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BANDING NEWSBANDING REPORT FOR JANUARY, 2010Bob Placier, Vinton Co. OH
Hello all, Thought maybe I'd just send out a report once a month this year. January 2010 has been odd, compared to past Januaries. Notable are the complete absence of Blue Jays and almost total absence of sparrows, except Juncos, at least at my place. No towhees is a real bummer. And an unprecedented number of squirrels! Guess it's due to the complete failure of the mast crop in this area. Even have a Fox Squirrel for the first time ever. On the bright side, speaking of birds, more woodpeckers than I'd seen before are visiting, including at least 3 pileated. And it's regularly been too cold to use mist nets, so almost all captures are with my feeder traps. Some birds, like cardinals, just will not go in them. So the capture is strongly biased toward birds that feed on the ground and will enter the traps. Total birds banded for January:
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Of course I also get a good number of recaptures. In January they totaled 168. To clarify, this includes recaptured birds banded earlier in the month, and some birds were recaptured multiple times. Following are a couple of the notable recaptures for the month:
Carolina Chickadee - banded on 8/27/06. Now my record for longest span between banding and recapture. The return of winter residents is always interesting. Here is a brief table of Junco numbers by season of banding and season of recapture, through the end of January. Hopefully I'll add a few to this list. # recaptured by season
The decline of recaptures from birds banded in 06-07 is just what might be expected, wonder if I'll get even one next year? But why I recaptured so few 07-08 birds the next season (4) and have already doubled that total this season is unclear. Perhaps it was because I was so over-run with Pine Siskins last season that some of the Juncos either were displaced from my area or were slower about entering the traps than the siskins. Also had a huge # of goldfinches last winter. Well, all till March, unless something dramatic happens. Cheers, Bob
12NOV2009 Hello all,Been mostly busy with Saw-whets since Oct., but now that it's ended (as always, too soon!) I'll be doing some banding at home, catching birds around my feeders. Did a little bit in November, and hope for more before the year is out. What most interests me is the birds that come back from previous seasons. In fact I've been doing way less banding than catching already banded (by me) birds. Since 11/1 the totals are 37 birds banded, 67 recaptures. Some of the recaps are of the same bird multiple times. Especially the titmice, they'll walk into the feeder traps for a peanut time after time, then be just as irate about it as the first time! 39 of the 104 captures have been titmice, but only six needed a band. 12 have returned from previous winters, including one banded fall 2006. Juncos are similar. Numbers are still low this winter, for some reason. But, of the 13 individuals caught, 9 were already banded from previous years.
Also interesting was my capture - in a net - of a chickadee and a nuthatch together. Both banded, and both were banded 11/10/06 at the same time! Totals at home since 11/1:
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1, 1 recap Totals for the year: 1085 individuals, of 68 species.
Cheers,
In years past we've had fun banding LBJ's ("little brown jobs", aka sparrows, for the uninitiated) in the Chillicothe area. People's schedules, and loss of our best area, seem to have ended that. But banding on campus this morning (and no students again!) brought back memories of that. Seven sparrow species! And coming so fast I had to shut the nets down, although I was only using three. Even turned 3 cardinals and a chickadee loose for want of bags. Wish I'd had some of my banding buddies here to help! Here are the totals (23 birds) for less than 2 hours of open nets:
Field Sparrow 1
Guess I could claim 8 sparrow species, by some broad emberizid classification schemes. But I go with Cardinalidae.
Totals for the day: 23. For the year: 957 birds, of 66 species. 14OCT2009 Hello all, Set up Monday morning on campus as a demo for wildlife students. Unfortunately none of them came! And I could have used some help. Luckily I had sense to only open 3 nets. In 9 net hours (3 nets x 3 hours) I had 36 birds! Maybe it's the new nets, Ecotones made in Poland, 32mm mesh. They have 5 pockets, instead of the four in all the other nets I've used. Same length and height. But does an extra pocket mean 25% more birds? :-) Luckily the majority were Song Sparrows and Cardinals, so I could get through them a little quicker. No way I could handle that many birds by myself if there were many warblers or uncommon sparrows. I hoped for some recaps, since I banded in that area last fall, but they were all new. Here's the list:
Downy Woodpecker 1
Cheers,
Hello all, Haven't sent out a report for a while. That's largely because I haven't been doing much banding at home over the summer. But my daughter and I have been doing a number of banding programs for kids' camps, and that has added to the diversity of species at least. Plus the kids were great! One of the highlights was my first ever Yellow-throated Vireo. Wonder what it was up to when it flew into the bottom pocket of the net? Another was that I recently banded my 3,000th bird since I got my permit, a Kentucky Warbler. It's been a good year for them, at least around here. This morning I caught a Wood Thrush I'd banded in summer 2006, over 3 years ago. That was cool, and I also enjoyed the Small-eyed Sphinx that chose to perch on the net. Plus I got to watch a box turtle feeding on a mushroom (genus Russula). Two mornings ago I netted an Ovenbird loaded with fat, first one of the season. Migration is well under way! Get out and enjoy these guys while you can. Unfortunately my daughter is also migrating back south next week (for her senior year!), so I'll be trying to spend all the time I can with her. So, time to sign off. Totals for the year to date: 804 birds, of 59 species. That's way more than last year at this time, due to the 198 Pine Siskins and 151 Am. Goldfinches caught at my feeders Jan.-March. Cheers, BobHello all, Actually, I banded very few birds here on the ridge this last month. May I'm kept busy with banding for wildlife and ornithology students on the Hocking campus. And I ventured clear up to Crawford Co. to do an International Migratory Bird Day program at one of their parks. I'll just touch on a few highlights. Banding on campus resulted in banding 48 birds of 23 species, and recapturing 13 birds, including 4 banded in previous years. The best birds: Pileated Woodpecker - 1 My first ever, and the first bird I caught at the college this season! Amazing! And if I'd been alone I'd probably have had to let it go unbanded, strong and big as it was. A male with a brood patch - so excellent teaching moment for the students. And a confirmed breeder for the atlas. Hooded Warbler - 2, plus a female I banded 5/23/06. She was breeding in '06, and again this year. So at least in hr 6th year of life. That made her the oldest recapture I've had to date. Blackpoll Warbler - 1 My second ever. Mourning Warbler - 1 Also my second ever, both at Hocking. Scarlet Tanager - 1 female, plus a male recap I'd banded 5/9/08. At Lowe-Volk Park in Crawford Co. I banded 16 birds of 11 species. Some good birds for a day celebrating migration, and some good locals too! Highlights: Pileated Woodpecker - 1 female. Two days after my first ever PIWO, I caught another! This one was a female, also with a brood patch, so a confirmed breeding of a very rare bird for that part of the state. Black-capped Chickadee - 1 My first ever! The boundary between the two chickadees passes right through the county. And I caught both species on the same net check! In different nets. The size difference was obvious, as was the greater amount of white in the black-capped wing. Swainson's Thrush - 2 Magnolia Warbler - 1 White-crowned Sparrow - 2 These last three species were great to get for the special day. Had a lot of visitors. Plus it was their annual "Pancakes in the Park" fundraiser, so I was well fed! Finally, my one day of banding at home was the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. And my redneck neighbors were at their farm in full force - it sits empty about 48 weeks of the year. Tearing around on 4-wheelers, drinking themselves simple, shooting guns, yelling and blasting out Hank Jr., I was glad when Sunday morning came and they were sleeping it off! But perhaps some of the birds I caught were trying to escape from them, because they appeared on my place for the first time. And I had some good recaps. Highlights: Wood Thrush - 1, plus a recap banded 8/3/06. Louisiana Waterthrush - 1 First ever on my place. Yellow-breasted Chat - 1 Same as above. Northern Cardinal - 1 female I'd banded 7/25/06. Bob Placier April 20, 2009 Ready to make the transition from banding feeder visitors to setting up in the woods and edges. Just heard my first Wood Thrush at home this evening. Looks like all my Purple Finches and Slate-colored Juncos have departed. And Pine Siskins are getting scarce. Had two banding days this past week. Sunday morning and the following Saturday a.m. couldn't have been more different! Went from 33 goldfinches (and 7 recaps) the first session to 0 the next.
I also had a remarkable number of recaps of birds banded several years ago. So I'll note them in the list. Results for the week: Totals for the year: 558 birds banded, of 24 species. Passed the 1,000 mark for recaptures this week. Since I'm yet to band my 3,000th bird, that means over 25% of the birds I catch are recaps. That doesn't mean I've recaptured a thousand individuals. There are birds I've recaptured as many as 8 times! Lots of good data I'm starting to explore and hope to write up. Finally, got my report from the banding lab on the goldfinch banded in Ontario I captured back in January. #2500-89073 was banded by Dr. A. Salvadori near Orton (northwest of Toronto) on 9/13/2007 as a male hatched that year. Bob Placier April 10, 2009 Only one morning (this morning) again this week. Didn't think there would be any, based on today's forecast, but rain didn't arrive at my place till 10:30. With four 7 a.m. Ornithology labs this term, I wake up by 5 no problem.Still lots of siskins and goldfinches coming to feeders, and decent number of juncos and white-throated sparrows. And picked up a new species for the year. The morning's results:
Tufted Titmouse - 1 recap Total for the year: 509 individuals, of 22 species. Bob Placier Only one banding morning again this week. Happy to have missed one, since it was to pick up my daughter Rebecca at the airport for her spring break with me. And my one day banding was one of the best of the year. Added five species to the year's list. Could have done another day, I guess, since it's been my spring break. But spent two delightful, if strenuous days, putting up boundary signs at Buzzard's Roost. Wildflowers are really coming on! Spectacular amount of Dutchman's Breeches, Blue Cohosh, and Hepatica blooming on Thursday. And a few Trillium grandiflorum opening, seems early for that. I'm finished with the boundary work across Paint Creek now, but need to find some good reasons to go back, the last area I did is the most beautiful on the preserve! Still getting a lot of Pine Siskins, and recapturing them regularly. The week's list, with new species for the year marked by an *:
Hairy Woodpecker* - 1 Totals for the year: 484 birds, of 21 species. Bob Placier Had a short banding week, because I spent a usual banding day visiting with my brother in Chillicothe and cutting up broken trees from the ice storm at our parent's house. Some new birds are showing up, although not in my nets or traps yet. Notable is the disappearance of tree sparrows from my place. Still have a lot of pine siskins and goldfinches. It's interesting that the number of "new" siskins is declining, and I'm catching an increasing number of ones I'd banded in recent weeks. Up to 25% of siskins recaptured now, some multiple times. A paper in the most recent North American Bird Bander notes the "data suggest that Pine Siskins reach their wintering grounds early in the winter and tend to remain there." My experience would be in line with that. They didn't arrive till mid-January, but have stayed here since. The paper says that is not the case with Common Redpolls (wish I'd get some!), which tend to move on, and I think that is true for Am. Goldfinches as well, based on my records. Despite that, I did get a notable goldfinch return this week. Results for the week:
Eastern Towhee - 1 recap (banded 6/22/07) Totals for the year: 468 birds, of 16 species. Bob Placier Lots of singing out there now! And the Leatherwood is blooming in my yard. Love those flowers! Phoebes are back on my porch. Had a mini-invasion of goldfinches Friday. Banded 17 in 3 hours. That came largely because it was nice enough to open nets, but shut them down after an hour, too many birds! First banding day in some time that a species outnumbered the siskins. And it appears sparrows are on the move. Been finding and hearing lots of amphibians too. Totals for the week:
Downy Woodpecker - 1 recap Some new birds are showing up, although not in my nets or traps yet. Notable is the disappearance of tree sparrows from my place. Still have a lot of pine siskins and goldfinches. It's interesting that the number of "new" siskins is declining, and I'm catching an increasing number of ones I'd banded in recent weeks. Up to 25% of siskins recaptured now, some multiple times. A paper in the most recent North American Bird Bander notes the "data suggest that Pine Siskins reach their wintering grounds early in the winter and tend to remain there." My experience would be in line with that. They didn't arrive till mid-January, but have stayed here since. The paper says that is not the case with Common Redpolls (wish I'd get some!), which tend to move on, and I think that is true for Am. Goldfinches as well, based on my records. Despite that, I did get a notable goldfinch return this week. Results for the week:
Eastern Towhee - 1 recap (banded 6/22/07) Totals for the year: 468 birds, of 16 species.
Pine Siskin - 15, 10 recaps Totals for the year: 456 birds, of 16 species. Bob Placier Hello all, Was able to get in two full mornings this week, although the warm weather today meant a lot less activity at the feeders. Except for the siskins! Luckily it was o.k. to open nets a bit on both days, the only way I get much diversity since they arrived. Apparently the siskins can't find food anyplace else, they enter the traps so readily. Never banded one, or even saw one here, before mid-January. And now they're, at 162, the third most numerous species I've banded! Sure hope some bander up north snags one, since they're highly unlikely to ever return to my place. But they're not as nomadic as the goldfinches, I'd say, since I'm starting to recapture a fair number of them. One of the first siskins I banded has since been recaptured 6 times! My favorite bird of the week was the Fox Sparrow, first one I've seen this winter. Totals for the week:
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Totals for the year: 420 individuals, of 16 species. An interesting non-avian note is the Hairy-tailed Mole I found dead, but perfectly intact, in my woods. Guessing that it froze. I read up on the species, and learned that the males come above ground in late winter to move into a female's den for the breeding season. Guess he never made it. Hope she wasn't left lovelorn! Or maybe she wouldn't let him in? Catkins are lengthening on my hazelnuts, spring can't be far off! Bob Placier
Only had one day, last Sunday, of banding this week due to Friday's weather. But Sunday was interesting! That day's weather had a lot of birds coming to the feeder traps, almost too many. Probably could have caught birds all day, but shut down after the usual 5 hours. Friday was frustrating! I set my alarm very early to go looking for ambystomids, because it was supposed to rain during the night, and temps were in the 50s. But the rain didn't come until almost dawn. I went out anyway, and did find my first Red-spotted Newts of the year. And Spring Peepers were hopping everywhere. But that was it. I suspect folks farther west might have had some success. Then, of course, the rain and warm temp meant no birds at the feeders. Yesterday might have been good, but I was at the OBS conference. Some GREAT presentations there! Hopefully a few of you will hear them at future bird club meetings. Results for the week (Sunday):
Eastern Towhee 2 Signs of spring: Skunks are everywhere in my area! Never seen so many roadkills, population must be up? And the buds are swelling on my leatherwood (Dirca palustris). Bob Placier A bit nicer weather this past Sunday let me open three nets, and helped increase the diversity of birds captured. And this week's totals include 7 birds banded at the college during a visitation day for prospective students and parents. Luckily I caught some birds while folks were there! But bird numbers around the feeders seem to be declining, other than the Pine Siskins. All the tree sparrows seem to have gone elsewhere, still no Fox Sparrows this winter. But I've banded more Purple Finches (7) than House Finches (3) so far, which I find encouraging. Perhaps some of you saw the study indicating that Purple Finches, and some other species, have been shifting their winter range northward in the last 2 decades. A sign of global warning, or perhaps partly due to more people with bird feeders? The second Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, which I worked on, indicated significant northward range expansion of species such as Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Be interesting to see the changes here in Ohio when the ongoing 2nd atlas is completed! Totals for the week:
Downy Woodpecker 1 Totals for the year to date: 311 birds, of 15 species Had a couple of notable recaptures this week:
Tufted Titmouse - banded 9/27/06, recaptured 2/15/09. Actually this was the 6th time I've recaptured this one. I've got over 800 recapture records now, need to go through and see how many individuals that includes. And start doing something with the data! My record number of recaptures of a bird is a Carolina Wren so far netted or trapped 7 times since banded. Bob Placier A very short report here! The much warmer weather meant few birds at the feeders, and fewer willing to enter the traps. Apparently, though, the pine siskins don't know other places to find food. That's my surmise anyway. Even opening a net one day for four hours only produced one cardinal. Totals for the week:
Northern Cardinal 1 Totals for the year: 274 individuals, of 14 species. Today was better, only because I could open more nets. But that'll be included in next week's report. Bob Placier
I use it because last Saturday I wrote that my junco population seemed to have changed, that the birds present before had moved on, because I couldn't spot banded birds around my feeders. Wrong! The very next day, Feb. 1, I was able to open a net along with the traps and promptly caught seven banded juncos, 3 from Jan./Feb. of 2007. In fact, this week I recaptured more juncos than banded "new" birds.
And, all of a sudden, I can't capture siskins or goldfinches, even though they're out there. It's mostly due to an influx of more aggressive birds jumping into the traps first. That's the difference between using walk-in traps vs. mist nets; once the door closes behind a bird, no others are going in. You'll see from the week's totals what those more aggressive birds are. I've noticed that the juncos as well dominate the goldfinches and siskins. I observe that most of the birds are trap shy. So my hypothesis is this: When there is little food (bird seed) available outside the traps, I tend to catch the dominant birds. When there's a fair amount of food available outside the traps, I'm more likely to catch the subordinate birds. Trying to figure out a way to test this!
I've also been comparing, for species with a sufficient sample size, the mean body masses and wing lengths of birds I capture with those from the Powdermill Nature Reserve in SW Pennsylvania. From what I can tell, birds captured here average smaller than those they get. Not sure why that would be, except that perhaps we're sampling different populations. I've banded over 400 juncos, sounds impressive until seeing that they had done 25,000 1974-2000!
Totals for the week:
Blue Jay 16 Totals for the week:
Blue Jay 11
Totals for the year: 214 birds, of 12 species.
Bob Placier
Big news (to me anyway) from week #3 on the ridge was my fourth ever foreign recap. An American Goldfinch male that entered my trap Sunday was already wearing a band courtesy of a bander in Ontario. #2500-89073 was banded on 9/13/07, all I know for now. Will eventually get much more info from the banding lab.
Forgot to mention last time that one of the first three Pine Siskins I banded the previous Sunday was of the "green morph" variety. Sure did stand out from the rest! I was doing a program for a local hiking group, and one of them took pictures, so hope I can track him down and get some. Distinctly greenish on the upperparts, it also had more yellow in the wings and tail, and yellow undertail coverts. As I understand it now, less than 1% of siskins are green morphs, if I'd known it then I'd have gotten more pics.
Birds banded this past week got a boost because of the Monday holiday. And I did 4 birds at the college, part of a demo for prospective students and parents. I need to catch something gaudy; people are way more interested in the snakes from our Nature Center! Ordinarily I'm just doing Friday and Sunday mornings at home. Here's the list of birds banded :
Blue Jay 4
Also had some recaps from 2007, including a Song Sparrow banded 1/7/07, thus now entering at least his fourth year of life.
Totals for the year: 169 birds banded, of 12 species. 70 recaptures (including the foreign bird).
Bob Placier
Highlights for week 2, 2009 were the overdue appearance of Am. Tree Sparrows, and
(finally!), the first ever appearance of Pine Siskins at my feeders. Goldfinches continue to be abundant, while Juncos are pouring in. But where are the White-throated and Fox Sparrows?
When I say juncos are pouring in, they're apparently also departing in numbers. Through the first 11 days of the month I banded 18 juncos, and recaptured 18 I'd banded earlier. Since then I've banded 18 and had 1 recap! So it would seem there's been a real turnover in the population at my place, something you'd never know without banding data.
The birds banded for week 2:
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Recaps for the week included one each of Song and White-throated Sparrows, the rest of the recaps were juncos and goldfinches.
Banded totals for the year (through 1/16): 100 birds of 9 species
A couple of further notes for those interested :
Two of the juncos I recaptured this week had engorged ticks on their heads (auricular region). And both were birds I'd banded here in recent weeks, so I suspect they'd picked them up here. We did have some pretty mild weather (hard to remember after today!), and I hope this colder weather will eliminate that concern. Feeder hygiene isn't the issue, I'd think, since the juncos never land on them, but I've resolved to regularly rake clean the area where I place my ground traps. I'd never seen ticks on birds during the winter till now, anybody have any thoughts?
Finally, Dave Swanson asked me about the recapture rate of chickadees, after my message last week concerning the high percentage of titmice and juncos I recapture vs. so few goldfinches. Actually, so far I've recaptured about 1/3 of the chickadees I've banded. But I neither band nor recapture many chickadees during the winter, although they're common at the feeders. The problem is that most of my winter banding is of birds caught in the feeder traps on the ground. And chickadees don't feed on the ground very often, compared to the other species. I recap a lot of titmice, I suspect, because I put a lot of a "woodpecker mix" (from Central Center Hardware in Chillicothe), with lots of nuts, into the traps along with sunflower. And titmice apparently can't resist a peanut! Chickadees don't seem so interested, but perhaps if I broke them up it'd be more attractive. And sometimes, because they're so little, I've seen chickadees go in, grab a seed, and get out, not tripping the door. They average weighing only around 10 grams, while goldfinches are around 14, juncos and titmice both 20+.
I do use a mist net, sometimes 3, when it's above freezing. But I have to be careful, because it has happened that something has spooked birds to flush from the feeders into the nets, and I've had 20+ birds netted at once. Thats way more than I can or responsibly should be dealing with. So I generally only open one net, which is parallel to the direction the birds always go when flushed. That's the only way I can get cardinals, which absolutely will not enter the traps.
Bob Placier
I ended 2008 having banded 1080 birds of 60 species. Haven't broken it down yet, but probably 80% of those were here, the remainder mostly at Hocking College. As you'll tell from the most numerous species, I do a lot of winter banding of birds coming to my feeders. But in summer my place is apparently ideal habitat for one of my favorite birds. Here are the top 3 for 2008, also the top 3, totals in parentheses, since I began in 2006:
American Goldfinch - 209 (307) This has been a crazy winter for goldfinches, while juncos have been scarce till recently, but few White-throated or Song Sparrows. And I'm yet to see a Tree Sparrow or Fox Sparrow this winter. Anyway, here's my report for birds banded the first "week" (actually 9 days, 3 of which I was set up for a bit) of 2009.
American Goldfinch 17 38 birds, 6 species This doesn't include recaptures of birds I'd previously banded, generally at least half of the birds I catch each session. So, I'll finish this with a mention of some of those birds recaptured, and a question I have. If you've got any suggestions for an answer, or who might know, I'd love to hear them! I recaptured 10 juncos, 5 Tufted Titmice, but 0 goldfinches this week. And this doesn't seem to be chance. Here are the numbers of birds of these species I've ever banded, the number recaptured at least once, and the percent recaptured:
One, goldfinches don't show much "site fidelity", meaning they don't return so regularly to the same locations as birds like juncos. So they don't stick around long enough, or return the following season, to get recaptured. Two, there are huge numbers of goldfinches out there, compared to the other species, so the chance of recapturing any individual is much lower. Three, they have a much higher mortality rate, so many more of them are dying before they could be recaptured than are the juncos. Of course this also means that there must be a bunch of goldfinches out there. Banding is a great way to learn more about birds, but it seems, sometimes, that I'm mostly learning how much I don't know!
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