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WINTER
POPULATION MONITORING |
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Week
16: February 13-19, 2007 |
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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While the northern finches are scarce this winter, the American
Tree Sparrows seem
to be relatively common compared to past years. They spend
most of their time on
the ground, foraging on the seed spilled by the chickadees and
others above.
(Photo by Shawn Craik)
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THIS
WEEK |
THIS
WINTER |
2007
TOTAL |
SITE
TOTAL |
| #
birds (and species) banded |
-- |
76 (9) |
14 (4) |
9332 (96) |
| #
birds (and species) repeat |
-- |
26 (6) |
5 (2) |
1554 (52) |
| #
birds (and species) return |
-- |
5 (1) |
2 (1) |
202
(26) |
| #
species observed |
7 |
48 |
25 |
180 |
| #
net hours |
-- |
81.0 |
15.0 |
14037.8 |
| #
birds banded / 100 net hours |
-- |
93.9 |
93.3 |
66.5 |
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Note: table does
not include nocturnal banding (owls) |
Observers:
Sophie Cauchon, Shawn Craik, Marie-Anne Hudson, Andre
Pelletier
Notes:
It was an extremely quiet week with no banding and a low number of
species observed, likely a result of several factors, including just two
site visits, one of which occurred near dusk.
We received results regarding the bird
feeder lab that was completed at MBO by McGill University's ethology
class in late January. Over the course of two days the class
observed a total of 376 foraging attempts by Black-capped Chickadees at
three identical-style feeders. Each feeder contained one of three
seed types: black oil sunflower, grey-striped sunflower, and safflower.
Of the 376 feeding attempts, 370 were directed at black oil sunflower
whereas only five were made at grey-striped sunflower, and one at
safflower. These results are consistent with findings of the
feeding experiment that was carried out by the ethology class over the
previous four years. This year's lab group also collected a small
amount of feeding data on American Tree Sparrow, Slate-coloured Junco,
and Northern Cardinal. Similar to the chickadees, these three
species showed an overall preference for black oil sunflower seeds.
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