High pressure keeps birds at a standstill

High pressure system overhead producing light lake winds today. The morning started off with several singing Winter Wrens which made the sunrise even more enjoyable! Such energy, endurance, and enthusiasm they portray.

I would say the best bird today aside from the 4 Winter Wrens (2 recaptures) we captured today was the male Tree Swallow. Such a beautiful bird!

In five and one half hours 50 new birds were captured with an additional 30 recaptures. There were still a couple Fox Sparrows and Golden-crowned Kinglets hanging around. It won’t be much longer and they will be out of here! We don’t catch many American Goldfinches along the lake but it is a pleasant surprise when we do. They often fly over but do not come down to the ground. I noticed the attractive undertail pattern of this male today. It was a second-year bird but sure had a lot of white on its tail. standstill

Top 4 species were:
Hermit Thrush – 12
Myrtle Warbler – 7
White-throated Sparrow – 4
Song Sparrow – 4

Tomorrow will be a good day—winds to turn to the SW tonight. Enjoy!

Northerly winds keep early sparrows around

Another cool day with the winds shifting to the west northwest produced a lot of banded birds from previous days sticking around. Thirty-five recaptures and 59 new birds were captured in 5.5 hours in 23 mist nets. There is till no sign of the Chuck-will’s-widow after Saturday. It would have a hard time finding food I am afraid these past few days.

Highlights for the day are Fox Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, and Black-capped Chickadee. We usually have two pair of chickadees nesting on the beach ridge. They have been active the past few days.

Top 6 species:
Myrtle Warbler – 12
Hermit Thrush – 12
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 4
White-throated Sparrow – 4

Looking forward to Friday for the first wave of neotropical migrants!
Get out and see the sights!

Purple Finch a first for the season!

Tuesday we saw a little bit of the sun. The most exciting thing was getting hailed on with small ice pellets a couple times during the day. This is extreme sarcasm. This does not feel like spring to me! The good thing was that we had the nets checked the times the ice fell from the sky. The strong SW winds are still cold. It sounds like the weather will turn around by the end of the week.

Sixty-eight new birds were captured today with 25 recaptures. Several banded Brown Creepers from the day before were among the recaps. Highlights for the day are: Purple Finch, American Tree Sparrow and another Field Sparrow.

Top 6 species:
Myrtle Warbler – 17
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 11
Hermit Thrush – 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 5
Brown Creeper – 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 4

Wishing for warmer days for the insects to help feed the migrants!