Monday, November 21, 2016

Not So Fast Winter...There's Still a Little Migration Left

CAPTAIN SAM'S

Just when I thought migration was over and the winter birds had settled in...we have a day like today.

We banded 28 new birds and had 24 recaptures of 14 different species.  We processed 6 species of warblers which is actually really good for the end of November.  Some of those are expected species such as the Yellow-rumped Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and Palm Warbler.  But the other two species were a little more rare for this time of year - American Redstart and Blackpoll Warbler.  The Blackpoll is especially late as most of them come through in mid October.  American Redstarts move through starting in August and continue through October but there are usually a few stragglers into November.  

Blackpoll Warbler (Hatch Year, sex unknown)

On Wednesday's blog posting, Michael mentioned that we have a Loggerhead Shrike hanging around the banding station and that we have been unsuccessful in capturing it despite trying several different trapping techniques.  Well guess what?

Loggerhead Shrike (Hatch year, sex unknown)

We finally got him (or her)!  Over the last week or so, we tried a walk-in trap baited with a caged live mouse under its favorite perch.  We tried setting up a mist net near its perch.  We set out a caged live mouse near a mist net under its perch.  We even tried baiting a mist net with crickets underneath.  None of it worked.  And wouldn't you know it, we ended up catching this bird passively in one of our "everyday" mist nets.  

-Aaron    

 SpeciesCaptain Sam'sLittle Bear
NewRecapsNewRecaps
Loggerhead Shrike
1
-
-
-
House Wren
-
1
-
-
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1
-
-
-
Hermit Thrush
-
2
-
-
American Robin
1
-
-
-
Gray Catbird
1
6
-
-
Orange-crowned Warbler
-
2
-
-
American Redstart
1
-
-
-
Common Yellowthroat
-
1
-
-
Blackpoll Warbler
1
-
-
-
Palm Warbler (Western)
1
-
-
-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
21
8
-
-
Swamp Sparrow
-
2
-
-
Northern Cardinal
-
2
-
-









 Banding StatsCaptain Sam'sLittle BearTOTAL
# Birds Banded
28
-
28
# of Recaptures
24
-
24
# of Species
14
-
14
Effort (net-hours)
161.2
-
161.2
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)
32.3
-
32.3
# of Nets
26
-
26


Banding Staff
Aaron Given (CS)
Michael Gamble (CS)
Matt Johnson (CS)