Howdy all,
I know I have complained all season about how bad it has been banding, that the
numbers just are not here, and how rough it has been, and that much is all
true, but we just seem to be, somehow, salvaging the season this month. Usually
November is a slow month in that we normally catch roughly 1,000 birds during
the month. But this year we have manage to band almost 2,000! So even though it
has been a low year (the lowest since 1998), we are still over 5,500 banded for
the season. And what is even more surprising, is that we have banded 92 species
(the average since 1994). With that all said, tomorrow is going to be the last
day of the season. And then time to fix a turkey!
Today was actually quite a good day at the banding station. We added, not one,
but two new species to the number of species banded this fall. We started off
by catching our first PURPLE FINCH of the season early this morning. I was
quite excited, but if only I knew! A few net runs later we caught our first
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW of the season!! A very uncommon bird here and a bird we
have only banded one other time since 1996 and only 19 historically! And since
I love sparrows, I was really excited! Turned out to be a wonderful day!
As a side note, when I returned to my house this afternoon, there was a
LINCOLN’S SPARROW foraging underneath our cedar tree in the yard along with
JUNCOS and WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS.
Here are the totals for 11/21:
Yellow-rumped Warbler 67
Palm Warbler 2 1 western, 1 yellow
White-eyed Vireo 1
American Goldfinch 10
Chipping Sparrow 3
Clay-Colored Sparrow 1 first of the season!!! What a
beautiful bird!
Savannah Sparrow 1 I love these guys!
Song Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 2
Hermit Thrush 2
Purple Finch 1 finally! Got tired of
hearing reports of “tons” of Purples! ;-)
TOTAL------------------------------ 91 good day for this time of year
I hope everyone has a great turkey day and is able to break away for a little
birding! With this front coming through, might be an interesting time to be
out! Dare I say Evening Grosbeaks? Or Pine Grosbeaks? Maybe Redpolls??
Seems to be that kind of fall!
Cheers to all,
Jethro Runco
Kiptopeke, VA on the eastern shore
Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory
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