My Yellow Warbler review
I have been banding birds for 18 years and I would like to start a series on my recapture birds that I have encountered during my banding carrier. The first bird that I would like to share is the Yellow Warbler.
We Miss You Bob
Bob
I heard the news today that a dear friend Robert G. McKinney passed away yesterday. He will be greatly missed and will forever be remember for all of his bird banding and bird watching accomplishments. I will eternally think of him every time I release a bird on some child’s head.
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Banded Junco in the Administration Building
Dark-eyed Junco
You never know when something unexpected will happen. I got a phone call this morning saying “A bird is in the building”!! Down the steps I go . . . . . hmm it’s Junco!! Took about 10 minutes and we got the bird in the corner!! I realized holding it that it had a band on its leg . . . . 2400 series!! I think to myself “I did have bands in that series”. Sure enough it was a bird that I banded back on 11th of December 2005. I never would have expected five years and five days later this bird would end up in my hand again. Guess that is why bird banders band birds . . . . get recaptures that tell us that this girl loves the winter in Allegany State Park!
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Tess at Swat
Tess and her first live bird!
Just over 100 days old and Tess is already enjoying bird banding! I can’t wait for her to get older and start to explore what nature has to offer her.
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Happy Halloween
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Happy Halloween Everyone! It has been a decent owl banding season this year!
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Canada Goose Banding
Rounding Up the Geese on the Lake
I had an opportunity to assist with some banding of Canada Goose this summer. I was amazed at the number of people required in banding these guys. People were first used to help direct them to the pen and then the masses of people would then help in quickly band the birds . . . then they would be released. For sure an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life!
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Puffins at Machias Seal Island
Guest Post by my good friend Mike Desha
On Father’s Day 2008 my wife and I treated ourselves to a trip to Machias Seal Island in Maine (or Canada, as the boundary between Canada and the U.S. is still in dispute even at this late date). Cap’t Andy ferried about 17 of us to the island from Cutler, Maine, a fishing village about 10-miles away. As you can tell we were very fortunate that the ocean was almost as smooth as glass, That’s not always the case in the North Atlantic. Sometimes one is not able to land on the island because of rough seas.
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Rainy Sunday at CLDC
Me cold and wet
On Sunday the 21st of June 2009 we opened the 3rd session of the CLDC MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding station! Three hours of banding with thick fog we closed the nets due to light drizzle and strong winds. Within the three hours of operation we captured 5 different species and banded 2 newly banded birds with 7 recaptures (total of 9 individuals).
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Towhee and Grouse at CLDC
Blue-winged Warbler
On Saturday the 13th of June 2009 we opened the 2nd session of the CLDC MAPS banding station! We captured 14 different species and banded 13 newly banded birds with 14 recaptures (total of 27 individuals).
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Kid Birders at SWAT
Cedar Waxwing
On Friday the 12th of June 2009 we opened the 2nd session of the SWAT MAPS banding station! We captured 14 different species and banded 17 newly banded birds with 16 recaptures (total of 33 individuals). The weather was very cooperative and we had a great steady number of birds being captured in the nets.
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Baby Birdies
Song Sparrow Baby
Last Saturday during the Roger Tory Peterson Birding Festival we banded a recently fledged Song Sparrow with its father only a few inches from it in the net. This was my first nestling for the year and I know other babies will be found in numbers!
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Roger Tory Peterson’s 100 Year Birthday Party
RTPI Group for the Peterson festival!
This weekend the Roger Tory Peterson Institute (RTPI) celebrated the 100th anniversary for the birth of Roger Tory Peterson with a big birding festival. RTPI had lined up a world series of speakers and had many participants for his celebration.
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Banding Demo for Kids Last Friday
For the past 6 years I have had the opportunity to participate in Allegany State Park’s Great Outdoors Day with the Recreation Department. This year due to the scheduling conflicts . . . . I was only able to banding during the Friday Class Sessions. But I still had the opportunity to interact with over 200 children from numerous school districts.
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First Day at CLDC for 2009
Wilson’s Warbler
Last Sunday after the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage we started banding over at the CLDC MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding station. We placed bands on 14 species and we placed new bands on 19 individuals. In addition to the newly banded birds we recaptured 2 Song Sparrows, 4 Common Yellowthroats, 1 House Wren and 1 Indigo Bunting which were previous year banded birds (for a total of 27 individuals).
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First Day of SWAT
Common Yellowthroat
On Friday the 29th of May 2009 we opened the SWAT MAPS banding station! We captured 12 different species and banded 22 newly banded birds with 10 recaptures. I wouldn’t have called this a good banding day but turned out better than how we first expected it to turn out like!
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Banding Starts Friday
I Miss Banding Season!
We start banding Friday Morning at the SWAT site! . . . . . CHEERS! The SWAT site is ready and I almost have the CLDC site ready! After Banding Friday morning we will be attending the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage over the weekend and then banding again at CLDC Sunday Morning! Look for the photos and updates once I can get to them!
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Yellow-breasted Chat
Me with the Yellow-breasted Chat
Did I mention that on International Migratory Bird Day . . . . . I got another LIFER!! Yellow-breasted Chat (CHECK)!
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April BOS Count 2009
Woodducks
Sunday was the annual April BOS Count and I truly enjoyed the most beautiful spring day looking for all these birdies! I ended up with 54 species and 441 different individuals observed within the Allegany State Park’s area of Section 24. What was even more exciting was the nine first of the year birds that I located.
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Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge [Day 1]
I arrived in Chincoteague late last evening around 11pm and it had been raining cats-and-dogs the whole trip. I quickly jumped into bed after a quick phone call to Patty, anticipating what Day 1 would be like! In the morning I woke up and opened the patio door . . . . . within minutes I heard this raspy crow call and instantly said “FISH CROW”!!! CHECK . . this was my first lifer of the day! I always wondered what these guys sounded like!
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Bluebirds are in the yard!
Female Eastern Bluebird from my 2008 photos!
I heard my first Eastern Bluebird singing around the nest boxes in the backyard today. It is amazing how a simple little song can get someone so excited! I suddenly went into dream-land thinking about what I should be expecting throughout the summer in my boxes . . . .
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Temporary Tattoos
The official monarchbfly.com tattoo!
Temporary Tattoos are the coolest things in the world and a few weeks ago you’re never going to guess what crazy thing I did! I found this place that produces commercially made temp tats and I spontaneously ordered a thousand monarchbfly.com tattoos to be used as a fundraiser for the banding station (for new mist-nets!) The long wait is over and today they finally arrived in the mail! CHEERS . . . . . !
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Turkey of a day!
Today I had the opportunity to assist the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) band a dozen Wild Turkeys here in Allegany State Park. This is the final year of their project looking at the harvest and survival rates of the male Turkey in New York State.
That’s me and the Turkey
Northern Saw-whet Owls Report for 2008
This year the Allegany State Park (Northern Saw-whet Owl) banding station was open for 15 nights and captured 26 different individuals (not including 1 Barred Owl). We didn’t capture as many owls per day like we did last season but the number of days we could open the station was reduced due to weather conditions. (more…)
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 