McGILL BIRD OBSERVATORY

WINTER POPULATION MONITORING

Week 8:  Feb 21 - Feb 27, 2005

Welcome to the McGill Bird Observatory weekly report.  Click here for a complete listing of our archives.  Comments or questions are welcome at mbo@migrationresearch.org

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:


February 22, 2005:  This Northern Shrike was only the second of its kind banded
at MBO.  Note the sharp hooked beak, and the notches on the upper mandible.
The brownish tone to the plumage indicates it is a second-year bird; this was further
confirmed by the distinct molt limits on the wings.  Another two photos of this individual
are posted in the
Northern Shrike section of the website.  (Photo by Marcel Gahbauer)

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  THIS WEEK WINTER TOTAL YEAR TOTAL SITE TOTAL
# birds (and species) banded 7 (6) 220 (13) 26 (8) 944 (48)
# birds (and species) repeat 10 (2) 96 (9) 21 (2) 199 (17)
# birds (and species) return 1 (1) 2 (2) 2 (2) 4 (3)
# species observed 13 31 20 137
# net hours 10.0 75.0 23.0 997.5
# birds banded / net hour 70.0 292.0 113.0 94.5

Note: table does not include nocturnal banding (owls)

Bander-in-charge:  Marcel Gahbauer
Banding assistants:  Mélisa Brunet, Isabel Julian, Noemie Laplante, Barbara Macduff, Arnaud Tarroux

Notes:  Banding this week took place on Tuesday, as the final flurries from the latest day-long snowfall were tapering off.  Things started off slowly with just a trickle of Black-capped Chickadees.  Midway through the session, we caught an interesting Hairy Woodpecker, with a few orange feathers in the rear of the crown.  Most likely it was an old female with a diet that caused the feathers to appear orange rather than red.  We thought that would be the highlight of the day, but on our final net round it was surpassed by a second-year Northern Shrike, presumably the one which has been seen (and heard) in the area regularly this winter.  As is normal for shrikes, this one knew all too well how to use its beak, and the two of us who handled it each lost some flesh and blood in the process!  We ended up with a relatively small number of birds banded today, but a nice variety, also including a House Finch, House Sparrow, and American Tree Sparrow; our lone return was a Slate-coloured Junco banded here in October.

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