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|
THIS WEEK |
THIS SPRING |
2013 TOTAL |
SITE TOTAL |
|
# birds (and species) banded |
- |
- |
368 (13) |
41880 (111) |
|
# birds (and species) repeat |
- |
- |
71 (7) |
8052 (70) |
|
# birds (and species) return |
- |
- |
32 (11) |
1241 (38) |
|
# species observed |
42 |
47 |
56 |
207 |
|
# net hours |
- |
- |
55.0 |
69344.7 |
|
# birds banded / 100 net hours |
- |
- |
669.1 |
60.4 |
|
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Note: table does not include nocturnal banding (owls) |
Banders-in-charge: Simon Duval, Gay Gruner
Censusers: Nicolas Bernier, Jean Demers, James Junda, Lisa Keelty, Barbara MacDuff, Don MacDuff, Betsy McFarlane, Clémence Soulard, Elise Titman, Rodger Titman
Notes: As usual, the second week of spring migration brought an influx of additional migrants returning to (or passing through) MBO. With last year's early spring, Wood Ducks were already back before the end of the official winter season, but this year the first sighting was on April 5. This week's 11 other new arrivals were American Black Duck, Hooded Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Cooper's Hawk, Merlin, Belted Kingfisher, Tree Swallow, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Song Sparrow, and Eastern Meadowlark - the latter quite a rare treat at MBO, with only a few previous observations, all also in spring.
This week’s
top 10 [last week's top 10 in brackets]
#
individuals banded |
mean # individuals observed daily |
- |
1. Canada Goose (236) [1] |
- |
2. Greater Snow Goose (84) [6] |
- |
3. Red-winged Blackbird (58) [2] |
- |
4. Ring-billed Gull (14) [5] |
- |
5. European Starling (14) [9] |
- |
5. Black-capped Chickadee (14) [4] |
- |
7. Mallard (11) [-] |
- |
8. Slate-colored Junco (9) [-] |
- |
9. American Tree Sparrow (9) [-] |
- |
9. American Robin (8) [-] |
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Over the 9 years of spring migration monitoring at MBO, Canada Goose has always been the most abundant species in week 2, although the mean daily count has varied from as low as 60 (in 2010) to as high as 732 (in 2006). This year seems fairly average, with a mean count of 236. Snow Geese were particularly numerous this week, ranking in second place in week 2 for the third time in nine years, but with a higher count than ever before. In five of the other years it was Red-winged Blackbird taking second place. This year the species got bumped down to third place, despite the mean daily count of 58 individuals being the highest ever for the species this early in spring. The remainder of the species in this week's top ten were all significantly less abundant than the top three. Slate-colored Junco and American Tree Sparrow were new additions this week, although good numbers overwintered at MBO, and many of these individuals may still be the same.
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Although it is "spring", the morning of April 5 looked decidedly more like winter!
(Photo by Simon Duval)
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