Happy October! I was much more of a fan of today's weather than I was of the last few days', with overcast skies and seasonably mild temps. Too bad it wasn't the most ideal for getting a high volume of migrant, and for the 3rd straight banding day we had under 20 new captures: 15 birds of 11 species, to be precise. We also had the most recaptures of any day by far this season, with 8 birds, all banded this season. We're still waiting on recaptures from previous years this season.
Despite the low volume, there was still a good variety of birds, both in and around the nets. We were especially pleased by a lovely male *Black-and-white Warbler *in our first net on our first net run! That would be just the 8th fall record for this species, and first since 2015. There was also good vireo diversity (both *Cassin's *and *Plumbeous*). As far as our common small migrants go, Wilson's Warblers have pretty much slowed to a trickle and now seem to be handily outnumbered by Ruby-crowned Kinglets at the banding site. Today's summary: Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3 + 3 recaptures Wilson's Warbler 1 + 1 recapture Black-and-white Warbler 1 (FOS) Pink-sided Junco 1 Plumbeous Vireo 1 Cassin's Vireo 1 Hermit Thrush 2 + 2 recaptures Gray Catbird 2 + 1 recapture Spotted Towhee 1 Green-tailed Towhee 1 Blue Jay 1 Brown Thrasher 1 recapture We band 6 days a week at Chico Basin, closed Sundays. Visitors are welcome at our banding stations. Registration is required for groups. For more information and hours of operation, visit birdconservancy.org/birdbanding. For the remainder of the week, we'll be opening nets at 7:00 AM and closing at noon, weather permitting. Come visit! Robert Snowden Bander, Chico Basin Ranch Bird Conservancy of the Rockies -- 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/811ee3b3-cfda-4521-9ef1-a3d5a4062ca9%40googlegroups.com.
