Banders-in-charge:
Marcel Gahbauer, Marie-Anne Hudson
Assistants: Shawn Craik, Jean Demers, Cheryl Diamond,
Christina Donehower, Barbara Frei, Gregor Gilbert, Gay Gruner, Bana
Hamze, Irène Lepine, Barbara Macduff, Don Macduff, Francine
Marcoux, Mike Mayerhofer, Betsy Mcfarlane, Lynn Miller, Chris Murphy,
Bob Oligny, Julie Pépin, Limoilou Renaud, Katleen Robert, Clémence
Soulard, Audrey Wachter, Guillaume Wachter
Notes:
Although no big waves of migrants have arrived yet, there continue
to be almost daily signs of the season advancing. Another 10
species made their first appearance of the year this week: Common
Loon, American Black Duck, Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Virginia Rail,
Great Black-backed Gull, Barn Swallow, Chipping Sparrow, Savannah
Sparrow, and House Finch. Several of these are species that have
been in the general area since the beginning of the spring season, but
just haven't been spotted from MBO during that time. The next big
push of passerine migrants appears to have been stalled by a persistent
high pressure system from the north that was present for most of the
past week. Another weaker system from the north is moving in for
the start of next week, but after that we can expect to see a bigger
influx of passerine migrants.
This week's banding
highlight was our first ever Savannah Sparrow, caught in the
ever-productive net A1. The dominant birds of the week though were
Red-winged Blackbirds and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, both caught in much
larger numbers than last week. We've also had a couple of
Red-winged Blackbird returns, banded here last spring.
White-throated Sparrow and American Goldfinch numbers are beginning to
increase, and will likely become much more abundant over the next couple
of weeks, if last year's patterns hold true.
This week's top 10 [last week's rank in
brackets]
|
# individuals banded |
mean # individuals
observed daily |
|
Red-winged Blackbird (18)
[7] |
Canada Goose (898)
[1] |
|
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (15)
[6] |
Ring-billed Gull (51)
[2] |
|
Slate-coloured Junco (9)
[3] |
Red-winged Blackbird (46)
[3] |
|
Song Sparrow (7)
[5] |
American Crow (35)
[4] |
|
White-throated Sparrow (6)
[-] |
Slate-coloured Junco (24)
[6] |
|
American Goldfinch (4)
[10] |
American Robin (22)
[5] |
|
American Robin (3)
[2] |
Mallard (20)
[8] |
|
Fox Sparrow (3)
[4] |
Song Sparrow (19)
[7] |
|
Swamp Sparrow (3)
[-] |
Brown-headed Cowbird (13)
[9] |
|
Downy Woodpecker (3)
[-] |
Northern Pintail (12)
[-] |
|
In terms of
observations, there has been remarkably little change in the most
abundant species between this week and last. The daily flights of
many hundreds of Canada Geese continue, large numbers of Ring-billed
Gulls and American Crows are milling about daily (chiefly on the
adjacent field), and there is still a strong migration underway for
Red-winged Blackbirds, Slate-coloured Juncos, American Robins, and
Brown-headed Cowbirds. With one exception, the species listed
above were among the 22 seen each day over the past week. However,
twice this week, large flocks of over 30 Northern Pintails were
observed, along with smaller numbers on a couple of other days, vaulting
them into this week's top ten. Though not quite abundant enough to
make the list above, Fox Sparrows have continued to be numerous
throughout the week, with many of them in full song. However,
American Tree Sparrows appear to be on the verge of disappearing for the
season, and the sighting of the Northern Shrike on the first day of the
week appears to have been our last.
Interesting wildlife
sightings continued this week, most notably this Shorttail Weasel moving
her young from one burrow to another near the banding station.
(Photo by Marie-Anne Hudson)
