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McGILL BIRD OBSERVATORY |
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Welcome
to the McGill Bird Observatory weekly report.
Click here for a complete listing of our archives.
Banders-in-charge: Simon Duval, Gay Gruner Notes: Weather was the controlling factor at MBO this week and it was a cruel master. We were unable to open the nets for two days due to snow and cold temperatures. The conditions were likely responsible for inhibiting the arrival of many new migrants, with the 55 species observed this week a record low for this period. Despite this retro-winter blast, we were able to add seven new species to the spring list: Red-tailed Hawk, American Black Duck, Herring Gull, Hooded Merganser, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Waterthrush, and Savannah Sparrow. The waterthrush was also one of three new species banded this week, in addition to Brown Thrasher and Brown-headed Cowbird.
Our top-ten remained much the same, with the ranks of the species shuffling slightly and only American Goldfinch being new to the list. Our top-ten species banded list also remained much the same; only American Robin, White-throated Sparrow and Common Grackle (the latter much to the detriment of our fingers) were new to the list. MBO weeks run Sunday to Saturday this year, and the final round on Saturday seemed to signal a welcome change in activity - a Northern Waterthrush in the net and a small group of Yellow-rumped Warblers flitting among the trees. Our breeding birds are still dominating our observations. Virginia Rail, a species that we hope to confirm as a breeder, was heard every day this week (one lucky person actually saw one!). We have been hearing two rails, which has led to optimistic speculation about breeding. Interestingly, each rail has its own call variation; one calls wep wepwepwep from the north ponds, while the other calls kidik, kidik, kidik from Stoneycroft Pond.
A couple more of this week's bird highlights:
Finally this week, we have news to share about two more birds banded at MBO that have been reported from elsewhere. A female Red-winged Blackbird banded during MBO's first full spring season in 2005 was reported this week by our neighbour, the Ecomuseum, almost exactly five years after we banded it. Meanwhile, an American Tree Sparrow that we banded in the last week of the 2009 fall season was found this week quite a bit to the northeast, at Lac Megantic, Quebec.
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