 8 WIWA. 2 Blue Grosbeak, FOS Red-breasted Nuthatch (2), FOS Green-tailed Towhee. (As you can see - if CHSP are down, all numbers are reduced significantly) Monday 9/7 - were birds fleeing the coming front??? I had a bunch, and while numbers appeared normal-busy in the early morning, they jumped up after 10:00. I caught 95 birds between 10-11!!! 209 birds netted (whew), 128 CHSP, 15 LISP, 8 CCSP, 9 VESP, 20 mixed other sparrows, Gambel’s White-crowned (2), and FOS Mountain White-crowned, All juvenile WCSP so far. Also another N Waterthrush, 3 late YEWA, FOS Townsend’s Warbler, FOS Ruby-crowned Kinglet, FOS Dusky Flycatcher, 31 WIWA. 3 Blue Grosbeak, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Lazuli Bunting (all late-ish). Today would have been a blow-out, plus diminishing temps, and forecast for Wednesday is early wet and 20’s, so I am expecting nets to be frozen, with little chance for a thaw in the morning. - Guess I’ll sleep in again!! As I have said in earlier posts - numbers are phenomenal this fall. Much more than I would have ever expected. Why? Fires up North? Still standing oats across from my net array? Dry conditions everywhere for early movements? Don’t know. I’m just collecting data, and there is a lot of it. So far I've netted about 2300 birds (Aug 1-Sept 7 - My best previous busy FALLS were 2350 and 2030 for 8/1-10/31!) 60% are CHSP, of which I only band a dozen/day to reserve bands and not stress about trying to band them all with good numbers of other birds in hand as well. Only 5 CHSP have been re-captured so far. They seem to keep moving. Some numbers so far, especially for birds that taper-off quickly after Labor Day - CHSP - 1225, 400 banded (record high since 2012) CCSP - 32 BRSP 68 (record high) LASP - 140 (record high) VESP 52 (record high) SAVS 34 (2nd highest number) Lazuli Bunting - 86 (record high) Blue Grosbeak 35 (record high) Northern Waterthrush 15 (3rd highest) Yellow Warbler 88 (a high-average number) YB Chat - 15 (about average) Gray Catbird 17 (about average) Common Yellowthroat 35 (about average) House Wren 75 (near record high) Mixed Flycatchers (WW Pewee, Willow, Trail’s, other small empids) 28 (record high) What’s missing??? Song Sparrow - usually I have 15-20 by now, so far only 4. Well, every fall is different. and surprise…. 2020 is more different than ever (in about every way I can think of!!!) Hope this is interesting, have fun, stay safe, and more soon, Steve Brown Colorado Springs -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/4FE9BC5D-2B60-47C5-9F98-6493ADF2B0AE%40gmail.com.
