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SPRING
MIGRATION MONITORING PROGRAM |
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Week 4: April 18 - April 24, 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.
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PICTURE OF
THE WEEK: |
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One of the most common
breeding birds at MBO, Red-winged Blackbirds have
nonetheless avoided the nets so far this spring. The first
one caught was this
second-year male, still showing much rusty edging on the wings and
back, and
with orange rather than fully red epaulets. (Photo by Marcel Gahbauer)
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THIS
WEEK |
SPRING
TOTAL |
YEAR
TOTAL |
SITE
TOTAL |
| #
birds (and species) banded |
50
(15) |
86
(19) |
145
(24) |
1066
(50) |
| #
birds (and species) repeat |
9
(4) |
14
(4) |
48
(4) |
226
(18) |
| #
birds (and species) return |
5
(3) |
7
(3) |
17
(4) |
19
(5) |
| #
species observed |
56 |
64 |
67 |
143 |
| #
net hours |
97.0 |
273.5 |
331.5 |
1306.0 |
| #
birds banded / net hour |
51.5 |
31.4 |
44.6 |
81.5 |
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Note: table does
not include nocturnal banding (owls) |
Bander-in-charge:
Marcel Gahbauer
Assistants: Shawn Craik, Jean Demers, Christina Donehower,
Sarah Fraser, Marie-Anne Hudson, Isabel Julian, Barbara MacDuff, Michael Mayer, Betsy Mcfarlane,
Julia Mlynarek, Crissy Ranellucci, Clemence Soulard
Notes:
Early in the week the nice weather continued. Monday was our
best day of the year so far, with 46 species observed, and a nice variety
of 13 species banded. Tuesday and Wednesday we added to the week's
total, including our first Red-winged Blackbirds banded this spring.
The rest of the week was too rainy and/or windy for banding, but census
revealed another three new arrivals: Blue-winged and Green-winged
Teal, as well as Savannah Sparrow. Earlier in the week we saw our
first Eastern Bluebird of the spring, but it didn't hang around long
enough to show an interest in our nest boxes.
On
Tuesday, the new roof was installed on the cabin. Thanks to Isabel,
Shawn, and Christina for spending several hours up there to get it in
place, and getting covered head to toe in tar in the process! Thanks
also to EMCO Building Products for donating the roofing material to us.
A male Ruby-crowned Kinglet
hanging out in one of our newest weighing tubes. These,
inspired by similar ones in use at Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory in
Ontario, allow
us to put the bird in for weighing from one end, and then remove a cap
from the other end
to let them fly out, rather than backing out the tube. They have
been a great success,
though every once in a while we get a bird like this that seems quite
content to sit inside
for a while before taking flight. (Photo by Marcel Gahbauer)
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