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WINTER
POPULATION MONITORING |
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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Although fall migration is over according to the MBO calendar, that doesn't mean that
all species have finished moving through the area. We usually see good numbers of
American Robins remaining at MBO well into November, and sometimes a few of them
lingering even further into winter, subsisting on the berry crop. This November, robins
were actually the third most numerous species observed during censuses.
(Photo by Marcel Gahbauer)
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THIS MONTH |
THIS WINTER |
2008 TOTAL |
SITE TOTAL |
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# birds (and species) banded |
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5943 (84) |
18921 (105) |
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# birds (and species) repeat |
- |
- |
1122 (49) |
3348 (65) |
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# birds (and species) return |
- |
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123 (22) |
454 (32) |
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# species observed |
26 |
26 |
158 |
197 |
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# net hours |
- |
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8519.5 |
30465.3 |
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# birds banded / 100 net hours |
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69.8 |
62.1 |
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Note: table does
not include nocturnal banding (owls) |
Censusers: Shawn Craik, Gay Gruner, Barbara MacDuff, Christine Murphy
Notes: The easy pace of November was a welcome relief* after the busy fall-banding season. Censuses were conducted weekly and the winter feeders were installed with hopes of doing some winter banding in 2009. However, the main focus of this transitional month was taking stock – what worked well this fall season, what we can improve upon and how to deal with site maintenance.
Bird-wise, small flocks of Canada Goose continued to fly over and both Ring-billed and Herring Gulls were still present. Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Slate-coloured Junco and American Goldfinch were seen on all seven visits in November, while American Robin, seen on six occasions, was the third most numerous species. A lone White-throated Sparrow was spotted just once in late November. The total number of species observed was 27.
* Perhaps not such an easy pace for Barbara Frei, who began the Herculean task of verifying and submitting our fall data.
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