It's been a while.....

Yes indeed, in fact it's been a year. If truth be known, I ran out of steam posting each week. However, the time has come to catch up, and hopefully continue weekly throughout the Autumn season. Where should I begin?

How about closing out 2011? O.K.....a total of 2,187 birds were banded during the Autumn season, which is a new record. 77 species were recorded, five of which were new for the station. This total is due in large part to Brett, who was able to operate on many more days, owing to his employment status.....I sort of hope in a completely selfish way that this will continue this season too!!

The highlight bird, for me at any rate, was the Golden-winged Warbler caught in early September. Other interesting captures included six Bobolinks, five Northern Saw-whet Owls and an Eastern Screech Owl. The highest total of any individual species was an excellent 905 American Goldfinches. Most of these were banded by Brett at the Springbank Farm location.

Moving now to the Spring of 2012, owing to vacation time in Poland, and Brett starting a breeding bird atlas project in Manitoba, only three weekend sessions were completed, starting in mid May. 170 birds were banded, of 38 species. New to the list was a Veery....by no means a rare bird, but as this is the first one banded here, it was outside of its normal habitat.

The Autumn session officially started on Saturday, August 11th, although Brett managed to get in three sessions during the week, plus an additional one on Monday. Thanks to these additional efforts, and a great Saturday, we banded 234 birds, of 36 species. Three new species were added on Sunday morning, thanks to low flying hirundines! New for the station were Bank Swallow (a.k.a. Sand Martin), Barn Swallow, and a Cliff Swallow. Also present in good numbers were 21 Baltimore Orioles, 4 Orchard Orioles and 13 Warbling Vireos.

                                                      Golden-winged Warbler

Bobolink

That's pretty much a quick summary of events, and we are now up to date at last. It is my intention to post information weekly, as in past years, but as you know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. However, I'll do my best......next official session is Saturday August 18th....Brett may even be there now, as I type this!