Howdy all,
Been interesting here at Kiptopeke the last week, including a bunch of wind. We
were not able to band on the 2 and 3 of Nov. because of the wind, but managed
to have a nice day on the 4th and a killer day today. It was pretty much
expected birds on the 1st and 4th, but today was a bit different! We started
off the morning by catching a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL!! Kind of funny however, is
with the bigg irruption that is occuring here in VA of this species, most of
the birds here are hatching year birds. Our bird this morning was an adult.
Pretty cool! So the first two net runs were pretty quiet but that changed on
the 3rd netrun, and for the rest of the day. On the 3rd netrun, we had a large
group of Blackbirds and Robins moved in. By the end of the run, we had caught 5
COMMON GRACKLES (only one grackle as been banded here since 1994!), 6 RUSTY
BLACKBIRDS (once again, only one banded here since 1994!), and a HOUSE FINCH
(average less than one a year here). For the RUSTY'S, only 3 have been banded
here between 1963-2006! So you could only imagine how excited I was! And yes, I
know people don't like GRACKLES, but WOW what a beautiful bird!!
Anyway, by the end of the day, we had banded 319 birds (second highest day of
the season) and had 4 new species for the season!
Now if only we can keep the winds down over the next 3 weeks!
Here are the brief summaries of the last few days.
11/1:
42 palm warblers??? 25 western/17 Yellows
2 Woodcocks
1 recaptured Saw-whet Owl
Total banded-----97
11/2:
Didn't band--too windy
11/3:
Didn't band--too windy
11/4:
5 Red-breasted Nuthatchs
1 Common Yellowthroat
good number of Sparrows
Total banded------147
11/5:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet?????????? 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet???????? 1
Brown Creeper?????????????????????1
Yellow-rumped Warbler????????? 256
Palm Warbler??????????????????????? 18?????? 10 yellows/8 westerns
Red-breasted Nuthatch????????? 2
Hermit Thrush???????????????????????3
Chipping Sparrow??????????????????2
Swamp Sparrow??????????????????? 3
Song Sparrow?????????????????????? 5
White-thr. Sparrow??????????????? 4
Slate-colored Junco??????????????? 2
House Finch?????????????????????????? 1????????????????? first for the season
Northern Cardinal??????????????????? 2
American Robin???????????????????????6
Rusty Blackbird???????????????????????6????????????? first for the season
Common Grackle???????????????????? 5?????????????? first of the season
Northern Saw-whet Owl?????????? 1?????????????? first of the season
TOTAL --------------------- 319
Would love to see a repeat for tomorrow! All my fingers are crossed!
Cheers,
Jethro Runco
Kiptopeke, VA on the Eastern Shore
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