McGILL BIRD OBSERVATORY

SPRING MIGRATION MONITORING PROGRAM

Week 1:  March 28 - April 3, 2008

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:



Waterfowl numbers remain low compared to previous spring seasons, due to the late
thaw, but all the same a few geese and ducks are being seen most mornings.
(Photo by Barbara Frei)
 

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THIS WEEK

THIS SPRING

2008 TOTAL

SITE TOTAL

# birds (and species) banded

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12978 (103)

# birds (and species) repeat

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2226 (59)

# birds (and species) return

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331 (29)

# species observed

24

24

27

191

# net hours

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21945.8

# birds banded / 100 net hours

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59.1

Note: table does not include nocturnal banding (owls)

Banders-in-charge:  Marie-Anne Hudson, Barbara Frei
Censusers:  Jean Beaudreault, Shawn Craik, Samuel Denault, Gay Gruner, Demetrios Kobiliris, Helen Leroux, Barbara MacDuff, Mike Mayerhofer, Chris Murphy, Rodger Titman

Notes:  With the end of the winter season, comes the beginning of the Spring Migration Monitoring Program (SMMP) at MBO!  Our spring season is defined as the 10-week span from March 28 through June 5, with banding occurring daily from April 18 to June 2. Despite it being “spring”, winter weather continued into our season with snow, snow and more snow.  We began this season with 12 fewer species than last year at this time, likely due to the enormous amount of snow still on the ground.

This week there were eight new species for 2008, and all 24 were new for spring.  The top ten species seen were quite different from last year.  For example, Canada Geese are taking their time to build up in number, dropping to eighth from the first spot last year at this time (when an average of nearly 1100 were being seen daily!).  Most of the species in the top ten are usually considered winter birds, with the exception of the Red-winged Blackbird which began returning to territory just a few days before the beginning of the spring season.

This week's top 10

# individuals banded

mean # individuals observed daily

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1.  Red-winged Blackbird (24.3)

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2.  Cedar Waxwing (16.6)

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3.  American Crow (14.1)

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4.  Bohemian Waxwing (14)

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5.  Black-capped Chickadee (9.7)

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6.  Slate-colored Junco (4.1)

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7.  American Robin (4.0)

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8.  Canada Goose (3.4)

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9.  Northern Cardinal (3.4)

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10.  Blue Jay (3.1)



For a while we've noticed that net ties have been disappearing, especially along the B/N nets. With all the leaves off the trees, it was fairly easy to spot the culprit on an early season tour of the net lanes - a Gray Squirrel that seems to have draped at least 9 of them as a decoration beside its nest!  (Photo by Barbara Frei)

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