McGILL BIRD OBSERVATORY

FALL MIGRATION MONITORING PROGRAM

Week 9:  September 26 - October 2, 2006

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

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:



This hatch-year male Sharp-shinned Hawk added further excitement to a record-breaking week.
(
Photo by Marie-Anne Hudson)-

MBO gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided for the 2006 Fall Migration Monitoring Program by Mountain Equipment Co-op's Environment Fund

 

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THIS WEEK

THIS FALL

2006 TOTAL

SITE TOTAL

# birds (and species) banded

545 (35)

2307 (70)

3242 (82)

8295 (96)

# birds (and species) repeat

48 (10)

297 (32)

534 (38)

1412 (52)

# birds (and species) return

2 (1)

23 (9)

120 (22)

189 (26)

# species observed

71

125

159

180

# net hours

208.9

3254.0

6365.8

12787.9

# birds banded / 100 net hours

260.9

70.9

50.9

64.8

Note: table does not include nocturnal banding (owls)

Banders-in-charge:  Marie-Anne Hudson, Barbara Frei
Assistants:  Laura Balanoff, Sophie Cauchon, Dominic Chambers, Jacinthe Daprato, Jean Demers, Val Francella, Marcel Gahbauer, Helen Garland, Gay Gruner, Gillian Keurman, Lance Laviolette, Sarah Marteinson, Betsy McFarlane, Laurie Maurias, Mike Mayerhofer, Anthi Mimidakis, Julia Mlynarek, Chris Murphy, Annie-Claude Paradis, Andr
é Pelletier, Limoilou Renaud, Sabrina Richard-Lapland, Katleen Robert, Luke Scott, Clémence Soulard

Notes:  This was, without a doubt, the busiest week of the season thus far - and in fact the busiest in the history of MBO!  And before I say anything more I want to thank all the volunteers this week for their hard work and dedication!  We would not have been able to pull off some of our crazy days without your help. So give yourselves a big pat on the back.

The Yellow-rumped Warblers were by far still the most numerous birds banded this week, with a record 71 individuals banded out of 88 birds on Tuesday, September 26th.  Over the course of this one week, more of them were banded than in the entire 2004 and 2005 migrations combined!  But by the second half of the week it was clear that Ruby-crowned Kinglets and sparrows would soon take over as the top species, as the Yellow-rumped Warblers begin to slowly taper off toward the end of their migration period.

The number of birds banded steadily increased as the week went on to a record breaking day on Saturday with 152 individuals banded (23 species) followed by a very busy Monday with 129 individuals (21 species). Some of this week’s highlights include, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 4 Hermit Thrushes, 1 Chestnut-sided Warbler, 1 Savannah Sparrow, 2 Philadelphia Vireos and 1 Orange-crowned Warbler. Any of course many, many more!

                                                    This week's top 10   [last week's rank in brackets]
# individuals banded mean # individuals observed daily
Yellow-rumped Warbler (236) [1] Canada Goose (251) [2]
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (114) [2] American Crow (126)  [1]
White-throated Sparrow (57) [5] Yellow-rumped Warbler (76) [4]
White-crowned Sparrow (27) [-] Ruby-crowned Kinglet (42) [6]
Golden-crowned Kinglet (17) [10] White-throated Sparrow (32) [10]
Song Sparrow (13) [7] American Robin (31) [5]
Nashville Warbler (10)  [4] Blue Jay (19) [7]
Gray Catbird (8) [-] White-crowned Sparrow (18) [-]
Magnolia Warbler (8) [3] Black-capped Chickadee (16) [-]
Cedar Waxwing (6) [-] Song Sparrow (15) [-]

A distinct shift has occurred in this week’s top 10 banded -- the warblers are becoming less numerous (except the Yellow-rumped of course!) as sparrow and kinglet numbers are climbing. Most mornings at MBO are filled with the somewhat less than melodious attempted songs and chirps of young White-throated and Eastern White-crowned Sparrows - the latter much more numerous than they usually are here. Ruby-crowned Kinglets, often curiously watching the volunteers as they walk the net lines, are beginning to gather in large numbers, as seen this Monday morning with 57 banded that day alone.

The top ten species observed also reflect these changes, with the three sparrow species, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers all making the top ten. The Canada Geese are continuing their migration and will likely be near the top spot for some time to come. American Robins, Blue Jays, and Black-capped Chickadees continue to be common sightings in the area, though the chickadees are nowhere near as abundant as they were at this time last fall.


While Yellow-rumped Warblers dominated the nets this week, a number of other warbler species were banded in smaller numbers, including (at last) our first Northern Parula of the Fall 2006 season.  (Photo by Barbara Frei)


A pictorial reminder to regularly check bird bags for holes ... especially if you put a Black-capped Chickadee inside!  This little one was just able to poke his head out, but luckily did not escape.  (Photo by Barbara Frei).

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