BSBO Bird Bander's Blog

Fall 2011 Highlights

2011-11-27T12:52:00.000-05:00

The fall migration had a slow start in August and September at the Navarre Banding Station; however, by the time October rolled around, migration kicked in, and the station recorded numbers above average. This followed a record spring banding total. The tremendous effort of day-in-day out migration monitoring could not be conducted at the Navarre Marsh station without the great help and time given by the Observatory's volunteers. Thank you for all you do!

Mary Lou with her signature bird (Brown Thrasher)

The Sunday crew of Marlene, Jay, and Mark

Deb and Julie helping at the mist net
(There is a mist net between the two ladies, but it's hard to see)

John and others like him are always fixing our equipment

The grand highlight(s) of the fall season comes with the recapture of six Blackpoll Warblers (BLPW), that we had banded in previous years. The oldest was at least six years old and still flying! Yes, at least 6 times this bird has made the trip down and back from Venezuala/Brazil to the boreal forests of Canada. The other five birds were banded in these years: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 (2)

BLPW- Fall Plumage

One of the greatest rewards of bird banding is learning more about their life history. BSBO's research documents that stopover habitats in the Lake Erie Marshes are important for the Blackpoll Warbler (and so many other migrant birds) each fall. This year, the weather must have been just right and a vast representative of the world Blackpoll population dropped into the small area of NW Ohio that we call home. BSBO uses this information to raise awareness of the value of stopover for migratory birds and to build local, regional, and national support for habitat conservation. If you would like to support the research and conservation efforts of Black Swamp Bird Observatory, please visit the BSBO WEBSITE for ways that you can help.

The highlight of the last day of station operations and
the feathered harbinger of winter...

American Tree Sparrow (ATSP)

With winter around the corner, just remember that spring is at the next bend. For some it is resignation, for some a welcome anticipation. But winter is a part of Ohio's seasons and there are still birds to search out and admire at your feeders or nearby parks. Some of these do not get the attention they deserve. So here they are for you to enjoy.

Male Northern Cardinal (NOCA)

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)

Carolina Wren (CARW)

CARW back-notice long bill and distinctive eye stripe

Hermit Thrush (HETH)- a short-distance migrant. Some stay around in winter.

Take time to enjoy the birds and consider the fantastic journeys they have made and what it takes for them to make those journeys.

October Birds Linger Despite Monsoon-like Conditions

2011-10-24T06:03:00.000-04:00

Despite the monsoon-ish weather and strong Northeast winds of this past week, we did manage to get out a couple days to document late fall migration. There are still lots of White-throated Sparrows (WTSP), Song Sparrows (SOSP), and Hermit Thrushes (HETH) following the front in the marsh region. Banded Blackpoll Warblers (BLPW) are still being captured and are adding fat reserves for their long trek south.

A beautiful White-throated Sparrow

Kinglets were in good numbers and a fair number of Slate-colored Juncos (SCJU) beginning to appear. Warbler species for the days we were out include: Nashville (NAWA), Tennessee Warbler (TEWA), Black-throated-Blue (BTBW), Common Yellowthroat (COYE), Blackpoll, Cape May (CMWA), Myrtle (MYWA), and Orange-crowned (OCWA).

Golden-crowned Kinglets

One of the last Gray-cheeked Thrushes for the season is showing his/her hatching year (HY) buffy tips of its secondary coverts. With the accented markings on this bird, it could be aged HY with binoculars. This is not always the case as the buffy tips can be miniscule on some birds.

Note the red arrow indicating the buffy tips on the edges of the secondary coverts

A few White-crowned Sparrows (WCSP) are arriving on the beach ridge as well.

White-cowned Sparrow
This is a Hatching Year bird with brown head stripes

With species diversity declining and increasing numbers of Hermit Thrush, WTSP, Fox Sparrow (FOSP), and Rusty Blackbirds (RUBL) we should expect a fair migration for another week or two before giving way to the wintering species.

A special announcement...
For anyone interested in the future of birds, birding, and bird conservation, please consider attending the Ohio Young Birders Conference on November 5th, in Columbus, Ohio. This event is not just for kids. Any adult who wants to learn more about birds and nature should attend this event, where the outstanding presentations are all delievered by young people. The cost for adults to attend is only $20.00 and this includes a morning field trip, a songbird banding demonstration, a birds of prey presentation with live raptors, fabulous presentations by our students, many great door prizes and raffle items from our sponsors, and a delicious lunch. And the whole thing takes place at the wonderful Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus, Ohio. Visit OHIO YOUNG BIRDERS CLUB for more details and to register for this amazing event!

Mid-October Birds Behind Schedule

2011-10-18T07:13:00.000-04:00

For mid-October we should have been overloaded with White-throated Sparrows, Hermit Thrushes, Myrtle Warblers, and kinglets. Only in the past week have they slowly begun appearing on the Navarre Marsh Beach Ridge in numbers. In fact, the last two days have seen capture totals close to a complete average fall total for the MYWA.

The past week proved to be a boost to this year's total with us finally surpassing an average number of birds captured for a fall season. September was quite slow and October is making up for the lull. This week's 16 warbler species include:Tennessee (TEWA), Orange-crowned (OCWA), Nashville (NAWA), Chestnut-sided (CSWA), Magnolia (MAWA), Cape May (CMWA), Black-throated Blue (BTBW), Myrtle (MYWA), Pine (PIWA), Western Palm (WPWA), Bay-breasted (BBWA), Blackpoll (BLPW), American Redstart (AMRE), Ovenbird (OVEN), Northern Waterthrush (NOWA), and Common Yellowthroat (COYE).

Here's a quiz bird for you to ponder:

Note heavy bill and wing bars

We had an opportunity to photograph three sparrow species: two Melospiza and one Zonotrichia genus.

Swamp, Song, and White-throated Sparrows
(Left to right)

Other highlights for the week:

Hatching Year Male
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (RBGR)

Male Red-bellied Woodpecker (RBWO)

Marsh Wren (MAWR)
Note the eye line and dark streaks on back

Another opportunity for a comparison of species.
Here are (L-R) Winter Wren and Marsh Wren:

Winter Wren (WIWR) and Marsh Wren
Similar body size
Longer tail on the MAWR

It appears likely that the next week should bring in the final big push of October birds. Fox Sparrows (FOSP), MYWAs, and Hermit Thrushes (HETH) should be arriving in good numbers. The American Tree Sparrow (ATSP) will be the last vanguard of the fall species assemblage with its usual appearance at the end of the month.
Take time to enjoy the season!

Quiz bird answer: Pine Warbler.

September Birds Still Around

2011-10-10T05:46:00.000-04:00

September birds are still dominating our catch with the stable presence of a high pressure system hanging overhead. Blackpoll Warblers (BLPW) and Swainson's Thrushes have been the primary species with a nice selection of many one of warbler species: Nashville (NAWA), Tennessee (TEWA), Cape May (CMWA), Magnolia (MAWA), Bay-breasted (BBWA), Connecticut (CONW), Northern Waterthrush (NOWA), Ovenbird (OVEN), Orange-crowned Warbler (OCWA), and Myrtle (MYWA). The last two warbler species represent "October" warblers.

NAWA

Over the past several days we have been graced with the presence of Tufted Titmice (TUTI) and Black-capped Chickadee (BCCH) in the nets. We normally see a dispersal migration of these species in October along the beach ridge. Are they coming south, going north, or sliding along the coast?

A first in over 20 years of fall banding efforts was this Pine Siskin (PISI). Many flocks have been seen/heard flying over the banding station this week following the ridge.

PISI back -note yellow in wings and tail

A nice view of a adult male MAWA who is probably several years old noting the amount of black on its face even in basic plumage.

MAWA

Also of note is the black upper tail coverts diagnostic of an adult male MAWA.

Highlights of the week were:

Fox Sparrow (FOSP)

FOSP front - note characteristic bill color

Rusty Blackbird (RUBL)

Male Red-breasted Nuthatch
(Male has black cap)

Enjoy a rare opportunity to demonstrate a side by side view of Winter Wren (WIWR) and House Wren (HOWR). Note the differences in color and in the size of the body and tail length. The WIWR is much darker than the HOWR.

WIWR left and HOWR right

The next weather front should bring in more kinglets, White-throated Sparrows, Hermit Thrushes (HETH), MYWAs and OCWAs.

Enjoy the beauty of the season!

Navarre Marsh Banding Update

2011-10-04T16:10:00.000-04:00

A week of wild weather with several cold fronts brought the birds we were expecting to see in late September to finally grace our presence as October began. The kinglets, Myrtle Warbler (MYWA), Orange-crowned Warbler (OCWA), Eastern Phoebe (EAPH), Slate-colored Junco (SCJU), White-throated Sparrow (WTSP), Brown Creeper (BRCR), Hermit Thrush (HETH), and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (YBSA) all arrived over the weekend.

Eastern Phoebe (EAPH)

For the week of September 26th - October 2nd, we had a total of 24 species of warbler including another Golden-winged (GWWA), Tennessee (TEWA), OCWA, Nashville (NAWA), Northern Parula (NOPA), *Yellow (YEWA), Chestnut-sided (CSWA), Magnolia (MAWA), Cape May (CMWA), Black-throated Blue (BTBW), MYWA, Black-throated Green (BTNW), Blackburnian (BLBW), Western Palm (WPWA), Bay-breasted (BBWA), Blackpoll (BLPW), Black-and-white (BAWW), American Redstart (AMRE), Ovenbird (OVEN), Northern Waterthrush (NOWA), Connecticut (CONW), Mourning (MOWA), Common Yellowthroat (COYE), and Wilson's (WIWA) captured.

*Special Note:
Did you notice the change in the alpha code for Yellow Warbler (YEWA) used above?
A great way for birders and banders to keep records in the field are the four-letter (Alpha) codes assigned to every North American species by the Bird Banding Laboratory. These codes, along with numeric codes assigned to each bird, are unique for each species and save considerable time. However, as name changes are approved by the American Ornithologists’ Union these Alpha codes may change as well. As seen above, the code for the Yellow Warbler has seen one of those changes. Originally known as YWAR (because the Yellow Wagtail (YWAG), would also be “YEWA”), this species was changed this year to YEWA when the Yellow Wagtail was renamed Eastern Yellow Wagtail (EYWA). Periodic checks of the codes issued by the Banding Lab will keep one up to date and in step with the common names. If you don’t like change, either in short hand or long hand, keep the numeric codes in mind. They might take a bit more practice to learn, but the do not change!

Even after the strong cold fronts of Friday and Saturday, 14 species of warbler were captured on October 2nd. October 2nd also had a tie for number one bird which had been BLPW all week. On 10/2, the BLPW was tied by the Gray-cheeked Thrush (GCTH). The YEWA captured earlier in the week represents a very late bird with most from the Midwest having left the region back in August. This bird had a greenish yellow cast which is indicative of YEWAs breeding in Alaska.

Let's give you a quiz bird to ponder:

Some other highlights for the week for you to enjoy:

Northern Parula (NOPA)

NOPA with diagnostic back with greenish-gold feathers forming a "golden" triangle

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (RBGR) male with black wings

RBGR Hatching year male with rose-colored wing lining.

Philadelphia (PHVI) and Warbling Vireo (WAVI)
PHVI has yellow wash from belly to bill. WAVI has white throat.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (YBSA)
note white wing patches diagnostic of YBSA

It is not too late to get outside and enjoy fall songbird migration.
Answer to the quiz bird is Orange-crowned Warbler with its split yellow eye ring, yellow breast with fine gray streaks, and yellow undertail coverts.
Remember to [Like] BSBO on Facebook for frequent updates and announcements about birds, birding, and bird conservation in NW Ohio: www.facebook.com/BSBOBIRD

Enjoy the beauty of the season!

Fall Brings Late Migrants

2011-09-28T06:17:00.000-04:00

Winter Wren (WIWR)

Welcome to fall! This week we had our first captures of Winter Wren (WIWR), Myrtle Warbler (MYWA) and Western Palm Warbler (WPWA). Some of the volunteers weren't ready for the colder weather and were not pleased to see these birds arriving so soon. The cold fronts that passed through this week resulted in some later fall migrants mixing with some early fall migrants such as the Chestnut-sided Warbler (CSWA).

Western Palm Warbler (WPWA)

For details on our daily captures go to http://www.bsbo.org/passerine/pdf/passerinebandingfall2011navarre.pdf

Here are some additional highlights for the week:

Golden-winged Warbler (GWWA) and Yellow-throated Vireo (YTVI)

Hooded Warbler (HOWA)

White tail spots characteristic of the HOWA

Here are a pair of tanagers: can you tell which female tanager this is?

Scarlet Tanagers (SCTA) have white axillaries (wingpits) versus yellow axillaries on a Summer Tanager (SUTA).

Scarlet Tanager (SCTA)

The male has black wings all year 'round. This bird can be aged by its primary coverts seen at tip of red arrow. It is a hatching year bird with its dull brown coverts contrasting with its black primaries.

Scarlet Tanager (SCTA) Male

Next week we anticipate the kinglets appearing. There have been a few reported in NE Ohio. Enjoy your fall birding!

September 5-11th Highlights

2011-09-13T10:03:00.000-04:00

I write this on September 11th, a day I spent in the same place doing my part of the BSBO mission in 2001. It is impossible not to remember the tragedy 10 years ago in New York City, Washington D.C., and in western Pennsylvania. We are very thankful for our freedom and for those who are on the frontlines every day ensuring those freedoms we often take for granted. It is these freedoms that allow us to appreciate the natural world, a natural world we have the responsibility to protect and conserve.

This responsibility is reflected in Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic, where community is people and wild places including animals, plants, land, and water.

Cape May Warbler

Understanding migrational timing and the interaction of habitats of birds in migration is what BSBO continues to investigate to fill our role in the big picture of conservation.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

One of the last Yellow Warblers seen before spring

This week had a slow start with the remnants of Hurricane Lee hanging to our east. You could see the influx of migrants coming into the marsh region. Even with a strong Northeaster the birds could be seen and heard crossing the lake. The Observatory, which is about a half mile off the lake, had a large influx of migrants on Tuesday September 6th. We saw the diversity of warblers and thrushes on the Navarre beach ridge but the birds moved inland fast that day to escape the strong lake winds. By the 9th, with west winds the beach ridge took center stage.

Highlights for the week were 19 species of warblers and four of the brown thrushes (Wood (WOTH), Veery (VEER), Gray-cheeked (GCTH), and Swainson's (SWTH)). The warblers included Black-throated Green (BTNW), Wilson's (WIWA), Tennessee (TEWA), Cape May (CMWA), Blackburnian (BLBW), American Redstart (AMRE), Black-throated Blue (BTBW), Northern Waterthrush (NOWA), Blackpoll (BLPW), Magnolia (MAWA), Ovenbird (OVEN), Common Yellowthroat (COYE), Nashville (NAWA), Chestnut-sided (CSWA), Black-and-white (BAWW), Mourning (MOWA), Connecticut (CONW), Bay-breasted (BBWA), and Yellow (YEWA). Blackpolls and Magnolia warblers dominated the warbler scene this past week. Blackpolls have only just begun to arrive and will be picking up in the coming weeks.

Here is a quiz bird to keep you sharp:

Note the distinctive facial pattern and it's wing bars... Color should not be needed for the identification of this hatching year bird.

And to show you that there really are Connecticut Warblers out there. We share two caught at the same time. Note the larger bill and the complete eye ring.

It is always interesting to observe two similar species up close to compare their distinguishing features. Take a look at this NAWA and MOWA. Note the size of the two species, plus where the yellow appears on the front of each (the yellow goes all the way up the throat on the NAWA and the MOWA has the hood coloration on its throat), also the complete eye ring of the NAWA and the split eye ring of this hatching year MOWA.

NAWA left and MOWA right

This week saw the capture of three species of vireos including Red-eyed (REVI), Warbling (WAVI) and Philadelphia (PHVI). Note that the yellow on the PHVI extends all the way from the belly to the bill. The WAVI may have yellowish wash along the flanks but does not see yellow extend to the bill.

Philadelphia Vireo

Philadelphia Vireo front view

Next weekend begins the Midwest Birding Symposium and fall migrants should start to peak in numbers and diversity. Get out and enjoy the season and take time to share your love of birds with someone new!

Banding demonstrations at the Observatory are on Friday and Saturday from 8 AM to 9:30 AM. This is a great opportunity to see those confusing fall warblers up close.

Follow Kenn Kaufman's birding tips and updates on the BSBO website pages.

Answer to the quiz bird is Hatching Year female Blackburnian Warbler.

After Hatch Year male Blackburnian Warbler

Connecticut Warbler and other fall migrants

2011-09-05T12:13:00.000-04:00

If you were not able to get out much during the month of August, some of the early migrants are still hanging on including Baltimore Orioles, Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Canada Warbler, and Prothonotary Warbler. The Navarre Banding station continues to hold at 20 species of warbler for the fall season, a pretty good tally for this early in the season. We are still awaiting Northern Parula (NOPA), Orange-crowned Warbler (OCWA), Western Palm Warbler (WPWA), Blackburnian Warbler, and Myrtle Warbler (MYWA).

Here is a quiz bird (profile and front photo) to sharpen your fall warbler ID skills:

An early and a late migrating flycatcher pair graced us with their presence, on September 4th. Actually, there is a dispersal of Eastern Phoebes shortly after fledging to the beach ridges along Lake Erie. Where they originate isn't known but the behavior results in strange migrational timing for the species as it may be seen from August to November.

The Eastern Phoebe (EAPH) and Eastern Wood Pewee (EAWP) are pictured below from left to right. The EAPH has a dark head and a dark bill (both upper and lower mandibles (bill) are black). Whereas the EAWP has a bi-colored beak (top mandible is dark and lower mandible is yellowish or lighter color) in the fall. Neither has an eye ring which separates them from the other Empidonax flycatchers.

EAPH and EAWP

Here we share with you an uncommon warbler for any season, the Connecticut (CONW). This individual is one of two we have caught so far this fall. It is a hatching year bird with a buffy eye ring. An adult male would be just as you would imagine with their slate-colored head and bright white eye ring.

CONW

Enjoy the early days of September, more birds are to come in the following weeks. Watch for cold fronts from the north and northwest. If you can identify these confusing warblers in the fall season, you are certain to be an expert by spring. Remember Saturday, September 10th at 10 AM is the Free Public banding demonstration at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. For more information on all the fall happenings at BSBO, visit our website at: http://www.bsbobird.org/ and Kenn Kaufman's Best Bets for Birding at www.bsbobird.org/birding

Answer to the quiz bird: Bay-breasted Warbler.

August tallies 20 species of Warblers!

2011-09-03T08:29:00.001-04:00

Eastern Kingbird (EAKI)

With the passing of the month of August, many consider the start of fall passerine migration just around the corner, but in fact it is already here. Prothonotary, Canada, and Yellow Warblers have begun their trek south with flycatchers following their lead. American Goldfinch and Cedar Waxwing are finishing up their nesting duties as well. At Oak Openings, we had an American Goldfinch nest with 3 eggs and two pink nestlings on August 4th. It demonstrates that not all birds are done nesting by the end of July. Some wait until later in the summer to even begin. Something to keep in mind when the urge to manicure and mow fields and hedgerows before the end of August manifest itself.

Here are examples of Hatching Year birds-note the eye color on the Brown Thrasher (BRTH) and the difference in the juvenile plumage of the Cedar Waxwing, left, (CEDW) and the adult CEDW.

The Prothonotary Warbler below (PROW) will not be around these parts for long, so get out and enjoy this bird with fanfair or fantail. We refer to it as a touch of the sun with its golden body plumage.

This week we have racked up 20 species of warbler, if that is not enough to get you outside we do not know what is. The species captured so far are Tennessee, Cape May, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Black-and-white, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, American Redstart, Pronthonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Mourning, Connecticut, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson, and Canada Warblers. Not a bad list for August!

Let us throw in a few quizbird photos:

Note the buffy eye ring which helps with aging it as a Hatching Year (HY) bird.

Take a look at this Black and White Warbler and age and sex the bird: (Hint-red arrow helps in pointing out the primary coverts to assist in aging)

(This is a Hatching Year Male BAWW- brownish coverts confirm HY as well as the distinct black streaks on the side tell you it is a male (HY). Females have blurry black streaks on flanks. Adult male BAWW would have the black facial patch.)

To prepare you for fall warblers here are some previews for the birds to come:

Black-throated Blue Warbler (BTBW)

Chestnut-sided Warbler (CSWA)

Black-throated Green Warbler (BTNW)

Why not have another row of Quizbirds? Front and back views to give you a better size comparison.

To help you refresh your fall warbler ID, join us for our public banding demonstrations. The first one is Saturday September 10th at 10 AM -11 AM at the BSBO office. Hope you can join us!

Answer to quizbird #1: Nashville Warbler (NAWA)-eye ring not wing bars or tail or breast spots or streaks.

Answer to the quizbird lineup: from left to right front view-Canada, Mourning, and Magnolia Warblers.

Summer Birds of the Oak Openings 2011

2011-07-29T22:00:00.000-04:00

After the tornadoes of June 2010, many changes have been seen at the Oak Openings Ostrich Lane site this summer. Most have been changes in species using the different habitats. The once closed canopied woods is now more open with considerable more light reaching the floor and fewer mature trees. These conditions have resulted in more Eastern Bluebird, Red-headed Woodpecker, Eastern Towhee, Chipping and Field Sparrow usage.

Here is a photo of a Hatching Year Eastern Towhee (EATO). This is a female with its brown wings. Note the eye color is not ruby red as an adult bird would have.

Here are some of the highlights of the Summer for you to enjoy!

A Second Year male Orchard Oriole (OROR) with his
green coat and black mask.

A quiz bird for you to ponder.
This is a Hatching Year bird.

Here is the front view of both the adult and immature quizbird.

We don't often get a nice view of the backs of birds, so here is a dorsal view to help with identification and give you another perspective.

Another great bird was this Hatching Year Hairy Woodpecker (HAWO).

Look how large the beak is compared to its cousin
the Downy Woodpecker (DOWO) below.

A nice catch was this Hatching Year male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (RBGR). HY males looks like females -- until you see the color under its wings.
A female would have yellow-orange axillaries.

And the grand finale for this post is this cool nest
that was found the end of July.

The species that built this lovely nest is one of the last nesters of the season, waiting for the thistle to go to seed to make its nest.

This nest had 5 eggs.

Enjoy the beauty of the season!

---The answer to the Quizbird is Lark Sparrow!

2011 Spring Banding Season Breaks Record!

2011-06-04T06:53:00.001-04:00

Update from BSBO's Navarre Marsh Songbird Banding Research Station posted by Mark and Julie Shieldcastle:
It has been quite a spring season! We had three good solid waves of spring songbirds this year. Not every year, are we blessed with the right winds and weather that results in the Lake Erie Marsh Region having a "wave trifecta" to produce the volume that each of the migration waves can create.

To review the update of the banding station activity for the last couple weeks you can go to the Navarre banding page of the Observatory website. http://www.bsbo.org/passerine/spring_passerine_migration_monitoring.htm

In a season of highlights, the most significant has to be surpassing the all-time spring banding total for the Navarre banding station, which was first run on a daily basis in 1989. The old record was 10,111 new birds banded in one soring season and we surpassed this on Tuesday May 31st. Final totals for the season will be posted on the website after the station closes on June 4th.

This accomplishment would not have been possible without the great assistance of our passerine technican, Cliff Hoyt, and all of our mighty volunteers. Our hat goes off to the fine work the team has accomplished this spring!

Left - right: Reed Anderson, Julie Shieldcastle, Max Anderson, and Cliff Hoyt

Here are some of the highlights of the past couple weeks:

Female Connecticut Warbler (CONW) left/
Female Mourning Warbler (MOWA) right.
The latter part of May is always the prime time to catch your
glimpses of Connecticut and Mourning Warblers.

CONW

MOWA male

A nice late May surprise was this Summer Tanager (SUTA).

This is a Second Year male with its splotchiness of gold and scarlet. The top sides of these birds are interesting, and since most do not get an opportunity to see this view, enjoy a molt in progress.

Why not add the best warbler in the land to the highlights?

Female and male Blackburnian Warbler (BLBW)
Can you guess why this four-letter code doesn't fit the norm?

Let's hear it for this girl!

She is sporting a flash of "Indigo" in her attire.

And since this is the last wave of songbird migration,
we must talk about flycatchers!

Here you see the Acadian Flycatcher (ACFL) - left
and the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (YBFL) - right.

The ACFL has a light green head and eye ring with an elongated body shape, whereas the YBFL has a rounded head and bright yellow eyering and dark green yellow belly.

To top off the season we had the rare opportunity to catch both a

Black-billed Cuckoo (BBCU) and Yellow-billed Cuckoo (YBCU)

at the same time! Here are their profiles:
BBCU on the left and YBCU on the right

And here is the top view:

Note the rusty wings on the YBCU (left) and it's larger white tail spots compared to the BBCU (right). The contrast of the rusty wing color against the gray body on the YBCU and the gray wings and body of the BBCU should make it easier to identify cuckoo species when the bird is in flight, rather than trying to get a good look at the amount of white in the tail of each.

The bird that broke the spring banding total record on May 31st

Male Yellow-Breasted Chat (YBCH)
Cool Bird Banding Fact #117
Male YBCH's have a black mouth lining (as shown inthe photo, above),
while females have pink. Pretty cool, eh?!

With spring migration all but over, why not get your birding "fix"

by helping on the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas and pay it forward to Bird Conservation!

For those who aren't on Facebook, the answer to the last blog post was female Cape May Warbler.

Second Wave Spring Migrants have arrived!

2011-05-19T12:49:00.001-04:00

An update from BSBO's Navarre Marsh Songbird Banding Research Station, posted by Mark and Julie Shieldcastle: For the last half of the Biggest Week In American Birding the birds put on another great show! The second wave of migrants arrived with the Magnolia Warbler taking center stage.

Twenty eight species of warbler were recorded at the Navarre banding station for the week, including: Blue-winged (BWWA), Tennessee (TEWA), Orange-crowned (OCWA), Nashville (NAWA), Northern Parula (NOPA), Yellow (YWAR), Chestnut-sided (CSWA), Magnolia (MAWA), Cape May (CMWA), Black-throated Blue (BTBW), Myrtle (MYWA), Black-throated Green (BTNW), Blackburnian (BLBW), Western Palm (WPWA), Bay-breasted (BBWA), Blackpoll (BLPW), Black-and-white (BAWW), American Redstart (AMRE), Prothonotary (PROW), Worm-eating Warbler (WEWA), Ovenbird (OVEN), Northern Waterthrush (NOWA), Connecticut (CONW), Mourning (MOWA), Common Yellowthroat (COYE), Hooded (HOWA), Wilson's (WIWA), and Canada (CAWA). All six vireos made an appearance as well, including this lovely example:

Philadelphia Vireo

One advantage to having the bird in the hand is the detailed information you can collect. Not only its energetic condition represented by mass and fat, but its species demographics such as age and sex, especially for those that look very similar. It is important to know the demographics of a population for conservation of the species. We all like to see male Blackburnian Warblers, but if there were no females there would be no more "cheeto head" males.

Here's a photo of a Second Year (SY) male Myrtle Warbler.

Sometimes you can determine the age by of birds by feather characteristics in the field. In this picture, look closely at the bird's primary coverts, indicated by the red arrow. See how dull and worn they are compared to the secondary coverts (the next set of shorter feathers to the left of the primary coverts) with brighter blue edging? The primary coverts and alula (thumb feather) are not molted over the winter.

Female birds have their own subtle beauty.
Here are some lovely ladies from the past week:

From left to right: Blackpoll, Northern Parula,

Chestnut-sided, and Black-and-white.

More "Girl Power" for the week:

Wilson's, Black-throated Blue, Bay-breasted, and Blackburnian.

Since one does not always get to see all of a bird, here are

three angles of the Northern Parula:

Profile

Head On

Dorsal View

And, what do you think of this handsome couple?

Another view from the top:

Quiz bird for the week:

Visit BSBO on Facebook for the answer!
And, if you're not on facebook, we'll reveal the answer here

as well at the end of the next post.

Here are some gratuitous bird photos for you to enjoy!

Chestnut-sided Warbler

After-second year male Orchard Oriole (OROR)
and female Baltimore Oriole (BAOR)

Male Cape May Warbler (CMWA)

Male Blackpoll Warbler (BLPW)

Female Summer Tanager (SUTA)

The next time the winds shift to the south it should bring the next big push of the second pulse of the second wave. It is called "Maggie Madness" for a reason! Be sure to visit Kenn Kaufman's Blog for predictions on migration

Enjoy the beauty of the season!

First days of Biggest Week in American Birding bring the birds!

2011-05-08T22:40:00.000-04:00

Navarre Marsh Banding Station Update, from Research Director Mark Shieldcastle and Conservation Director Julie Shieldcastle: What a week this has been for birds and birdwatchers in the marsh region - THE WARBLER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD! Friday and Saturday alone resulted in 1,858 birds banded! Words cannot describe the volume of birds that poured into the critical stopover of the Lake Erie Marshes. We are only going to give some of the highlights, that's how good it was!And, there's a lot more birds to come! You may want to start planning your illness now so you can call in sick next week; the weather looks favorable for the second wave to hit mid-week.

After banding hundreds of thousands of birds during his career, on Friday, May 6th, BSBO Research Director Mark Shieldcastle banded his first LeConte's Sparrow! Banding allows us to better understand the overall ecology of birds, but it also allows us to appreciate the individual and its fine colors. Take a look at this sparrow!

Can you believe that some people call

sparrows "Little Brown Jobs?!"

This past week (May 2-8th) brought the second pulse of the First Wave with dominants of Myrtle, Nashville, and Western Palm Warblers. On Friday, May 6th we had 101 species seen or heard in the Navarre Marsh. It is always nice to see the vanguard of some species who are yet to come in great numbers like the Magnolia Warbler (MAWA). Here is one with its First Wave counterpart, the Myrtle Warbler:

We banded so many Myrtle Warblers that one of our fabulous volunteers that spent two full days holding bird bags now thinks her name is "Myrtle".

Here are some of the birds that headlined the week:

Yellow-breasted Chat (YBCH) See that black mouth lining? That makes this a male. Females have pink mouth lining. (Isn't that cool?!)

And, here's a touch of the sunshine to chase the clouds away!
Prothonotary Warbler (PROW)

A Second-Year Male Summer Tanager (SUTA)

visited us Saturday May 7th.

Brewster's Warbler (BRWA)-dominant gene cross for

Blue-winged X Golden-winged Warbler.

Everyone at BSBO would like to thank the incredible volunteers who gave so much time and effort to this, and many other projects, this week. Without all of these wonderful people, BSBO would not exist.

If you can get outside, GO BIRDING! and enjoy the bird bounties of spring in The Warbler Capital of the World! For more information on spring migration visit Kenn Kaufman's Best Bets for Birding and the BSBO Website for the daily banding totals.

***Answer to the last quiz bird for those who are not on FaceBook: female Hooded Warbler.

Biggest Week in American Birding is set and so are the birds!

2011-05-05T08:28:00.002-04:00

Navarre Marsh Banding Station Updates, from Research Director Mark Shieldcastle and Conservation Director Julie Shieldcastle: Last Sunday was the culmination of the second pulse of the first wave of songbirds. It hit with full force with over 700 new birds banded. The host of overflight birds for the week included Prairie, Hooded, Pine, and Yellow-throated Warblers. Our largest annual spring catch for Pine Warblers (PIWA) was four, to date we have caught 7 this spring.

Prairie Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

We were surprised by the Cerulean warblers (CERW) that graced us with their presence, with a male and a female on different days.

This female has beauty beyond what field guides can capture.

The head is the color of the Caribbean Sea.

To add to the greatness of the week, we have recaptured 37 birds banded in previous years, including two Common Yellowthroats (COYE) that were banded as adults and are now at least 6 years old! What a feat these birds complete migrating at night across the continent with all the obstacles in their flight path. We also have had two foreign recoveries, one Yellow Warbler (YWAR) banded at Springville Marsh, Seneca County, Ohio by Tom Bartlett and a White-throated Sparrow (WTSP) banded in Ontario in May 2007 which was captured on the 4th, the eve of the Biggest Week in American Birding.

Quiz bird for you to ponder:

Navarre was busy on Sunday, May 1st with a wide variety of birds, and this diversity was echoed across the marsh region. Here are a few "poster birds" to share with you. ---Let's hear it for the girls!

(Left to right are Cerulean Warbler, Mourning Warbler,
and Ruby-crowned Kinglet).
**Note: This is early for a female Mourning Warbler.
As you can see, it truly is a female with her gray hood and split eye ring.

And to give equal time: Let's hear it for the boys!

(Left to right are Black-throated Green, Yellow, and Wilson's warblers).

Isn't this line up of yellow and black birds a treat?!

Top 5 species for May 4th:

Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler (MYWA)- 108

Western Palm Warbler (WPWA)- 92

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)-31

Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)- 17

Yellow Warbler (YWAR)-16

Highlights for May 4th were a Red-headed Woodpecker (RHWO) and a Red-breasted Nuthatch (RBNU).

May 4th, we broke the record for number of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (BGGN) for a spring. We are over 107 individuals -- a good year for BGGNs who normally do not venture this far north in these numbers. They do nest in the marsh region, but in small numbers.

It looks like the weekend should be good for variety of bird species and it is lining up for the Second Wave of migrants to hit Tuesday.

Check out the banding totals at http://www.bsbo.org/passerine/spring_passerine_migration_monitoring.htm

and follow Kenn Kaufman's Best Bets for Birding at http://cranecreekbirding.blogspot.com/

Here's another look at the Quiz Bird!

Note the tail pattern and large bill for size of head.

Visit BSBO on facebook to learn the identity to today's Quiz Bird!

Enjoy the beauty of Spring!

And so it begins...

2011-04-26T23:07:00.002-04:00

From the BSBO Songbird Banding Station in the Navarre Marsh Unit of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Mark and Julie Shieldcastle write: Last week was the start of the spring migration banding season for Black Swamp Bird Observatory's Navarre Station located in the Lake Erie Marsh Region on FirstEnergy property. We've been able to band on only four of the past seven days due to consistent rains. Last Sunday, April 24th, was a precursor to today's activity, with Hermit Thrush (HETH) and White-throated Sparrow (WTSP) leading the first wave on the first good gust of SW winds.
Today however, saw the full-fledged First Wave of migrants hitting the Lake Erie Marsh Region. Fog was setting in this morning with a light lake breeze as nets were opened. By 10:00 AM the winds had shifted to the SE and the skies had cleared. It was apparent that the front had finally made it to the coast. The front had reached to within 50 miles of the lake by day break. Migrants tend to "balloon" ahead of storm fronts resulting in today's excitement. Now that the First Wave has arrived, the "Warbler Capital of the World" will start to earn its moniker.

Myrtle Warblers (MYWA) were flying everywhere once the fog cleared. Thirteen warblers were banded including Western Palm (WPWA), Orange-crown (OCWA), Black-throated Green (BTNW), Black-throated Blue (BTBW), Nashville (NAWA), Cerulean (CERW), Yellow (YWAR), Myrtle (MYWA), Northern Waterthrush (NOWA), Black-and-White (BAWW), Common Yellowthroat (COYE), Pine (PIWA), and Louisiana Waterthrush (LOWA). Two other warblers were heard: Blue-winged (BWWA) and Northern Parula (NOPA).

A total of 369 birds were banded today of 37 species, with one returning Gray Catbird (GRCA), banded at BSBO headquarters in September 2008 as a Hatching year (HY) bird of unknown sex. While not the soul purpose of banding, it is recoveries like this that perk the inquisitive. Was the banding location (about seven miles from Navarre) its home, or where it dispersed to? Does its capture in Navarre indicate the importance of the largest remaining beach ridge? Will it now will search out its home? Were both captures really miraculous and its journey not yet complete? Questions...always more questions... That is why we do what we do. To understand is to appreciate; to appreciate is to conserve for the future.

A total of 86 species were seen or heard in the marsh today. Highlights for the day--in addition to the warblers--include: Immature Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA)(going after Blue Jays in the mist net - and, no he didn't get any!), Yellow-throated Vireo (YTVI), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (YBSA), Least Flycatcher (LEFL), Savanna Sparrow (SAVS), and Purple Finch (PUFI).

Mark Shieldcastle, BSBO Research Director, with immature Red-tailed Hawk. Notice the tail pattern and coloration (no red tail).

No one can deny the beauty of this Yellow-throated Vireo. Note the stout gray bill with a hook at the end.

Top 6 species for the day:

Myrtle Warbler (MYWA)- 198

Western Palm Warbler (WPWA)- 31

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (BGGN)- 21

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)- 15

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (RCKI)- 13

Hermit Thrush (HETH)- 12

An unbelievable six Pine Warblers (PIWA) were captured. We have never caught more than four total in a whole spring before. Pictured here from left to right are adult female, second-year female (hatched last year), and adult male. Notice the difference in the amount of yellow on each age and sex of the Pine Warblers.

Here are a couple Quiz Bird, from above.
Any guesses?

Most people don't think "beautiful" when they think of sparrows. But, having the bird in hand helps us appreciate the artful arrangement of the field marks on this Savanna Sparrow. Beautiful, indeed!

Have you guessed the Quiz Birds yet?
The answer is revealed on the BSBO Facebook wall!
Go [Like] us to find the answer!

With southerly winds forecast overnight, tomorrow looks like another good day for migration. Will there be more "overflight" warblers? Will Myrtle's and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers seem to be everywhere, again? Will more of the "one ofs" make an appearance. Get out and experience the magic of migration and see if you can answer these questions for yourself. The FIRST WAVE is here!

Fall Season Finale

2010-11-03T21:57:00.002-04:00

To end the fall migration season on a high note, BSBO hosted the Inland Bird Banding Association's (IBBA) annual conference. More than 60 participants came from as far away as Minnesota and Texas to join us for this regional bird banding event. On Friday evening BSBO's Executive Director, Kimberly Kaufman, kicked off the festivities with a presentation about the Observatory's many research projects and education and outreach programs. Many thanks to BSBO's Birds & Business Alliance partner, OurGuest Inn & Suites, for hosting Friday night's opening activities.

Saturday morning's activity was a banding workshop at BSBO where several nets were opened to catch birds for banding, teaching aging and sexing techniques, and overall sharing of information and knowledge among the participants.

In the picture above, Julie West (gray jacket), a BSBO research volunteer, shares her knowledge and expertise with fellow banders. Julie operates a banding station at the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, a partnership project with BSBO. White-throated Sparrows (WTSP) were the most numerous species banded for the morning. Fifty-seven birds were caught with 3/4ths of them being WTSPs. We did capture a Lincoln Sparrow (LISP) which was a treat for the crowd.

Saturday afternoon featured indoor presentations, hosted by our gracious partners at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. The presentations covered banding results in Illinois, Foraging and Territory Size in Veery in mid-Michigan, Tennessee Warbler Stopover Ecology in the southern Appalachian Mountains, and Birdlife International's Response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Bruce Peterjohn, Chief of the Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL), gave an update on what was happening at the Lab. The presentations provided many thought provoking topics for the group.

The day ended with a superb banquet provided by BSBO Birds & Business Alliance partner, Taste Your Food, LLC. Keynote speaker, John Tautin, retired Chief of the BBL, presented an interesting and informative program on the first 100 years of Bird Banding.

Hats off to BSBO's Research Director Mark Shieldcastle, who, along with the assistance of some of BSBO's fabulous volunteers, did a fine job in organizing this conference. Here he is, out standing (and outstanding) in his field!

Sunday featured a field trip to the Navarre banding station. Thirteen folks arrived at the banding station at 9 AM to see that the Observatory volunteers were already hard at work processing the first round’s catch. Can you believe we only netted one WTSP the first round?! (They made up for it later.) We did capture some special birds including an American Woodcock (AMWO), Yellow-shafted Flicker (YSFL), Brown Creeper (BRCR), Carolina Wren (CARW), which some never get to see), and fifteen Fox Sparrows (FOSP).

The Carolina Wren was a good example of differences in perspective. Here, in northwest Ohio, they are common enough that some take them for granted. But to visitors from Minnesota and northern Michigan, the bird was a real celebrity! A CARW in northern Minnesota would light up the rarebird alert like a Great Gray Owl would here. It was a great reminder that even our more "common" birds are worth appreciating.

The day’s efforts resulted in 102 new birds and 10 recaptures. According to our data, one of the recaptured WTSPs had been hanging around for the past two weeks. We suspect that the weather forecast for week's end will "push" some of these reluctant migrants along on their way.

CAUTION: Gratuitous Fox Sparrow Photo!

Another great opportunity was sharing the techniques we use at our banding station with students from Northern Michigan University. The professor from Northern Michigan University was pleased to give his students some hands-on training before they start their own banding station in the near future.

Here are a couple of the students in the banding station studying their field guide. Also pictured is BSBO volunteer, Cliff Hoyt (seated).

The trip to Navarre was a great way to cap off a wonderful weekend. Many thanks to all the volunteers and the BSBO staff who put much time and energy into this conference! And, speaking of thanks…

The 2010 fall banding season resulted in one of the highest total number of banded birds (for the fall season) in the history of the project and the volunteers did outstanding work to see that everything went smoothly. Our sincere gratitude to all of you for your great efforts and we look forward to working with you again in the spring; it will come sooner than you think!

Spectacular Sparrows for the First Half of October

2010-10-13T21:01:00.001-04:00

October is the month for sparrows as they begin invading the marsh as a part of their annual southerly trek. The week has tallied ten species of sparrows including Eastern Towhee (EATO), Chipping (CHSP), Field (FISP), Fox (FOSP), Song (SOSP), Swamp (SWSP), Lincoln (LISP), White-throated (WTSP), White-crowned (ECSP), and Dark-eyed Junco (SCJO). This week the Song Sparrows arrived in good numbers while White-throated Sparrow numbers continue to build. When looking at sparrows, certain field marks are important to observe such as head pattern, length of tail, streaked or plain breast, etc.

Here are four species we captured at once:

Left to right: WTSP, SOSP, WCSP, FOSP

Backs of the four species:

Left to right: SOSP, WTSP, FOSP, WCSP

Here's a tricky sparrow to ID in the fall.
We'll make it a quiz bird and see if you can work it out:

Can you resist the urge to scroll down right now for the answer?!

And here we have the first for this fall season, and the official BSBO Bird of Winter, the American Tree Sparrow (ATSP.

We usually do not see or band an ATSP until late October or early November. It's a beautiful sparrow with its bi-colored beak and breast spot.

Here are a few highlights from the past week:

This is a male Rusty Blackbird (RUBL) with its rusty-edged iridescent plumage. By spring it will have worn off the brown edgings and will be sporting a sleek iridescent plumage. RUBLs are similar in size to Red-winged Blackbirds and have a yellow eye.

We've banded quite a few American Woodcocks (AMWOs) this fall, with major flights in late September and again the past couple of days. This one decided to show us its flexible bill which is used for probing the soil and grabbing worms and invertebrates.

Isn't that just the coolest thing?!
The AMWO has eyes positioned close to the top of the head allowing it to watch for predators while foraging for invertebrates.

And finally, our quiz bird is an
immature Chipping Sparrow (CHSP).

The bill will darken and the black eyeline will become more distinct. While immature sparrows are not easy, some give a hint of their adult plumage.

There aren't likely to be many more pleasant fall days left, so we encourage you to get out as much as possible and enjoy all the wonderful fall migrants.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Observatory's Ohio Young Birders Club! Thanks to the generous contributions of people from all over the country, the students raised more than $3100 during their Big Sit fundraiser on October 10th. Many thanks to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge for allowing us to place the count circle alongside the Auto Tour route. This wonderful spot helped the team tally 62 species in 9 hours of effort! Half the proceeds will support the club's activities for 2011 and the students will donate the other half to the Lake Erie Islands Chapter of the Black Swamp Conservancy for restoration of habitat on Middle Bass Island.

Highlights for September 27th - October 3rd

2010-10-04T10:04:00.003-04:00

This may be the last week for a large diversity of warblers along Ohio's north coast. Two strong cold fronts moved through the latter part of the past week which has apparantly sent many of the warbler species on their southerly way. Twenty warbler species were seen during the week including Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Northern Parula, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Pine, Western Palm, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, and Wilson's.

Highlights for the week were this Pine Warbler (PIWA), that we shared as a quiz bird on the BSBO Facebook Fan page, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, our second Purple Finch of the season, and a bird that gets everyone's heart pumping when we find it in the net....

A gorgeous Sharp-shinned Hawk!

Another major highlight was a Philadelphia Vireo (PHVI) with a band issued to another bander on it! This is what we call a foreign recovery. We have submitted the data to the Report a Band website, however, the data has not been received by the national computerized database from the bander yet. It was a shiny band, looking like it had been put on quite recently. This is one of the exciting parts of banding birds; an opportunity to trace a bird's migratory pathway, or at least a segment of it, adding valuable bits of migrational information about these feathered wonders. We will wait with anticipation for the origin of this PHVI and hope that another bander south of here has the great fortune of catching it again.

Bird speciation is turning over to the "October" dominants of Hermit Thrushes (HETH), White-throated Sparrows (WTSP), Kinglets (GCKI & RCKI), and Myrtle Warblers (MYWA). These will be replacing the late September leaders of Swainson's Thrush (SWTH), Gray-cheeked Thrush (GCTH), and Blackpoll Warbler (BLPW). Also, expect increases in Brown Creepers (BRCR), Winter Wren (WIWR), and a variety of sparrows.

Our first White-crowned Sparrows (WCSP) appeared this week. One of each age class: a hatching year (HY) individual with its two-tone brown striped head.

And an after hatching year (AHY), with its striking black and white striped cap.

The Purple Finch (PUFI) we captured was a hatching year bird which could not be sexed because of the lack of any red in its plumage.

Purple Finches have a broad eye stripe and broader streaks on the breast than their cousins the House Finch (HOFI). The Bird Banding Manual, as part of finch identification, mentions that the PUFI will bite while the HOFI seldom does. How right they are.

The Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers captured were all hatching year birds. Sapsuckers can be identified by their large wing bars. This one is a male with red on top of its head and the throat. The female only has red on its crown.

As a result of the low pressure system that is hovering over the northern part of the state, birds are staying low and provide good viewing. It is a good opportunity to get out and view the last of the warbler stragglers before they head for a warmer climate.

If you'd like to see BSBO's research and education teams living up to our tag line "teaming research with education to promote bird conservation," check us out on TV: WNWO CHannel 24 Toledo!

Highlights for week Sept. 20th - 26th

2010-09-27T16:14:00.007-04:00

White-throated Sparrows, Myrtle Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, and kinglets made their way to NW Ohio over the weekend in increasing numbers. According to some of our volunteers, last Friday the winds turned to the NW and made for a good fallout of migrants in Toledo area backyards. The migrant traps along the lake shore were good as well. Several Red-breasted Nuthatches (RBNU) were observed. Below is a female, identified by her gray cap.

Warbler species the past week totaled 19 species including Tennessee, Orange-crown, Nashville, Northern Parula, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Mourning, Common Yellowthroat, and Wilson's.

This has been a great fall season in terms of numbers of birds banded. The Navarre station has seen more than twice the number of birds banded inthe entire fall 2009 season, and in the past decade, only 2001 has been greater at this stage of the migration. We'll discuss the particulars of migration and how it compares in a future post.

Highlights for the week included these attractive Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (RBGR). In basic plumage, one of the ways to differentiate sex in RBGR's is the color of their ventral-wing coverts as seen here. Females have yellowish wing linings while males are reddish.

The adult male (shown below) can be distinguished from young of the year males and all females by its black wings, including black primary coverts.

Banding provides valuable information on migrational timing and individual condition of migratory birds. It also provides opportunities to observe multiple species up close for comparison such as the four brown thrushes pictured below:

From left to right we have Veery (VEER), Gray-cheeked (GCTH), Hermit (HETH), and Swainson's (SWTH). Veery and Gray-cheeked Thrushes have no visible eye-ring. The Veery has a reddish-brown back and tail while the Gray-cheeked has an olive-brown back and tail. The Hermit and Swainson's have a visible eye-ring and a olive-brown back, but the Hermit has a contrasting reddish brown tail or "brown back and red tail configuration."

Pictured here are rear views (left to right) of Gray-cheeked, Veery, Hermit, and Swainson's.

And here is the front view, (left to right) Veery, Gray-cheeked, Swainson's, Hermit:

Note the clarity of spotting on the breasts of these birds. The Veery has blurry spots which is an added field characteristic to look for.

With cold fronts forecast for this week expect to see Hermit Thrushes, White-throated Sparrows, Myrtle Warblers, and kinglets to arrive in the region in full force; maybe our first Rusty Blackbirds and Fox Sparrow as well. The last week of September and the first 10 days of October can hold the best diversity of the fall migration. As the leaves change, enjoy the changes of songbird migration as well.

A Labor of Love for Warblers on Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-06T21:45:00.014-04:00

The weekend proved to be great for warblers along the southwestern end of Lake Erie. The most common warbler this weekend was the Blackpoll Warbler (BLPW). Anyone who has spent much time birding this area in fall should be familiar with the Blackpoll. In fall, a tremendous number of BLPW's utilize the Lake Erie Marsh Region's stopover habitat on their way to Venezuela. Enjoy their abundance in the fall, because that scenario changes in spring as Blackpolls use a different spring migration route than their southeasterly fall migration pathway and are far more scarce during the spring season.

Warblers in fall plumage present the bander with the challenge of determining if they have a Blackpoll or a Bay-breasted Warbler (BBWA) in hand. Blackpolls exhibit a greener appearance on the body with blurry streaks on the flanks and more black streaking on the head, back, and flanks when compared to a BBWA. The throat of a BLPW is yellow while the BBWA usually is more whitish. But, in the hand, banders are given the advantage of close studies of the quickest method of separating the two species: the feet. Take these two birds, for instance: In this photo you have the advantage that the bander has and the feet really tell the tale here. Look closely and compare the feet of the bird on the left to the bird on the right. See the difference in color?

Let's try this again. Look closely at the color of the pads of each species’ feet in this photo and see if you can tell them apart. The BBWA (left) has gray legs and feet while the BLPW (right) shows the yellowish pads on dark yellow legs. Believe it or not, with close studies, this field mark can sometimes be useful for birders in the field as well.

Nineteen warbler species were seen or heard during the holiday weekend including Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Blackburnian, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Mourning, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson’s, and Canada. Blackpoll Warblers were the dominant species for the weekend, and the American Redstart and the Magnolia Warblers were the next.

Here is a handsome adult male American Redstart (AMRE) with its bright orange and black plumage.

Note the distinctive tail pattern of the AMRE.
Here is a hatching year male AMRE.

HY males look similar to females but have bright orange or contrasting "wing pits," where females would have yellow. The AMRE male doesn't attain its sharp black and orange plumage until its second summer.

The female AMRE below exhibits the same color pattern as the male but in more subtle colors. Fall or basic plumages of most warblers have more subtle markings than their alternate spring plumage.

Take a look at this beautiful Blackburnian Warbler(BLBW). This hatching year male is identified as such by the black feathers on its head and sides and a single broad white wing bar. This is the station's first BLBW for the fall season.

Here is another first for this fall season:

The resident Yellow Warblers (YWAR) appeared to have left the beach ridge by the time we started the daily fall season on August 23rd. This bird is most likely from breeding grounds much farther north. Note the tiny orange streaks on its breast assisting in sexing the bird as a male.

A few other highlights for the weekend were these two eye-ring birds. The bird on the right is an adult male Canada Warbler (CAWA) and its species is an early fall migrant similar to the YWAR. The other bird in the photo also sports an eye ring and loves country music. If you reckon it's a Nashville Warbler, you reckoned right.

This Northern Parula (NOPA) was a nice surprise! NOPA's often forage much higher than our nets reach, but obviously this one came down for a visit. Note its bi-colored bill.

These jeweled wonders must beat incredible odds and migrate astounding distances to reach their wintering grounds in the tropics. Hurricanes, human-built obstacles, and habitat destruction on stopover areas are now a part of the big picture a migratory bird must deal with on its annual trek to and from the tropics.

To learn more about songbird migration and to get an up-close and personal look at some beautiful birds, join us at the Observatory this Saturday at 10:00 AM for a free songbird banding demonstration and migration program. BSBO is located at the entrance to Magee Marsh Wildlife Area. For driving directions, birding and travel information, and more, be sure to visit BSBO online here.

August 30th - September 2nd

2010-09-02T19:24:00.007-04:00

Posted by Julie Shieldcastle, Navarre Songbird Migration Station Supervisor:

This was a week of ups and downs for bird numbers with little fluctuation in temperature and humidity. It looks like this weekend could be a great time to go birding with the impending front that is coming through tomorrow (Sept. 3rd).

The past four days we saw or heard 17 species warblers with a total of 20 warbler species for the season. The 17 warblers include Tennessee, Nashville, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Connecticut, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson’s, and Canada. We did not see or hear a Yellow, Mourning, or Prothonotary Warbler this week.

This season (to date) we have banded as many Black-and-white Warblers (13) as our total for last fall. Six were captured today (Sept. 2). This gives me an opportunity to show you both hatching year and adult (after hatching year) Black-and-whites (BAWW). Note the adult male has a black cheek (auricular) patch. Streaks on flanks are very black and distinct.

Here is another nice bird for the week:

A nice back shot showing you that it is one of the warblers with a yellow rump. This is a quiz bird.

Another warbler to be familiar with is this Bay-breasted Warbler (BBWA) with its lemon green head and back with little to no dark streaks and whitish throat and breast. The gray legs and feet help identify this as a BBWA from its cousin the Blackpoll Warbler.

Fall migration of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds has been sporadic in Navarre but five new birds were banded this week. Here is a hatching year male with its throat streaked with iridescent feathers. You can see the remnants of his yellow fleshy gape of its nestling stage.

A nice surprise on Wednesday, 09/01, was this Philadelphia Vireo (PHVI)
Its bright yellow throat and breast separate it from its cousin the Warbling Vireo.
All vireos have blue-gray legs and thick bills with a slight hook at the end.

Here is the side view of the quiz bird:
Note the thin beak in comparison to the small rounded head. Some use the yellow patch in the auricular and nape regions to assist in identification. However, it is not always apparent on a fall-plumaged bird. The bill shape versus the head and the streaks on the breast are the give aways for me. This is one of the warblers with yellow rumps, along with Magnolia, Palm, and Myrtle (the one people call the Yellow-rumped).

Answer to Bird Quiz is an adult female Cape May Warbler (CMWA). She has a faint remnant of the cheek patch (auricular) that the male exhibits in the spring. The fine streaking on the breast is a common characteristic for CMWAs. While the one in the photo above is a paler example, female CMWAs have two wing bars. A male has only one.

Be sure to stop by the Observatory this weekend (at the entrance to Magee Marsh) to see what warblers and other migrants are visiting the waterfall at our window on wildlife. For hours of operation and area birding and travel information visit BSBO HERE. Have a great birding weekend!

Fall Migration Highlights for the Week of August 23-29th

2010-08-29T19:33:00.014-04:00

Posted by Julie Shieldcastle, Navarre Songbird Migration Station Supervisor:
The first week of Migration Songbird Monitoring produced a few exciting highlights for the week. These included our first Yellow-billed Cuckoo for the year. We heard them occasionally during spring and summer but none were slow enough to get into the nets to be banded. Another highlight was the 18 warbler species captured in the first week! These included: Tennessee, Nashville, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Connecticut, Mourning, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson’s, and Canada. It's worth noting that there has not been a Yellow Warbler (YWAR) seen or heard on the research site since mid-August. It appears that the resident YWARs have left the area.

Here are some pictures of a few early migrating warblers just in case you do not have a chance to get out and enjoy them:

Wilson's Warbler (WIWA)

Chestnut-sided Warbler (CSWA)

A weak front came through on Thursday and turned the winds to the NW which produced a small movement of birds on Friday and Saturday. The coming week looks to be good after Thursday when another front is slated to come through and temps are to drop to the low 80’s.

We were able to set up the five beach nets in addition to the main migration station nets this week. As usual, the beach nets caught higher numbers of Warbling Vireos (WAVI) than the nets inside the dike at the main station. Twelve out of the 14 WAVIs captured were caught in the five beach nets versus two in the 23 inside nets. This is a species that appears to be favoring habitats immediately along the lake shore instead of the larger older ridge habitat just a few yards inside the dike.

Warbling Vireo
Another highlight Saturday was capturing two Connecticut Warblers (CONW).

One was an adult male with its gray head and distinctive eye ring that really does stand out and go “Boing!" The other is a hatching year bird of unknown sex with a distinctive eye ring that looks similar to what a female CONW eye ring looks like. Hatching year birds generally can't be sexed with certainty. Even so, these are gorgeous birds no matter what their plumage!

Since Saturday was an exceptional day for warblers, I thought it would be great to take a group photo of eye ring warblers. The only one I wanted that was missing was the Chestnut-sided. Look at the photo of the CSWA above and you'll understand why it would have fit into the group photo. Can you identify all the eye ring birds? (Answer below).

Three other favorite birds of the week I would like to share are these:

Tennessee Warbler

Just look at the green on this bird! The TEWA is the only warbler I know that has this chartreuse green coloring. Note the white undertail coverts which distinguishes TEWA from its cousin the Orange-crowned Warbler (OCWA), which has yellow undertail coverts.

This bird was a perfect example of an adult female Black-throated Green Warbler (BTNW).

Here is the male warbler that remains black, blue, and white in every plumage, the Black-throated Blue Warbler.
Isn't he a handsome bird?! This particular bird is a hatching-year with his green-edged primary coverts. Otherwise he looks like an adult male in coloration.

Enjoy the early fall migrating birds. There are still some Baltimore Orioles (BAOR) singing as well as flycatchers and you may catch a glimpse of the last of the golden Prothonotary Warblers before they head south!

Answer to the eye ring bird quiz: From left to right: Magnolia Warbler (MAWA), Nashville Warbler (NAWA), Ovenbird (OVEN), and Connecticut Warbler (CONW).

Watch for Color-marked Egrets

2010-08-26T15:06:00.005-04:00

Posted By Mark Shieldcastle, BSBO Research Director:
Chip Weseloh of the Canadian Wildlife Service asked us to pass on this request for sighting information of color-marked Great Egrets. Chip is one of the leading authorities in the Great Lakes on colonial waterbirds and contaminants. Much of the knowledge of this bird group from north of the border comes from his varied research projects. Below is a short synopsis of this project. With the birds being marked in the lower Great Lakes there is a real possibility of Ohio Birders observing one in migration. Please assist this interesting study on egret movements by notifying Chip of any sightings.

Since year 2000, over 1,300 Great Egrets have been banded with individual markers on Lakes Huron and Erie. The individual markers have been red leg-bands carrying white number and letter characters or, this year, orange wing-tags also with number and letter characters (see photos above). These birds are part of a study to track the expansion of Great Egret breeding colonies on the Great Lakes, to document their autumn and winter movements and to learn more about possible nest-site competition from Double-crested Cormorants. If you see one of these birds, please report the details (date, location, tag or band and characters, etc.) to chip.weseloh@ec.gc.ca. One of the highlights of the study to date was the sighting of a Great Lakes bird on the Azores Islands!

Fall Migration Songbird Monitoring has begun!

2010-08-23T16:28:00.023-04:00

It was a beautiful day to begin BSBO's fall passerine migration monitoring project in Navarre Marsh. Each fall, in addition to the 20+ nets we run in the main station, we operate five additional nets on a natural beach ridge, alongside Lake Erie, that was formed in the early 1990s. This ridge is at the whim of Lake Erie and while it was once as large as 30 yards wide and 120 yards long, erosion by Lake Erie's pounding waters has reduced it down to less than 15 yards wide and maybe 40 yards long in some places.

This "infant beach ridge" produces a different species assemblage from the more inland mature ridges that the main station occupies. Today a NE wind kept us from opening these lake front beach nets but when they are in operation we will try to give comparisons of the beach nets vs the inland nets.

Today we captured 32 new birds in 6 hours operating 23 nets, including an adult female Indigo Bunting (INBU).

August is the time when Empidonax flycatchers, orioles, and certain warbler species head south out of Ohio. Here is one of the earlier fall migrant warblers:
A nice adult female Prothonotary Warbler (PROW).

Note the pale bill color on this late-summer bird. In spring that bill will be solidly dark. Here are some interesting notes about PROWs.

Here's another warbler that comes back early in fall.

Adult Northern Waterthrush (NOWA).

Through banding research we are able to tell the age of NOWA's by distinctive characteristics. 1) rounded rectrices (tail feathers) and 2) Plain brown tertials (the right-most red arrow in the photo above points to the secondaries, and the tertials are just above those). Hatching year birds would have pointed rectrices and a rusty edging to the tertials. The same criteria work for aging Ovenbirds as well.

For our first day of the fall season, we saw species we would expect for this time of year.

Here are the top 5 banded species from the inland nets:

Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 12

Northern Cardinal (NOCA)- 5

Carolina Wren (CARW)- 3

Baltimore Oriole (BAOR)-2

Common Grackle (COGR)-2

Summer is fading fast and August is the time to get out to see your last orioles, Prothonotary Warblers, Yellow Warblers, and many of the flycatchers.

Summer Fledgling Photo Album

2010-08-19T15:23:00.017-04:00

The Observatory's Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship M.A.P.S. projects for this year have come to a close. From this summer's host of birds banded, we thought it would be of interest to show some examples of juvenile plumaged birds. Some species can be identified outright because of their closeness in appearance to adults of their species while others are not as obvious. Sparrows in particular can test your mind.

Take this hatching year (HY) Song Sparrow (SOSP) with the extra spots/streaks on its breast. HY Song Sparrows look much different than the familiar adults where the streaks come together in the middle to form the distinct breast spot field mark best known with this species.

Juvenile feathers differ in quality and are often identified as "loosely textured," as in those on the breast of the SOSP above. Juvenile feathers have the barbs on their shaft arranged farther apart creating the loosely textured appearance.

Hatching Year (HY) Grasshopper Sparrow (GRSP)

Note the loosely textured breast feathers.

Below you can see one of the best field characteristics of a GRSP: its flat head. Aren't the colors on this bird beautiful?! This individual was captured in the wooded marshes of our Navarre Marsh research station, not exactly the grassland habitat typical for this species, so you cannot always predict what habitat a bird may use.

Take a look at this confusing hatching year Chipping Sparrow (CHSP)
HY "Chippers" have a streaked breast, much different than the completely
plain breast of the adult.

By the time October rolls around, this bird will have lost the streaks on the breast and will resemble the winter plumaged adults.

Hatching Year Eastern Towhee (EATO)

Note the typical juvenile sparrow spots or streaks. However, there are other characteristics defining this bird as a hatching year bird. Eye color on this bird is a muddy red, where an adult EATO's eyes would be ruby red. This bird also has a visible yellow gape where the upper and lower mandible (bill) come together on the skull. Yellow gape is not a single good determining factor in concluding a hatching year bird as there are some species which continue to have a
yellowish gape as an adult.

This hatching year Marsh Wren (MAWR) will undergo
two molts before next spring.

Replacing many of its feathers twice is an expensive energy endeavor, but this is what evolution has designed in order to maintain its feathers in the rough wetland habitats. Most birds only undergo a partial molt in late winter, replacing their body and contour feathers but not their flight feathers. You can see the juvenile feather structure and the presence of a gape on the bird above. However, wrens usually keep this fleshy gape throughout their lives.

The back of this HY Marsh Wren (MAWR) lacks the
characteristic dark triangle of the adult.

It is too dark in coloration to be a Sedge Wren (SEWR) and this bird shows
the faint eyebrow that MAWR exhibits.

Take a look at this Blue Jay (BLJA) with the same loosely textured
juvenile feathers and fleshy gape.

Some birds, like this Eastern Wood-Pewee (EAWP), are not as obviously different
in their juvenile plumage from the adults.

Note the buffy coloration of the wing bars indicating a HY. Pewees and Empidonax flycatchers possess this HY characteristic in fall.

Body molt in birds occurs in feather tracts that occur longitudinally down their breast and back. It is apparent here on this molting HY Northern Cardinal (NOCA).

You can determine the sex of a NOCA once this molt begins. Note also the dark bill coloration which assists in determining it as a HY bird.

This HY Yellow Warbler (YWAR) is molting but still shows the whitish downy feathers down the center of its breast from its juvenile plumage.

Eye color, spotted breasts, loosely textured feathers, over accentuated gape, and lighter or darker bill coloration are good indicators of HY birds.

Here are a few for you to identify!

Well, how did you do? If you answered: Gray Catbird (GRCA), Brown Thrasher (BRTH), and American Robin (AMRO), then you know your youngsters!

There is no quiet time for the bird bander. With summer breeding bird surveys safely in the books, we will be starting fall migration soon. This will be an important fall as we watch for potential population ramifications following last spring's low bird numbers. BSBO will keep you informed of migration from every perspective. Follow us here on the Bander's Blog, on the BSBO research pages, and on Kenn Kaufman's Birding the Crane Creek - Magee Birding, for all the latest information on fall migration.

Connecticut Warbler in Ohio - In July

2010-08-03T16:29:00.016-04:00

Posted by Mark Shieldcastle, BSBO Research Director: The more we study birds the more we realize we have a lot to learn. There is so much more out there than what we see in our “normal field of view”. Binoculars and field guides revolutionized our knowledge of birds but maybe no other tool has done more than the act of capture and marking birds. Banding has taken ornithology to heights that could not be reached without this simple but powerful technique. Case in point, the special visitor to the Navarre Banding Station on 25 July.

Each summer, following the exhaustive spring migration study, BSBO researchers begin breeding bird banding projects. These studies, part of the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) program begin in early June and continue into early August with field work once in each 10 day period. In Navarre, to coincide with this operation, we also operate the main migration station simultaneously after the 1st of July. It was here we had our surprise guest in the nets. One of three birds captured in the first round was an adult female Connecticut Warbler (CONW).

This bird was in full molt and looking quite ragged. Extensive measurements were taken for verification of species, sex, and age, including an unmistakable brood patch. The brood patch was representative of those we are seeing on Yellow Warblers (YWAR) and Common Yellowthroats (COYE) at this time. Our Connecticut female appeared similar to those following young around or having recently left young.

To facilitate field recording of bird names, alpha codes were developed by the Bird Banding Laboratory for every bird species in North America; no two can be the same. For species with two parts to their name the general rule is to use the first two letters in each part of its name. However, the Connecticut Warbler represents one of the exceptions to this rule. Can you guess why? The answer will be revealed at the end of this post!

Bird showing symmetrical molt

CONW has a pointed wing with p9 (9th primary) longer than p6, while the rounded wing of a MOWA has p6 longer than p9 in most all birds.

Photo shows undertail coverts vs. tail length (useful in separating from MOWA)

What is the significance of this little visitor? For one, it is most likely the first of its kind ever recorded in Ohio during July. Second, with its breeding condition, could it have nested here? Third, is most perplexing, if not a breeder here, why so different than what is known of this species biology? Granted, how much is really known about the CONW? Maybe a little more than one might think.

The species is one of the latest spring migrating warblers with similar behavior in the fall: fall migration beginning in late August from its breeding grounds. Peak migration in Ohio is reported in the literature as mid-September to early-October with no reports earlier than the last week of August. Nesting is documented as June into July with fledging late July. The summer adult Pre-basic molt is reported to occur July to August PRIOR TO MIGRATION.

There are two different molt strategies employed by our warblers each summer. Most, like the CONW and the Magnolia Warbler (MAWA), complete the molt prior to starting migration while others like the Tennessee Warbler (TEWA) and Chestnut-sided Warbler (CSWA) start prior to migration but may continue as they migrate south.

So why is it here now, in July, when by all accounts it should be at the closest the very northern reaches of Lower Michigan? Let’s throw out some possible scenarios to consider:

1) It did in fact nest here in Navarre; or at least tried to. Was there also a male CONW that stayed? We did have individuals singing until the end of May. Or did it stay with a male Mourning Warbler (MOWA)? We have documented males of this species the past two years on territory throughout June. Was it injured or sick resulting in an abnormal migration? Still, that was one good brood patch. Did the Buttonbush swamp in Navarre fit the “bog nesting criteria needed”?

2) It did try to nest somewhere reasonably close, failed, and dispersed to the Lake Erie marshes prior to fall migration. This is being observed in a wide range of passerines such as orioles, phoebes, and maybe even the YWAR where we capture large numbers of young. It does appear this behavior is primarily of hatching year birds. There is no indication in the literature of such a “dispersal migration” in adult birds of this species. We had a similar situation a few years back with a Worm-eating Warbler (WEWA) female. We’re not thought to be part of breeding range for this species either. The big difference is the majority of the WEWA range is south of the marshes which would fit a northward post breeding movement that is documented in a wide range of species but not a pre-migration southward movement from a more northern breeder.

3) A third possibility is that this bird either represents a behavior we just don’t know about or one that defies all known literature and left not only a month early but also violates known biology of the molt sequence of the species.

Will we ever know the truth about this encounter? Maybe not. The only way to be as close to “sure” as we can hope to be is by catching the young as well. Only banding may shed light on this interesting feathered friend.

If you want to learn more on the role of banding over the past century+, join us at the Inland Bird Banding Association meeting we are hosting October 29-31. Learn more here: Black Swamp Bird Observatory

To answer the question regarding exceptions to the alpha code rule: COWA cannot be used for Connecticut Warbler (CONW) because of the Colima Warbler (COLW).

References:
Curson, J., D. Quinn, and D. Beadle. 1994. Warblers of the Americas: an identification guide. Houghton Mifflin Co., New York.

Pitocchelli,J., J. Bouchie, and D. Jones. 1997. Connecticut Warbler (Oporornis agilis). In The Birds of North America, No. 320 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.

Pyle, P. 1997. Identification Guide to North American Birds. Part I. Slate Creek Press. Bolinas, CA.

Yellow Warbler Extravaganza!

2010-07-28T13:24:00.004-04:00

Each year during mid- to late July we get an influx of hatching year Yellow Warblers that mill about in pods at the Navarre Migration Station. These may be from the Navarre Ridge and marsh or from a larger region of origin. We set nets each time we run the MAPS station in July to get a sample of the youngsters banded. This allows us to put an actual age to the bird if captured again, instead of catching and banding it as an adult and having to say it is an After-second year in the spring or an After-hatch year in the fall. We captured 54 new Yellow Warblers and 26 other birds in 5.5 hours.

This time of year it is helpful to look at bill color of Yellow Warblers to assist in aging. The bill color of hatching year birds have a flesh colored lower mandible. The adult (After-hatch year) will have a bill that both mandibles are slate gray (see below with the adult on left and hatching year bird on right). **note this does not work in all species of warblers. I know that adult Prothonotary Warblers in late summer their lower mandible turns a pinkish which can make you think it may be a hatching year bird.**

Here is another yellowish bird for the summer. It is a nice comparison to its cousin the Baltimore Oriole. Both are orioles with their gray leg color and bill coloration. They are both hatching year birds with the lower mandibles not having the nice slate-gray color of the adult birds. Can you tell what sex either bird is? Unfortunately you cannot. The wing chord works for the Orchard Oriole which is the bird on the left. The bird is a male with a wing chord over 74 mm. Females are less than 74 mm. Baltimores have a sex determination using wing chord as well which says that it works “in most cases.” Hatching year males are greater than 91 mm and females are less than that. Here is the back side. Note the size differences in these species.As you can guess there would be a little overlap in wing measurements of males and females of the same species. After all, there are small and large female and male Homo sapiens.

You had better take in all the Yellow and Prothonotary Warblers and orioles you want to see this year in the next couple weeks in Ohio. They are staging up to head south. By mid-August most will be south of Lake Erie.

West Sister Temporarily Invaded by Humans

2010-07-02T12:49:00.000-04:00

After the third try to get to the 80 acre West Sister Island which is about 9 miles north of the Magee Marsh State Wildlife Beach, banding and nest surveying crews made it to the island. Being dependent on a boat that runs and good lake traveling conditions makes it a challenge to get to the island. There are other challenges once one gets to the island. Most days it is bugs, large poison ivy trees (vines with 3 inch or better diameter standing up like a tree), unexploded ordinances, and other natural unexploded ordinances from the nests above prove to make the day very eventful. That is why it is a National Wilderness Area, it is for the birds! Not for humans.
They nest on the island to get away from humans. Nesting herons and egrets are susceptible to nest abandonment if disturbed in the nest building and early incubation stages of breeding. That is why they tend to nest on secluded islands away from people. Black-crowned Night-Herons are an Ohio state listed species and require certain habitat components to nest successfully. The main requirement is smaller trees less than 20 feet to build their nests.West Sister Island is owned by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Refuge-Ottawa NWR. The crew that ventured to the island were refuge, Ohio Division of Wildlife, and Observatory personnel. State and Federal Wildlife personnel and Mark Shieldcastle, BSBO Research Director conducted nest surveys and the Observatory along with refuge interns conducted the banding of the nesting colonial birds.
We were almost two weeks later than we wanted to be first getting to the island, so the chicks were big chicks. Here are the beautiful looking Black-crowned Night-Heron chicks when they are a few days old:And here they are when they are a week to 10 days old:They do not like nest invaders so they make themselves look big and scary! It did not deter us mighty banders. They look scary but have fleshy beaks so not so painful as a cormorant or egret.Here is how we got to the nests with a ladder which John Sawvel the ladder man carried and manuevered among the trees for us to band 87 birds this day. Here is John and Debbie the refuge intern at a Night-Heron nest.Ken Keffer, BSBO Education Director was my second bander for the day. He is holding a Great Egret chick to be put back in the nest tree.Small white chicks of Snowy Egrets and Cattle Egrets and occasionally Little Blue Herons all nest on the island and look very similar. Here is Kyle, a Youth Conservation Corps student with a Cattle Egret chick.They all look pretty clean but this is not a clean job nor does it smell like roses on the island either. The chicks method of deterring predators is to either show us what they had for lunch or show us the recycled version. When you are fed fish and crayfish, what is it going to look and smell like? Roses of course! Here is what happened while I was talking on the radio to the refuge manager Doug Brewer. I guess this bird told us what he thought of us! It is an island paradise for the birds. The island holds 40% of all the nesting herons and egrets in the U.S. Great Lakes. It is an important island to these birds and we only disturb them once or twice during the chick season. It is with great thanks to the Ottawa NWR and Ohio Division of Wildlife for sharing the ride to West Sister Island and allowing us to band the herons and egrets. It is truly a cooperative effort to learn about the life history, wading bird ecology, and understand what these birds require on this very important island.

June Storms create a better Oak Savanna

2010-06-29T15:40:00.005-04:00

It has been a stormy early summer and we are managing to keep the breeding bird studies going despite Mother Nature's influence. It was a very bad storm with many people in need of a new home. With over 100 homes destroyed from this same storm, we were surprised that the woods at the Oak Opening banding site was only hit this bad. It opened up the woods to make it a better looking savanna habitat in my opinion. It made for difficult walking and it sure made for some destruction of tree nesting birds. They will have to start over.
Mark walking from net 9 to net 10 in the woods. It took 6-7 hours on a couple days for clearing net lanes and walkways. We went to check on the nets once it was okay for us to enter the area. Some big Oaks were splintered and laying every which way the wind took them.

Here is Net 10 after the storm (see the one net pole in the foreground):
After the storm, birds take no time to wait. There was a calm and quietness in the woods a day or two after the storm. However by the next banding session birds were singing all over with a greater number of Indigo Buntings and Red-headed Woodpeckers having moved in to the newly created savanna habitat.
Here is one of our catches! I have handled a few Red-headed Woodpeckers but this one was acting like a Red-bellied Woodpecker by the way it was pecking at my fingers while I took the photo.
Both sexes are the similar in appearance. This is a nice ASY bird with no molt limits on its secondaries and only one aberrant primary covert with the rest looking fresh.
Such a sharp looking bird!

June days are last for migrants and beginning for breeding birds

2010-06-05T15:48:00.006-04:00

For June someone should do a big bird challenge to see how many migrant songbirds they can find. There are still some migratory songbirds along the lakeshore. A Blackpoll Warbler was still singing yesterday in Navarre. Today running the last day of the migration station and the first day of Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (M.A.P.S.) Navarre station we still had a few migrants present. Wilson's Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Veery, and Swainson's Thrush to name some that we caught today.

This spring has been the lowest in a 20 year history. We are still trying to network with other stations to get a picture of what may be going on with the low volume of birds. We banded around 5,019. It is a field total until the data gets into the computer. We are all hoping fall will prove to be better for the birds.

A quiz bird from one of our breeding bird stations (Note the tail pattern):

A female Prothonotary Warbler made the day at the Navarre M.A.P.S. station. The white in the tail is blurry with the gray bleeding into the white on the tail feathers. The male would have more retices with white and the demarcation of white and gray in the feathers would be crisp. She is still a fine bird to see!

Here is the front of the quiz bird:Lark Sparrow

This bird was captured at Oak Openings Metropark. We caught two second year males on Wednesday.

The Oak Openings Breeding Bird site is operated in partnership with the Metroparks of the Toledo Area. We are grateful for the long term cooperation with the Metroparks.

I would like to take this time to thank the many volunteers who have contributed their time and talents to the spring migration monitoring this year. Believe it or not some drive 1-2 hours to assist with the project. This says a lot for their commitment and I appreciate them and what they do for the project. THANK YOU!

Highlights from the last few slow days...

2010-05-31T14:34:00.008-04:00

It has been a slower than normal end of May for the Navarre Station. According to our 20+ records, this year is 30% down from our average spring captures. Mark Shieldcastle, BSBO Research Director has been inquiring around the banding community and the stations in the Midwest are down but has not heard from anyone from the East coast. Maybe that will be where the birds traveled north along the east coast this spring.

Here are some of the highlights of the past several days:

A female Cooper's Hawk graced the banding crew with its presence during the last round a couple days ago. It is hard to distinguish how big the bird is from the picture. She is as big as a crow but you can not tell it from this.

Another prize was this Yellow-breasted Chat. Never a dull day when this appears in your nets!

Today we caught a hatching year (HY) Brown Thasher. It is most likely a local bird, but since it could fly it was called a hatching year bird instead of local since it could have flown some distance before we captured it in the net. Note the HY bird has a gray eye versus the bright yellow eye of the adult.

Hatching year birds in summer have loose-textured undertail coverts like this one: Last night there was a southerly wind and we had some movement of flycatchers and Magnolia Warblers overnight. Another prize was this male American Woodcock. See how the eyes are set on the head that it can see in all directions including up top. I showed this earlier but I still think it is neat to see.
Check out the Spring Banding numbers at www.bsbobird.org/passerine/spring_passerine_migration_monitoring.htm

Enjoy the last days of spring migration... Have you heard any Yellow-billed or Black-billed Cuckoos? And enjoy the songs and sights of summer!
Many Thanks to all the service men and women who have fought for our freedom and those that are doing it for us today!

Filter migration occuring under high pressure system

2010-05-26T16:05:00.005-04:00

For a day in May, it was very warm today. The bird activity was short lived today with the warm temperatures. Who would want to move around too much in this heat? The Navarre banding station had ninety-five new banded birds and 16 recaptures.

At BSBO, we had Woodmore elementary school make a visit and Education Director Ken Keffer and Executive Director Kim Kaufman enlightened the 2nd graders on how great the marsh region is for migratory birds. In the background an Acadian Flycatcher was trying to help us select our lunch menu. He kept saying "Piizzza!" It is flycatcher migration time, so all the Empidonax flycatchers are busy confusing most people with their wing bars, bi-colored beak, and eye rings; unless they sing of course!

Here is a Yellow-bellied and an Acadian Flycatcher:

Note the Yellow-bellied has a very rounded head, bright yellow eye ring, and a dark yellowish green belly. The Acadian has an elongated flatter head (not round), pale lower mandible compared to the other Empidonax's, pale belly, and a light yellow eyering. Probably in the trees the eye ring would not look yellow because it is so pale.

Top 7 species:

Traill's Flycatcher (TRFL)- 13

Swainson's Thrush (SWTH)- 10

Red-eyed Vireo (REVI)- 10

American Redstart (AMRE)- 9

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)- 8

Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 8

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (YBFL)- 7

Thirteen species of warbler were heard or seen on the station today including:
Tennessee, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Blackpoll, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Mourning, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson's, Canada, and Yellow-breasted Chat.

A highlight of yesterday was this Eastern Screech Owl (EASO). It was banded here last June as an adult. They nest around the banding station and this one appears to hang out in the same area because we caught in the same group of nets. Don't ask me how I remember but you don't catch an EASO everyday so I am guessing that is why I remember. It was pretty cool to see and volunteer Jeanine thought so too!
An interesting thing about owls is that the leading edge of their flight feathers lack barbules to zip the feathers together or hold them together. This allows them to fly silently through the air.

Enjoy the week of flycatchers and vireos!

Beautiful Summer Day in the Marsh

2010-05-24T16:13:00.005-04:00

I think it is summer the way the weather was today! Despite the crazy weather and it looks like there is no change for the next week, we had 17 warbler species seen or heard in Navarre today including: Tennessee, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Mourning, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson's, and Canada. There is still a nice variety of birds with many still needing to come through or with the weather lately may go around us. There are still vireos and flycatchers to go north along with some Mourning and Connecticut Warblers.

Ninety-four new banded species and 27 recaptures were the catch of the day. There were several large flocks of Cedar Waxwings flying around but none came to visit the nets.

Top 7 species:

Wilson's Warbler (WIWA)- 12

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)- 10

Traill's Flycatcher (TRFL)- 9

Swainson's Thrush (SWTH)- 9

Red-eyed Vireo (REVI)- 8

Mourning Warbler (MOWA)- 7

Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 5

A common bird during the latter part of May. (Vireo De Ojo Rojo)

Here is another special cavity nesting bird of late spring. Nice rufous tail and you can see why it is called great-crested.
Most Great Crested Flycatchers you cannot age past after-hatch year but the condition of the primary coverts on this bird allows us to call it a second-year bird.
Take time to enjoy the late spring migrants!

BSBO Members Trip to the Banding Station brought smiles

2010-05-23T20:38:00.006-04:00

BSBO Members had the opportunity to visit the Navarre banding station today. They were impressed by the diversity of birds we were able to show them. They got to see 12 species of warbler in the hand including a male Connecticut Warbler! Research Director Mark Shieldcastle expounded on the latest research findings and talked about how this spring's migration was playing out. Mark and Ken Keffer, Education Director showed examples of the species that were captured this morning. The Connecticut Warbler was a great grande finale!
Special opportunities like this are one of the great benefits of being an Observatory member!

One of the pretty birds of the day was this female Chipe De Pecho Castana. We caught one yesterday that was sharper looking than this one but this one is not bad looking. One hundred sixty-eight new birds today with 40 recaptures. Some of the birds from yesterday did not move on. Twenty-two species of warbler were seen or heard on site. Not a bad number of species for this time of the month.

Top 7 species:

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)- 29

Traill's Flycatcher (TRFL)- 16

Swainson's Thrush (SWTH)- 15

Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 12

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (YBFL)-11

Wilson's Warbler (WIWA)- 11

Common Yellowthroat (COYE)- 11

Another week of good migrants to come so challenge yourself to identifying the females of the warbler species. Hint is to look for tail patterns in some and shadow of the field marks you see on the males. Have a good day!

May 22nd Magnolia Warbler and Flycatcher Mania

2010-05-22T20:17:00.001-04:00

A big day in the marsh resulted in no pictures being taken. Four hundred fifty-four new banded and 28 recaptures. I thought I was being invaded by flycatchers and Magnolia and Wilson's Warblers. Canada Warblers fell close behind. Most banding sites in the U.S. do not see half of the bird numbers we see here in the Lake Erie Marshes. This place is special to the birds, special to us that live here and special to those that visit and have experienced the songbird migration spectacle along the SW shore of Lake Erie. I take pride in our well-trained volunteers. We prepare them for days like these and that is where good training plays out in action and ensures bird safety first.

This is the top 7 species we banded today:

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)- 87

Traill's Flycatcher (TRFL)- 67

Wilson's Warbler (WIWA)- 39

Canada Warbler (CAWA)- 36

Swainson's Thrush (SWTH)- 33

Lincoln Sparrow (LISP)- 18

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (YBFL)- 18

A bunch of third wave species are starting to come in. The Swainson's Thrushes are still trying to keep up their end of the second wave of migrants along with the Magnolia Warblers.

Warm temperatures are slated for the next week. It appears a high pressure system will be overhead. Light winds will cause some ingress and egress of migrants but no spectacular influx is predicted.
Enjoy the weather and the birds! P. S. the return banded Common Yellowthroat from the other day was banded in 2006. He wore his band well. I thought it might have been a little older than that but it is still a major feat to survive this long with all the challenges they face on migration and on the breeding and wintering areas.

Still a variety of warblers around...

2010-05-21T17:25:00.004-04:00

Eighteen species of warbler were seen or heard at the banding station today including Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Blackburnian, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Mourning, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson's, and Canada.

The more you see birds the more you realize that they don't always look like the pictures in the field guide. Take this bird:

It is definitely a Mourning Warbler but to say "Gee, that must be a female" might not be true. It sure could be an older female since the black on the chin/front is not on the chest as you would expect for a male. However, the wing chord of the bird was long and it was decided it was a male. I would rather have a DNA test to check for the official sex of the bird. This just goes to show not all birds fit the mold.

First species for the year and I am making it a Quiz bird. Here is the back:

One hundred forty new banded birds and 27 recaptures. We had a really old Common Yellowthroat male. I know because it was a returning bird with one of our bands. It is in the old paper database so it will have to wait a day or two to find out how old he really is. This will be exciting!

Top 7 species:

Swainson's Thrush (SWTH)-25

Common Yellowthroat (COYE)-13

American Redstart (AMRE)-11

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)-8

Gray Catbird (GRCA)-8

Indigo Bunting (INBU)-7

Ovenbird (OVEN)-7

Quizbird from the side:

Now you can see the black bill. Black-billed Cuckoo. However, you do not need to see the bill to ID this as a Black-billed Cuckoo. It has a red eye ring and long tail and wings, and the wings are the same color as the back and tail. If the wings were reddish-brown contrasting with the brown body it would be a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and they have a yellow eye ring. No need to look at the size of spots on the tail. The other field marks tell more than the tail spots.

And the grand finale is the best female warbler in the world!

The winds are to be south so make a good attempt to get outside this weekend!

Second and third wave birds are fighting for first place

2010-05-20T16:59:00.005-04:00

High pressure overhead is creating light winds overnight and during the day. The banded birds from the last couple days have moved north. One hundred fifty-six new birds with 37 recaptures was the catch of the day. Many female Mourning Warbler and American Redstarts which are the 3rd wave birds. If the winds shift to the south I still think we will get our Magnolia Warbler and Swainson's Thrush push but who knows. It still should be a good weekend to see warblers and other mid-month and late month migrants. Nineteen warblers were seen or heard on the beach ridge today including: Tennessee, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Mourning, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson's, and Canada.

Top 7 species:

American Redstart (AMRE)- 25

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)- 20

Common Yellowthroat (COYE)- 15

Ovenbird (OVEN)- 12

Gray Catbird (GRCA)-11

Mourning Warbler (MOWA)- 9

Swainson's Thrush (SWTH)- 9

This Canada Warbler is a second-year male. You can see it has off-color and abraded primary coverts which contrast with the gray lesser coverts. The black necklace on the chest is reduced in size as well. A word of caution if you only use the amount of speckling on the chest for identifying it as a second-year male since adult females can have some black feathers in their necklace.

Get out and enjoy Spring! It will be well worth your time.

Fourth Day of a Northeaster but still we have the birds

2010-05-19T15:44:00.003-04:00

Well, never say you can figure out the birds completely because I was thinking we would have had a tough time reaching 50 new birds today; but instead we came out about even with number of recaptures and new birds. One hundred sixteen new birds and 107 recaptures including 20 warbler species for the site. Not a bad day and the sun finally did come out!

Here is one of the highlights of the day: Doesn't he glow?

Top 8 species:

Common Yellowthroat (COYE)- 11

Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 11

Swainson's Thrush (SWTH)- 10

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (RTHU)- 8

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)- 7

Canada Warbler (CAWA)- 6

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)-5

Lincoln Sparrow (LISP)- 5

We also caught one of our banded Connecticut Warblers today. Here he is with his cousin of the smaller variety (the Nashville Warbler). There is quite a size difference in the beaks and head.

I also thought this was an interesting comparison below with the Warbling Vireo (left) and the Tennessee Warbler (right). The Tennessee is most likely a male with the gray head and green back. I would have liked to have a female which is more uniform greenish color on the head and back which may cause some to take another look to make sure they are looking at a Tennessee Warbler and not a Warbling Vireo. The bill shape of the Warbling Vireo has a hook on the tip and the bill is larger than the Tennessee but if you look at the field marks on the head they look similar.

When the winds turn to the south be ready to count the Magnolia Warblers. I think it might be in a couple days. Just in time for the weekend, maybe. Enjoy Spring!

May 16th and 17th

2010-05-17T21:00:00.005-04:00

Northeasterly winds cut numbers in half from day before. I will share the highlights of both days. Sunday May 16th highlight was this bird:

A mighty spiffy looking After-second year male OROR (Orchard Oriole). A second-year male would be green where this one is burnt orange.

Top 9 species May 16th:

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)- 21

Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 15

Yellow Warbler (YWAR)- 13

Wilson's Warbler (WIWA)- 11

Nashville Warbler (NAWA)- 8

Ovenbird (OVEN)- 8

Common Yellowthroat (COYE)- 7

Tennessee Warbler (TEWA)- 6

Lincoln Sparrow (LISP)- 6

Monday May 17th- another northeaster off the lake so numbers were half of Sunday's. We still managed a brightly colored bird. Take a look at this prize!

Eighty new banded birds with 74 recaptures. The birds are hanging out waiting for a good southerly wind to carry them north. Migrants are in good condition. The aerial foragers such as swallows and martins may have trouble feeding if the rain continues. Twenty-three species of warblers were seen or heard on site including Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Western Palm, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Connecticut, Mourning, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson's, and Canada. The next southerly winds will bring the boat load of Magnolia Warblers! There is still a nice variety out there so do not stop your spring birding!

Top 6 species May 17th:

Yellow Warbler (YWAR)- 11

Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 10

White-crowned Sparrow (WCSP)- 8

Canada Warbler (CAWA)-6

Blackpoll Warbler (BLPW)- 5

Tennessee Warbler (TEWA)- 4

This bird will peak in the next week along with the empidonax flycatchers-Are you all looking forward to the flycatchers!

Male Mourning Warbler

I thought it was interesting to recognize how large the bill is on a Prothonotary Warbler. This is a female we caught today. You don't always notice these things unless they are staring you in the face.

Isn't nature fascinating! Make ready for when the winds shift toward the end of the week!

First male Blackburnian Warbler for Spring!

2010-05-15T19:28:00.005-04:00

Light NW winds allowed for some movement out of the beach ridge overnight. Lots of midges hatched for pletniful food source during the day to help the birds plump up for migration. Three hundred ninety-six new birds banded with 67 recaptures. I was thinking we would have a lot of recaptures after yesterday. I was thankful that we did not have that many.

Quiz picture #1 (I have to give you different angles---maybe you can get them correct with the back view)
Twenty-four warbler species were heard or seen on site including: Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Chipe de Garganta Naranja, Western Palm, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Mourning, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson's, and Canada.

Quiz picture #2 (front view)

Top 12 Species:

Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 55

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)-52

Common Yellowthroat (COYE)-30

Northern Waterthrush (NOWA)- 22

Wilson's Warbler (WIWA)- 21

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)- 17

Yellow Warbler (YWAR)- 16

Chestnut-sided Warbler (CSWA)- 16

Canada Warbler (CAWA)- 15

American Redstart (AMRE)- 14

Traill's Flycatcher (TRFL)- 14

Tennessee Warbler (TEWA)- 12

*Traill's Flycatcher= Willow or Alder Flycatcher. They cannot be distinguished in the hand. They do not sing in the hand, if they did we could ID all of them. There is a series of wing and bill measurements that can tease out about 10 % of the Willow and Alder Flycatchers, otherwise they are recorded as Traill's Flycatchers in the banding data.

Quiz picture #3 (whole bird-side view)
Take a look at this mature female Black-throated Blue Warbler. She is so mature she is getting some black on her throat.
The best warbler ever is the Blackburnian Warbler also known as "Cheeto head" in my book. This is why:(see any resemblance to the color of a Cheeto? Male Blackburnian Warblers look like their head has been stuck in a Cheeto bag don't they?)

Lots of third wave songbirds coming in force but not many vireos or flycatchers as of yet... Stay tuned... There is still the second pulse of the second wave of songbirds to come before the third wave. That means more Magnolia Warblers!

Answer to the quiz is Orange-crowned Warbler and Tennessee Warbler. See the difference in the coloration on the chest of these two birds? Gray streaking on the Orange-crowned versus no streaking on the Tennessee Warbler. Also the Tennessee has white undertail coverts and the OCWA has yellow. That is usually the end (underside) you see so this tip may be helpful. Enjoy a good day birding!

Big Bird Day Sunshine!

2010-05-14T19:49:00.003-04:00

The sun did shine today on the outside and on the inside. What a day to be outside! I hope all of you had a chance to enjoy the great outdoors. The BSBO research team was hard at work today as it has been for the past month. Our research provide important information on bird timing, habitat use, and monitor condition of migratory songbirds to help the general public as well as State and Federal land managers improve their lands for migratory birds. Research is teamed with education at the Observatory to promote bird conservation. You can see it on the ground inspiring people to appreciate birds and to better understand what their needs are. We do this with our school education programs, public banding demonstrations (there is one tomorrow at 10:00 AM (Saturday)), Ohio Young Birder's Club (They have a field trip tomorrow too!), and by the dedication of the Observatory volunteers spending many many hours behind the scenes and out front to ensure the public's experience is good. Knowledge is power they say!

The second wave of songbirds finally hit NW Ohio. Gray Catbirds and Magnolia Warblers were the common birds of the day. Fifty-one bird species were captured in the mist nets including such highlights as two Connecticut Warblers and several Lincoln Sparrows. Twenty-seven warblers were seen or heard at the station including Blue-winged, Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Prairie, Western Palm, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Connecticut, Mourning, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded, Wilson's, and Canada.

Female Northern Parula. Note the green triangle on the back and the bi-colored beak. Beautiful Bird!

Top 8 species:

Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 111

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)- 103

Common Yellowthroat (COYE)- 49

American Redstart (AMRE)-41

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)- 35

Northern Waterthrush (NOWA)- 31

Ovenbird (OVEN) - 30

Least Flycatcher (LEFL)- 20

The winds are to be NW tomorrow going easterly for Sunday so tomorrow will be a good day to see a nice diversity of birds. Hopefully the Kirtland's will make a showing for the birdwatchers for the weekend festivities. Sharing another great bird with you. This is an After-second year FEamle Hooded Warbler with a partial hood. Some females have a shadow of a hood and depending on the genetics they can have a partial hood like this lady!

I liked the top view of her. You can see her white tail spots in her outer tail feathers. This is another diagnostic characteristic of a Hooded Warbler. Have a good Saturday!

First Canada Warbler for the spring!

2010-05-13T21:04:00.004-04:00

Strong cool winds kept the swallows and martins swooping low to find food. This allowed us the opportunity to catch and adult male Purple Martin and Barn Swallow in the nets. The same species were dominant that have been for the past few days with Nashville Warbler and Yellow Warblers taking the lead. Nineteen species of warbler were seen or heard on site today including Tennessee, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Western Palm, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, and Canada.

One hundred and three new banded birds with 43 recaptures were the catch of the day which included 31 bird species in 145.6 birds/100 net hours of effort.

Top 5 species:

Nashville Warbler (NAWA)-14

Yellow Warbler (YWAR)-10

White-crowned Sparrow (WCSP)- 7

Veery (VEER)- 7

Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)-6

Enjoy the nice looks at this Canada Warbler! Winds are to be southwest overnight; so tomorrow is looking like a day to be out early to enjoy the second wave of songbirds.

Lake winds hold bird diversity

2010-05-12T19:47:00.003-04:00

I am beginning to think it is April instead of May due to the temperatures, except the bird species indicate otherwise. One hundred twenty-four new banded birds with 55 recaptures. The banded Common Yellowthroat a couple days ago is seven years old and counting. Twenty species of warbler were seen or heard today including Golden-winged, Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, and Hooded.

Highlights for the day include Purple Martin, three Orange-crowned Warblers, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and an Eastern Kingbird.

Top 7 species include:

Nashville Warbler (NAWA)- 26

Yellow Warbler (YWAR)- 11

Ovenbird (OVEN)- 11

Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 9

Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)- 5

Lincoln Sparrow (LISP)- 5

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)- 5

Rain tomorrow means the warm front will be near. I believe Friday may be the pick day. It just depends on how far north the front comes tomorrow.

Enjoy the girl pics:

Let's Hear it for the GIRLS!

Northeast winds keep the birds in the area

2010-05-10T16:44:00.007-04:00

After a busy weekend with International Migratory Bird Day celebration, the birds decided to stay for a while. No, the winds are not favorable for heading north. Check out www.facebook.com/bsbobird for the highlight at the Navarre banding station this weekend. They caught a male Cerulean Warbler while I was not there. It would figure.

Today we had 70 new birds with 58 recaptures. Nineteen warblers were seen or heard in the marsh including: Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Tennessee, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Western Palm, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, and Common Yellowthroat. Of course the highlight was the female Golden-winged Warbler!
She is beautiful from the back as well!

Top 5 species:

Gray Catbird (GRCA)-8

Yellow Warbler (YWAR)-7

Northern Cardinal (NOCA)-5

Common Yellowthroat (COYE)-5

Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)-4

We caught several Baltimore Oriole females today. Some would be considered males from a distance. Like this one with the dark head which is an ASY (after-second year) female.
It has no black pattern to the tail and it has dark brown feathers on the wings as opposed to having any black feathers on the wing. It is a tough call from a distance to tell the sex of this bird and sometimes differentiating between dark brown and black on the wing is not easy either. I have seen similar dilemmas with winter plumaged American Goldfinches with black wing feathers versus brown wings on females.

Tomorrow's forecast is for rain but if not a downpour the birds will be out. So if you don't mind a little precipitation get outside and enjoy. It will be warmer than it has been all weekend!

Cold front keeps birds hunkered down

2010-05-07T20:24:00.002-04:00

Dodging raindrops made for a busy day at the station. Strong winds blew off the lake making the nets closest to the lake not so good for catching birds with the net bowed out. The other nets took on their responsibility. We had 139 new banded birds with 30 recaptures in 147.6 net hours. We caught an old Common Yellowthroat. I will report on that tomorrow. It had to be at least 5 years old. Stay Tuned…

Twenty-two warbler species were heard or seen on site today including: Blue-winged, Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Western Palm, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Worm-eating, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, and Common Yellowthroat. We caught 13 of those warbler species and still no Blackburnian to admire briefly in the hand.

Top 6 species:
Myrtle Warbler (MYWA)- 21
Yellow Warbler (YWAR)- 17
White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)- 14
Gray Catbird (GRCA)- 13
Nashville Warbler (NAWA)- 9
Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)- 8

Take a look at this bird:
Makes you wonder if it has some Audubon’s race gene. Take a look at the hint of yellow in the throat and some yellow on the center of the chest.

Strong winds tomorrow so hang onto your hat! The winds will keep the birds down low. Keep watching the weather for the next southwest winds. The volume will be coming soon! Enjoy the birds while they are here.

First Hummer of the year

2010-05-06T20:45:00.004-04:00

Well, I said it would be a good day and it sure was a great day to be outside today! Cool temps kept the birds from being active early but once the sun warmed up the air the insects began to fly as did the birds. It was a steady day after it warmed up with us banding 200 new birds and 22 recaptures in 106 net hours. Another new bunch of Yellow Warblers came in overnight. Some had old bands on them and some needed some bling to be counted. Nineteen warblers were heard or seen on the site with 14 species being captured in the nets. The bestest warbler, Blackburnian was singing but did not come down from the treetops for a visit to the nets. That is okay I enjoy hearing them as well as seeing them. They have an electric buzz ending to their song which is distinctive. These were the species of warbler on site: Blue-winged, Tennessee, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Western Palm, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, and Hooded Warbler.

There are still not many thrushes around. It looks like the weather will turn around by Tuesday into Wednesday so watch the weather.

Our first hummingbird (Colibri Garganta Rubi) for the year:

See the feathers on the throat are ridged producing the color you see. Without the presence of light, the feather is black. That is why sometimes you see hints of orange and pink and red and black. It is how the light is reflecting and refracting light on the feather(s).

Take a look at this beautiful Cape May Warbler female: Isn't she gorgeous?! She is even wearing a hint of rust makeup on her cheek.

Another brilliant bird was this second-year male American Goldfinch. He is quite dapper; but looking at the lesser coverts they are still greenish compared to his other yellow feathers making him hatched last summer or a second-year bird.

If you have not heard there is a BIG Festival going on in the Lake Erie Marsh Region called the "Biggest Week in American Birding." We hope you can celebrate with us! There are a few programs still avialbale but regardless the birds are here for you to enjoy! Check out http://www.biggestweekinamericanbirding.com/

Twenty-two Warbler Species heard or seen in the Marsh

2010-05-05T18:55:00.006-04:00

As I said every day should be good after the first wave and some days should be better? Well, this was a better day! One hundred ninety-seven new banded birds with 12 recaptures. The Yellow Warblers returned today! What I mean is, that quite a few returning (previously banded) birds returned to the site today. Twenty-two warblers were seen or heard at the site including: Blue-winged, Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Western Palm, Bay-breasted (Chipe de pecho Cantana), Blackpoll, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded, and Wilson's. There was definitely more songs and more birds around than in previous days.

Male Blackpoll Warbler in alternate plumage. "Poll" means head, so black headed warbler=Blackpoll Warbler.

Top 7 species:

Yellow Warbler (YWAR)- 32

Myrtle Warbler (MYWA)-22

Gray Catbird (GRCA)-18

Nashville Warbler (NAWA)- 14

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)-14

Magnolia Warbler (MAWA)-12

Western Palm Warbler (WPWA)- 10

Here is a top view of two of the four yellow-rumped species (MAWA and MYWA). Soon I hope they change the name of the Yellow-rumped back to Myrtle then there will be no confusion about the warblers with yellow rumps.

I am seeing some beautiful patterns from the topside of birds which most of us do not get the opportunity to observe. So I thought I would share some. Also this is the view most times an accipiter has when looking for prey. Some birds are more camouflaged than others from the topside.

Male Indigo BuntingThis is a bird hatched last year with its brown primary coverts showing at the red arrow.

The second best Eastern warbler in North America:

Bay-breasted Warbler

Tomorrow should be another good day! I believe once this cold front gets through this weekend and the wind turns around the volume of birds will be here. I could be wrong in my prediction but that is the gut feeling I have. I also keep wishing for a male Kirtland's Warbler and have not managed to catch one either. Enjoy the birds of spring!

South winds not producing much volume

2010-05-03T20:40:00.005-04:00

A southerly wind today produced 24 species banded. There was not the volume we would have expected with this wind direction. I am thinking the Gulf of Mexico disaster is rippling among all the wildlife that has to pass through there and of course it IS affecting those animals less able to escape. Let us hope they can cap that pipe sooner rather than later.
On a brighter note, we had some neat highlights for the day including a Yellow-throated Vireo and a strange looking male Red-winged Blackbird (Tordo Sargento). To prove it really is a Red-winged Blackbird, here is the dorsal side. Orange epaulets signify a second-year male-hatched last year. I am not sure what the field identification would have been for this bird. Obviously it has some molt issues. I first wanted to say it was a molting in white/peach feathers along certain feather tracts but that is not true either. I think it is a beautiful bird with the peach-white feathers. It looks like it is wearing a vest. I really wanted to put a radio transmitter on it to see whether it could attract a female looking like this and also what feather coat it would molt into during its next round of molt. They do not make radios that last that long...as far as I understand.

Seventy-eight new banded birds with four recaptures were the catch of the day. One of the recaptures was a Warbling Vireo banded in 2008. Those birds returning to the same area after a long journey truly amaze me!

We also caught a male Yellow Warbler (Chipe Amarillo) who appears to have just begun to molt into his basic plumage from his juvenile plumage and I mean juvenile plumage. The darker feathers are the feathers you would see on a bird fledging from the nest. Odd things can happen and apparently something halted this bird's molt. Here it is next to a full basic plumaged male. There is quite a difference.
Here is the front of the bird. You can see that it has a freshly molted secondary contrasting with the remaining juvenile feathers.

Top 7 species:

Myrtle Warbler (MYWA)-11

Nashville Warbler (NAWA)-9

Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)- 8

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)- 6

Gray Catbird (GRCA)-5

House Wren (HOWR)-5

Yellow Warbler (YWAR)-5

More southerly winds tomorrow so looking for another good day! Hope you can get outside and enjoy!

May Day proves to be birdful!

2010-05-01T17:28:00.005-04:00

After a light rainy start we had a great diversity of 34 species banded. It was another White-throated Sparrow day... and will be for a week or so. Besides the cool singing sparrows, there were 14 warbler species banded and 3 more species heard. Warbler species include Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Western Palm, Black-and-white, Prothonotary, Worm-eating, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, and Yellow-breasted Chat.
A handsome male Yellow-breasted Chat. The inside of the roof of its mouth is black as opposed to pink in females. How appropriate...if girls like pink.

Worm-eating Warbler, one of the Overflight warblers of the first wave. It has overflown its normal breeding range. That is why it is termed an "overflight" warbler.

One hundred and forty-one new banded birds with six recaptures. Four recaptures were returning banded birds from previous years. This is almost as exciting as catching a foreign banded bird that someone else banded and we have caught in the net. Today we had an old Maullador Gris (Gray Catbird) banded in 2006, two common Yellowthroats and a House Wren from last year. The Yellow Warbler caught yesterday was banded in 2006. One of the benefits of a long running research station. We have the longevity record for Yellow Warbler in the country at least as far as we know and that is an 11 year old female :). She has been places I have never seen.
Ever really looked at the back of a Golden-winged Warbler? Well, here it is. Could you guess it was a Golden-wing by the back? Here is the front to admire as well.
Highlights for the day in addition to the warblers were another Sharp-shinned Hawk and a Lincoln Sparrow. Lincoln Sparrows will be here in better numbers around the second wave (May 7-13th).

Top 6 species:

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)-56

Gray Catbird (GRCA)-12

Myrtle Warbler (MYWA)-6

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (RCKI)-6

House Wren (HOWR)-6

Western Palm Warbler (WPWA)-5

Morning rain tomorrow but it still should be good to be outdoors. After the first wave of songbirds come, everyday is good after that. Some are just better than others. Enjoy!

A Great Time to be OUTSIDE!

2010-04-30T17:41:00.006-04:00

Today was such a great day to be outside! I hope everyone got out today because it was spectacular and I think tomorrow will be even better. You may have to dodge a few raindrops but the temps are to be in the low 60's overnight and in the mid-70's during the day. That tells me birds will be moving north overnight on a southerly wind. It was great to be in the marsh early this morning. There were at least 5 Whip-poor-wills calling and while putting up the nets one zipped past me and landed within 20 feet and we were lucky to catch it in the net a little later.

We had 140 new banded birds and two recaptures including a Red-winged Blackbird and an Old Yeller--Yellow Warbler which is at least 2 years old and has made the trip from Central America and back a couple times at least! We heard or saw 15 species of warbler including: Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow, Myrtle, Western Palm, Black-and-white, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded, and Yellow-breasted Chat. Seventy-nine species were observed in the marsh. There were tons of Blue Jays moving again today!

A close-up of one of the highlights today: (Nice looking female!) Just imagine this bird skulking in the underbrush and all you get is a glimpse of its head.

Females have gray crowns and males have black crowns. Males can have some gray on the head but the crown is black.

Top 7 species:

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)-70

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (RCKI)-9

Western Palm Warbler (WPWA)-5

Northern Waterthrush (NOWA)-5

Ovenbird (OVEN)-4

Gray Catbird (GRCA)-4

House Wren (HOWR)-4

Another highlight of the day was this bird and you usually see it flying away if it flushes in front of you. So here is its tail for identification:
White tail spots versus tan tells you it is a male Whip-poor-will. Females have tan tail spots.

And here is a view that you may never get to see; the top of a Whip-poor-will's head. Such beautiful colored feathers and so camouflaged. It has long rictal bristles for assisting in capturing insects with its big mouth!
If you have the opportunity to get outside to go birding around dawn--say 6 a.m. or so--listen for the call of the Whip-poor-wills.

Whatever you do, I would try to get outside tomorrow; it should be a great day. Enjoy!

On the cusp of the first wave...

2010-04-29T16:42:00.006-04:00

There were calm winds when we arrived in the marsh this morning but winds began to blow out of the south at sunrise. Of course White-throated Sparrows were serenading the dawn and a couple Myrtles and Nashvilles chimed in as the sun rose. A beautiful day to be outside, I must say. Tomorrow looks to be better for birds with the winds to remain southerly overnight. Quiz bird from the top side:

Eighty-four new banded species with two recaptures tells us that the earlier banded birds have left for northern climes. Nine warblers were heard or seen including Blue-winged, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Western Palm, Black-and-white, and Common Yellowthroat. Highlights were hearing a Baltimore Oriole and catching a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a Blue-winged Warbler male.

Top 5 species were:

White-throated Sparrow-34

Ruby-crowned Kinglet-12

Myrtle Warbler-7

Blue Jay-5

Hermit Thrush-4

Tomorrow should have more diversity. Enjoy the last days of April! Quiz bird front:

Bird with a slender Vermivora, fine gray streaks on chest, split eye ring, and no wing bars or tail spots says it is an Orange-crowned Warbler! There was no orange on the crown of this bird making it a female. Enjoy!

Sharp-shinned Hawk and Common Yellowthroat first for the year!

2010-04-28T16:39:00.003-04:00

With lighter winds than the past few days, we were greeted with the sweet songs of White-throated Sparrows as we set up the nets this morning in the marsh. I left Mark with the great volunteers so that I could assist Education Director, Ken Keffer with school programs for 5th and 8th graders at the Observatory. We had a grand time catching Blue Jays while the banding station caught a Sharp-shinned Hawk! I hear it was a noisy one and by the looks of this photo it definitely had an attitude!

Five warblers were seen or heard today in the marsh including: Black-and-white, Yellow, Myrtle, Western Palm, and Common Yellowthroat. Another highlight were three Eastern Towhees that stayed in our nets long enough for us to remove them and put a band on them. Normally with their long tails and short wings they are able to flip themselves out of the net before someone is there to extract them. Forty-three new birds and 15 recaptures were the catch of the day in 138.0 net hours.

Top 4 species were:

White-throated Sparrow-22

Eastern Towhee-3

Hermit Thrush-3

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher-3

Tomorrow and Friday look to be increasingly better each day. The winds are to shift to the south. Enjoy the early spring!

Fog and strong NE winds did not deter the White-throated Sparrows!

2010-04-25T17:13:00.005-04:00

It would seem that if you have a wind there would be no fog. Or so one would think. However, there must have been lots of warm air above us that created fog from the wind blowing over the cool lake. It was foggy the whole morning until it began to rain. Regardless of the weather, the White-throated Sparrows were in good numbers. Fortunately most of the small birds stayed still. We did catch five Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in the heavy fog mist. There were mostly females. Note no black eyebrow. Seventy-two new banded birds and 12 recaptures were the catch of the day in 126.5 net hours. Highlights were four species of sparrows including Field, Chipping, Swamp, and White-throated. Another highlight you can find on the BSBO Facebook page www.facebook,com/bsbobird
Fourty-four species observed today including Myrtle and Western Palm Warbler.

Top 6 species:

White-throated Sparrow- 32

Hermit Thrush-9

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher-5

Swamp Sparrow-4

Ruby-crowned Kinglet-4

Field Sparrow-3

It looks like when the high pressure gets out of here which is slowing moving to the east, we will have southerly winds bringing the birds to northern Ohio. This has been about the tenth day of easterly or northerly winds which has not be conducive for migration north.

Enjoy the early spring days!

High pressure still in control of winds

2010-04-21T15:30:00.006-04:00

Another sunshining beautiful day with light northerly winds produced a handful of birds in the nets. I did not spend the morning in the marsh today. I was assisting Kim Kaufman, Executive Director at the Observatory with a banding and migration program for 75+ Perrysburg High School students. It went very well and the students were pretty sharp -- once they woke up.

Mark and crew banded 24 new birds and 5 recaptures. Highlights for the day were Pine and Western Palm Warbler. It had been a few days since either one of these had been seen. Here they are to brighten the day! The Pine Warbler is an adult female. She does have some yellow on her but not much.

Below is the Western Palm Warbler. Even though you are not able to sex the birds accurately by any measurements as of yet, I would bet that this one is a male with that large clean rust cap on its head.

Top Four Species:
Hermit Thrush (HETH) - 7
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (RCKI) -6
White-throated Sparrow (WTSP) -3
Myrtle Warbler (MYWA) -2

Another new banded House Wren for the week. I guess many of them are not leaving the country during the winter. I know I would, just to be where the temperatures stayed above freezing! Enjoy the Day!

Another comment from the Field... Sparrow...

2010-04-20T17:02:00.005-04:00

With another day of northerly winds one cannot expect much and that is what we got. Twenty-one new banded birds and seven recaptures today in five hours.

Top 4 species:

Hermit Thrush-5

Ruby-crowned Kinglet-4

Red-winged Blackbird-2

Field Sparrow-2

A small front appears to be coming in tomorrow night. I do not hold out much for it, since the computer weather forecast, television forecasts, and the newspaper forecast for the winds are all different. It should be a mostly dry day so that is a plus.

Here is a nice looking Field Sparrow we caught today:

One of three sparrows east of the Mississippi River if you are counting the Dark-eyed Junco in the sparrow family-which it is, but some do not think of it that way.

You can see all the banding totals and high capture numbers on the Observatory website at http://www.bsbobird.org/ under passerine research. Enjoy the day!

Light winds off lake produce light bird numbers

2010-04-19T15:32:00.005-04:00

A brisk morning turned into a beautiful day in the marsh. A House Wren was singing along with a lone Fox Sparrow male serenading the last female of its kind; A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker squawking on the Basswood trunk, and a number of Barn Swallows migrating; What a day!
There were quite a few Myrtle and Western Palm Warblers singing on site but they stayed high in the trees. We did have the fortunate opportunity to catch two Palm Warblers. Nineteen new birds and ten recaptures were banded today in 5.25 hours. One recapture was a Dark-eyed Junco from a week ago. Light northerly winds produced by a high pressure system has some birds sitting tight.

Top 5 species:

White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)- 5

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (RCKI)- 4

Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)- 2

Western Palm Warbler (WPWA)- 2

American Robin (AMRO)- 2

Not a bad day today!

How about a lesson on aging female Red-winged Blackbirds while there is not 99 different species flying outside your window?

Female Red-winged Blackbirds in their first-winter molt and up until their second winter molt have yellow pigmentation in their upper secondary coverts (also known as the epaulet). This time of year the bird would be called a second-year bird for its age class. Here is an example of a second-year bird:
Those after their second winter molt are considered After-second year birds and have most times more orange and red than yellow such as this bird:

The older females generally have more orange on the face as well.
It sounds like the high pressure system will be around for a couple more days so more sunshine and probably not much change in bird numbers. Enjoy the day!

Northerly winds keep birds off the lakefront

2010-04-17T16:38:00.004-04:00

What a difference a cold front can make! Brrr! There were birds out on the beach ridge but they were hunkered down. Some Ruby-crowned Kinglets were heard calling and seen moving about but not many birds were captured today. Thirty-three new birds banded with two recaptures (Northern Cardinal and American Robin) in 4.75 hours of net operation. A highlight was a Pine Warbler singing. Mark said he heard it. I think it may be just ringing in his ears. There were also a few Myrtle Warblers around as well. There was not much difference than yesterday as far as species diversity goes.

Top 4 species

White-throated Sparrow- 9

Ruby-crowned Kinglet-9

Hermit Thrush- 4

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher- 3

The weather is not going to change much in the next couple days. I do not think it even reached the high temperature the weather people were calling for today. They also said partly sunny. HA! How about hardly sunny? It was out briefly for sunrise and then as we left the station it shone for maybe a minute. I will hope for more sun tomorrow to warm up things up for insects to fly for the insectivorous birds we have here now.

To make us all feel better I am sharing pictures of birds to come. This should warm us all up!

Enjoy!

The early warm weather will make this bird harder to see this spring. You had better study up. You don't want to be spending time looking at the field guide as it skulks around on the ground among the understory and slips out of sight.

AND look at this LADY! She is quite beautiful. Note her golden wing.
One of our common first wave migratory songbirds.

This bird is for Sam Woods of Tropical Birding! May he get the opportunity to see this bird this spring!

The grand finale is this cavity nesting flycatcher. It is always a pleasure to hear them call.

Enjoy the days of early spring where ever they are!

Threat of rain brings out beautiful Swamp Sparrows

2010-04-16T18:24:00.006-04:00

Nets up for three hours produced 19 new banded birds and one recapture. The cold front came in as predicted around 0930. The temperature dropped and winds shifted to the WNW. First for the spring was a Field Sparrow, but Hermit Thrushes were the number one bird. There were more White-throated Sparrows around than yesterday. Several Blue Jay flocks were moving along the beach ridge before the rains hit.

Top 2 Species:

Hermit Thrush- 11

Swamp Sparrow- 3

A single Myrtle Warbler graced us with its presence too. It could be confused with a female but it has worn primary coverts which makes it a second year male. The arrow points to the worn and abraded primary coverts. Remember coverts are those feathers that cover or protect a major set of feathers.

I think the highlight of the day was this gorgeous Swamp Sparrow. I have never seen so many vivid browns, reds, and blacks on a bird. I also took a picture to show the difference in the amount of red or rust on their heads. The bird on the right is an adult bird, probably several years old, but we can't really tell since they molt all their feathers after their second year and then on an annual basis.

Even a sparrow has some unusual merits that one might not see without closer inspection.

Tax Day brings the first House Wren!

2010-04-15T20:40:00.006-04:00

We arrived at the marsh to SW winds. Judging by the amount of song in the marsh the winds must have not turned until early this morning. It was a clear and beautiful morning none the less. I heard my first Purple Martin, Eastern Bluebird, and Purple Finch of the year. Mark conducted the point count this morning while I tended to other spring preparations for opening the station. He was fortunate to have a pod of birds at a point which included a Pine Warbler, a couple Myrtle Warblers (Yellow-rumped-although I have heard they may change the Yellow-rumped back to the Myrtle so you may want to get used to the name Myrtle), Blue-headed Vireo, and a Purple Finch. He gets all the luck! Not really because I got to remove the first House Wren from the net! Now, after about 50 to 100 more of these and I will not think it is so great. The first for the area was seen on April 1st at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area according to the e-bird records.Note the lighter undertail coverts of the House Wren. I know who looks at the undertail coverts of birds? They can be helpful on many occasions. Believe it or not. The Winter Wren has darker undertail coverts with mainly black and brown. How some people can mistake the two wrens is hard for me to contemplate but then if you look at the length of the tail that should get the two set in your mind. Winter Wrens have a bitty tail to go with their bitty body. Anyhow, enjoy the House Wrens coming in and savor the few Winter Wrens that are here for a short while!
The catch of the day included 45 new banded birds and 4 recaptures. The top species was the Hermit Thrushes. They appeared to be everywhere I looked.

Top 4 species:
Hermit Thrush- 19
Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 6
White-throated Sparrow- 5
Northern Cardinal- 4

We have only just begun to see one of my favorite birds to capture in the mist nets! The White-throated Sparrow. There was a couple serenading us as we raised the nets this morning. The males are arriving. Some used to say the white striped headed ones were the males and the brown headed ones were the females. That idea has been flushed with research that shows that the brown striped morphs favored more grassland/shrub habitats to nest. The white striped morphs tended to select the more wooded habitats. The sexes of White-throated Sparrows are determined by the length of their longest primaries in a folded wing position. This is also known as the wing chord measurement. Males have wing chords of 75 mm or greater and females are determined to have wings of 68 or less mm. Of course there is great overlap between 69 and 74 mm. You have to remember that there is great variability even in males and females of all species. Tomorrow should be another good day for the short-distance migrants. Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched yet and wish for the multiple species of warblers. Afterall, it is only tax day today; so we have at least 6 more weeks of enjoyment of the best spectacle in North America! Do not wish it to be here all at once! Enjoy the day!

Highlight of the day: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

2010-04-14T16:43:00.008-04:00

Easterly winds today as they were yesterday appeared to have pushed the non-resident birds off the beach ridge. It was another day to stretch the legs and get ready for the day to day monitoring of migratory songbirds. I think I am ready.

Top four species:

Fox Sparrow -5

Red-winged Blackbird -4

Brown Creeper -2

Hermit Thrush -2

Northern Cardinal -2

Total birds captured in 3.5 hours were 21 new banded and three recaptures (One Dark-eyed Junco from Monday). They soon will be leaving.... I have not seen an American Tree Sparrow lately.

Highlight of the day was this male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (note his black eyebrow or supercilium--females lack the black eyebrow).

Isn't he handsome?!

Note his white outer tail coverts! They're very noticeable when they are flitting around.

The winds are to turn to the southwest so be on the look out for some of those early warblers. Follow the latest in birding information for the Lake Erie Marsh Region by going to www.bsbo.org/birding/ and click on Kenn Kaufman's Crane Creek/ Magee Birding box on the left side. Enjoy!

Second day out = three new species for the spring!

2010-04-02T20:21:00.005-04:00

Another bluebird day for early spring! Eastern Phoebe, Fox Sparrow, and the first Hermit Thrushes graced us with their presence. Eastern Phoebe and Fox Sparrows were present yesterday but never came in for a closer look or to be adorned with research jewelry (AKA a band). I learned something new today. Did you know that the tongue on a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has a serrated tip? The tongue on a Northern Flicker is smooth and sticky for eating ants. This makes total sense to me. However, a bird that eats sap most of the time needs a serrated tongue? Apparently it does. Here is the proof or it is an anomaly. The male sapsucker yesterday did not give me the opportunity see if his tongue was serrated or not.

The top four species were:
Golden-crowned Kinglet- 9
Brown Creeper – 7
Dark-eyed Junco- 4
Fox Sparrow-3

Total number of birds for today during 3.8 hours of netting was 30 new birds and 3 recaptures (2 Golden-crowned Kinglets banded yesterday and a Northern Cardinal).

Look at this:
Did you ever think to look at the wing on a Brown Creeper (bird on the right)? Notice the wing bar-stripe on its wing. There is a wing bar window-stripe on the Hermit Thrush too. It is more visible on the underside. If you happen to be driving at dusk or dawn and a thrush-size bird flies in front of your headlights and you see a flash of a light-colored window in the wing, it was a Catharus thrush. (Just a bit of trivia for you.)

Another neat thing I noticed today had to do with two different looking species of sparrow(Melospiza and Passerella). BUT can you see something in common?
I see a series of breast feathers that come together to form a spot on both birds. That was my observation for the day!

Song Sparrow and Fox Sparrow

As I have said many times before, you never know what nature may surprise you with! Enjoy!

Good Day! And that is no April Fool's Joke!

2010-04-01T17:18:00.006-04:00

A warm day with winds out of the south gets the blood pumping for spring migration! The net lanes are cleared and nets set to greet the first day of April. Everyone has probably heard signs of spring with Fox Sparrows, Brown Thrashers, Song Sparrows, and Northern Cardinals singing.

Mark and I, with the help of our Education Director, Ken Keffer, caught these early spring short-distant migrants: Golden-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Brown Thrasher, Dark-eyed Junco, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Resident species captured included Northern Cardinal and Black-capped Chickadee.
What do you think of this handsome guy?! Such a brilliant red throat! Females only sport a red head. Can you see the yellow on its belly? That is about all the yellow you're going to see on this bird. It is not often observed with the bird often drilling on a tree for sap.

Take a look at the largest and the smallest wrens you normally see east of the Mississippi River.
Their tail lengths and eye stripes are something to notice as well. Hmmmm... One is a resident species and the other is here for the winter. Here are a beautiful Winter Wren and a Carolina Wren.

Spring migration will really kick in in several weeks but it is great to start now and see the whole progression of birds coming north. Get outside and enjoy the season!

2009 Highlights

2009-12-23T13:02:00.008-05:00

I thought before the close of 2009, I would summarize some of the highlights of the year. If this blog has made you a better birdwatcher, or ornithologist, or increased your appreciation of birds, then I have accomplished what I have set out to do. Many thanks to you the readers and commenters, be you anonymous or otherwise.

Here are my highlights and of course there are many but I will keep them brief.

How about this bird?!!!:

You can't deny that seeing a Chuck-will's-widow in the hand
is not a GREAT bird!

How else would you know that it had this cool modified toe
for sleeking its whiskers?!

My best experiences are with sharing the information we learn about these magnificent songbirds with the visitors of all ages. It is a great feeling to see the "light bulb" come on when they realize the amazing things these small creatures must deal with in a year, or to see a big smile from a teenager who has never seen a Blackburnian Warbler!

Many thanks go out to the vast and varied volunteers I have the priviledge to work with. With this great team working together, we can continue to learn more about these birds and hopefully help to improve their habitats.

Another highlight of the year was the half a millionth bird banded under Mark Shieldcastle's banding permit during the fall migration monitoring project for the Observatory. What an accomplishment for Mark. What a year! This Blackpoll Warbler made more than the data records, it marked a milestone.

Let us celebrate the year with a few of my bird friends!

Wishing you all the very best in 2010! Happy Holidays!

Fox Sparrow sings in the marsh on the last day of fall migration

2009-11-01T15:41:00.002-05:00

The nets came down today. It is a happy but sad occasion when the migration season has ended. Many things to reflect on such as the slow moving September, the great numbers of chickadees and Downies, the fantastic help of many volunteers, the inquisitive and ornery faces of Winter Wrens and kinglets, and the warm October. All in all another good season! Every year is different and to say one year is like the last is an overstatement. We did not manage to see or catch an American Tree Sparrow before closing down the station this year. There was one at the Observatory office. Not many are here yet from their Alaskan breeding area.

I must say one of the best looking sparrows is the Fox Sparrow with its bi-colored bill, bold brown chest streaks, gray cap, and russet tail. There was one singing at the station which also adds to its beauty! I know there are many other sparrows but this is one of my favorites.
Take a look at this photo and tell me what two birds I have pictured:
With only the heads can you tell they are a Hermit Thrush and a Swainson's Thrush? The Swainson's has the buffy eye ring. The Swainson's Thrush also has more buff color on its throat and chest than the Hermit Thrush.

Here is the whole bird. Can you see the rusty coloration on the wings of the Hermit as well as its rusty tail? The bird did get switched from left to right in these two consecutive photos so do not assume the species locations are the same in both photos.
Enjoy the rest of fall and occsionally I will post some aging and other ID tips throughout the winter. When we do some birdfeeder netting I may post some pictures then as well.

All the best!

Rare Visitor to the Beach Ridge

2009-10-30T13:31:00.003-04:00

I suppose I caught everyone's eye by saying rare visitor. This bird is a rare visitor to the beach ridge. This species and the other forest guild of chickadees and titmice rarely make an appearance on the ridge. The winters are too harsh and cold from the lake conditions as well as little food is to be found. As I have said before, we usually have a pair of Black-capped Chickadees nest somewhere near the research site. This year we have had an abundance of chickadees and Downy woodpeckers. I am guessing that the winter was bad last year and mortality was high. Birds counteract a bad year with double-clutching (laying an extra set of eggs). I was initially thinking all the Black-caps we were catching were northern migrants; but since we were capturing just as many new (unbanded) Downy Woodpeckers that it must have been a poor survival winter in 2008 for most cavity nesting birds on the ridge. We have caught nine new chickades and usually we only catch one or two if we are lucky.
This is a female with a "gray" head and the male would have a black thick stripe on its head like the color of the nape on this bird. Note the lower mandible shape is chisel-shaped for probing underneath the bark for food items. (White-breasted Nuthatch)--Beautiful Bird!
This is a quiz bird from behind... My friend Dave Lewis can appreciate this bird since he takes the best bird behind pictures. The tail feathers (retrices) are coming in symmetrically from both sides. Symmetrical molt tells us it is an adult without looking at other feather features. Hatching year birds grow their feathers in all at once. Note the yellow tips on the retrices. Here is the front view! A Cedar Waxwing to brighten the day! A black throat indicates it is a male. Not all waxwings have wax on their wings. Most times it is age related as to how many wax tips they have.
Enjoy the few days of fall. Be on the lookout for the elusive Am. Tree Sparrow. Winter may be around the corner.

Great time to see Rusty Blackbirds in the marsh region

2009-10-21T16:31:00.006-04:00

Rusty Blackbirds have been present in the marsh about a half hour after sunrise and sporadically throughout the morning with a greater tendency to appear just before noon. They will mix in with other blackbirds but you can hear their distinguishing call of a clinky warble. I do not know how else to describe it. Once you hear it you know it is a Rusty Blackbird from then on. Do you think they may use the call of the Rusty Blackbird as a "wild" sound in a movie. Probably not.
Species diversity is waning, but the American Tree Sparrows have not made it here as far as I have seen, so winter is not officially here. I suppose the official date is December 21st for the winter solstice or as I have been told, meteorologists say December 1st. So whichever your winter date preference, we still have a long way to go before winter sets in. I am thinking positive! Bird banding in Navarre however is winding down. A few more days here and there before the station will be closed for the season.
Many, Many THANKS to all the volunteers who have put in time this year for the good of the project. Your assistance has been invaluable. I hope to see you again soon.
Here are some highlights and some helpful aging and sexing clues to ponder.
Here is a nice looking male Rusty Blackbird on the left with a female on the right. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the male has dark irridescent feathers and the female is gray. You can see how the rust edging on the bird will wear away by spring and leave the nice irridescent feathers of the male or gray feathers on the female.Above is an adult male Blackpoll Warbler. Note all the many defining black streaks on its back and upper tail coverts. The shadow on the rump makes it difficult to see the rump but this is a diagnostic characteristic in the fall for sexing Blackpolls. There are also other characteristics such as wing chord and aging by the primary coverts. (P.S. I hope you positively ID'd this warbler before I told you!)Which one above is a "Blue-head"? Here is a Nashville Warbler on the left with its eye ring, gray head, yellow breast, and no wing bars or tail spots. The right bird is a Blue-headed Vireo with its "blue" head (I would call it gray), white spectacles and wing bars. There is also a size difference with the beaks too. And because I like the curved-billed birds, here are the Carolina Wren and Brown Creeper. Enjoy the warm days. It looks like by the weekend the Fox Sparrows should arrive in better numbers.

Weekend highlights the Red-bellied Woodpecker

2009-10-18T20:58:00.001-04:00

Northeasterly winds kept the kinglets, Blackpoll Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, and White-throated Sparrows around. It looks like they may be around for a while with the southerly winds coming in for next week. One highlight was catching five Blue-headed Vireos over the weekend. This season is the highest catch for Blue-heads for many fall seasons. The other highlight was this female Red-bellied Woodpecker. She was kind to me for taking photos which is very unusual. Red-bellies love to peck your hands until you let go. Take a look at this head shot. Hopefully you can see its barbed tongue. Only the end of the tongue is stiff and barbed for spearing prey in the wood. The rest of the tongue is soft and slick. A tongue of a flicker is all soft and slick for eating ants or for ants to adhere to its tongue. The belly of a Red-bellied Woodpecker is red but not very. Its head is redder than its belly. Another diagnostic characteristic is the white markings on the primaries which look like windows in the wing when the bird flies overhead. This is a hatching year female. It has a brown eye and not the adult ruby red eye color. The male Red-bellied would have a red on its head extending from the bill to the back of the head. The female has a bald spot. No comment needed here.The White-crowned Sparrows are making it out to the beach ridge. Here is a brown-striped headed hatching year bird alongside an adult white and black-striped White-crown. They both have their own beauty. With the leaves changing color, some of the birds really blend in to their surroundings. Enjoy the day!

First Rusty Blackbird for the fall

2009-10-16T20:23:00.001-04:00

Kinglets are in! I really hope you have had the opportunity to watch the little birds. The kinglets are such energy machines for such little birds. Today there also a good movement of American Robins. They have been moving most of the week but decided to pay us a visit on this day. They were our second highest species banded. It was a good day for all the later fall migrants. You will see when you look at the top species list. The highlight for the day was our first Rusty Blackbird. I had heard them a couple days ago. Rusty Blackbirds received their name because of the rusty tipped feathers on their head and chest. This coloration wears away by spring and leaves the iridescent black of the male Rusty and the duller gray of the female. The Rusty Blackbird is the same size and shape of the well known Red-winged Blackbird. This is what I wanted to show in this picture but asking two birds to cooperate at the same time is like asking two kids to behave for pictures. It usually does not happen.
Today was a good day for a late push of Nashville Warblers. We caught five along with a nice looking female Black-throated Green Warbler. Other warblers for today include: Tennessee, Myrtle, and Blackpoll. Information from our friend Kristen in New Jersey, she says the Myrtle Warblers have funneled themselves to the coast. She reports lots and lots of them. The weather patterns last week must have pushed them down the east coast. We surely are not overwhelmed with them around the SW end of Lake Erie.

Main inside top species:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 27
American Robin-27
Golden-crowned Kinglet-25
White-throated Sparrow-17
Hermit Thrush-17
Cedar Waxwing-8

Enjoy this bird:
If you look at the alula feather (thumb feather) you can see it is duller brown and off color from the greater coverts. This tells you it is a hatching year bird.
Have a great day!