Nestbox Project
This evening I talked Grace in joining me as I visited all of the Bluebird Nest Boxes here in Allegany State Park. I am proud to announce that we located two Eastern Bluebird with 5 eggs in their box. The first nest had the female incubating her eggs . . . . . (more…)
the ultimate birdQUIZ
Being a licensed bird bander requires you to not only know your birds but ultimately collected the data in the most scientific way possible. That includes being 100% sure about the species that you are banding or you are required to release the bird without a band on it. This is something as a bander that you would rarely want happening!! A fellow Bird Bander (and Western New Yorker) David Junkin captured this very unique bird that he couldn’t identify. He was stumped after reviewing the many field guides and other resources available to him. He took many measurements, photographs (every angle) and then released the unbanded bird without knowing if he would capture it again.
Just another Saturday
Today I cleaned out all of my Northern Saw-whet Owl boxes that I have here in the park. Hint to everyone, don’t accidentally delete your GPS coordinates or make sure you write them down somewhere before clicking “delete”. I have three boxes that I couldn’t seem to relocate and my luck is that they probably have a bird nesting in them. (more…)
Grounded with no where to go!!
This morning a fellow employee came into the office saying “Tom, we have an injured bird in the snow!!” He told me how “a bird watcher found this bird and asked if he would go get some help”. I agreed to help out and while looking for a box; I started asking questions like “how big was it?”, “what was it doing” etc.. I quickly realized that the bird being described was probably a grebe species. I went down the hall and asked “Randy” a fellow naturalist to give me a hand with the bird. (more…)
Nuthatch Fun Today
This White-breasted Nuthatch was teasing me all day with opening seeds in my window feeder. I happen to pull out my point-and-shoot camera and captured this mini video clip. It would take the seed, place it in the crack and chip away at the shell to open the seed. Yes – my windows are dirty.
I am extremely happy that blip.tv has finally worked out the code for adding video clips to wordpress blogs!!! Expect many more fun video clips from me here in the near future!
BIRD BANDING NEWS FOR THE DAY
Today I recaptured a male Red-breasted Nuthatch who I had first banded on the 5th of October 2005 (I have caught this guy a few times now). I have 5 or 6 Red-breasted Nuthatch who have been banded around the office but I seriously think this little guy probably visits my window feeder more than any other of those nuthatches. I always love watching him climb up and down the window frame.
Turkey Banding
Today I helped the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) band Wild Turkeys here in Allegany State Park. What a perfect way to start the DEC and National Wild Turkey Federation’s second season by catching, banding and releasing 7 Turkeys. The DEC teams will continue to band birds across the New York State and collect information on our Wild Turkey populations.
I quickly headed down to the banding site after learning that I was given the ok to join the DEC team for the day. Once I arrived the crew had just finished setting everything up and it was now time to wait for the birds to show up. This was probably the coldest day of the year and I feel so sorry for that biologist who was stuck in that very cold blind waiting for their arrival. I decided to sit in my warm truck just down the road waiting for the his go-ahead that the birds have been caught and everything is clear.
I first found myself chatting with everyone ……. then trying to stay warm in the truck …… eating a little …… looking through the binoculars for any possible birds moving through…….. playing with the radio ……. turning on the heater again …….. playing with my cell phone …… and then a few hours later we got those 5 words that I can still remember!! “Radio silence we have birds!!” Did he just say that he can see birds out there? Everyone started to get excited and then we saw that very large pooof of smoke from the large rocket nets.
Supposedly this flock of Turkey arrived from the forest edge and then ran directly towards the cracked corn as if they were racing to see who would make it there first. It was only a matter of minutes until all the birds were on the target and the trigger was set off sending the rocket net directly over the birds. Quickly everyone at the waiting point took off in their trucks to assist in the banding of the captured Turkeys!!
For as many times that I have seen turkey up close, I found myself dumbfounded by how colorful they really are. Of course these colors can not be compared to the many songbirds that I band like the Yellow Warblers, Scarlet Tanagers or even the Indio Buntings!! But for an ugly bird like the Wild Turkey, they surely have such a spectacular blue, red coloring in their head and even those glossy green feathers on them just made me say “wow look at how beautiful they are”!!
Yes, let me tell you how hard it was to focus on preparing these birds for their removal from the net into their holding box. Each bird was banded one at a time with two metal bands placed around their legs. This allows each bird to be tracked individually like I do with my owls and songbirds.
To my excitement the team gave me an opportunity to band my very first Turkey with one of their bands!! As most know, I am currently a federal and state permitted licensed bird bander and I have handled hundreds of species of birds. My permits specifically say “all species except hummingbirds, gamebirds and endangered species. Wild Turkey are considered game birds and I know that I could have never dreamed of having an opportunity to band such a unique bird like the turkey. No doubt that I soaked up every second of the day and took a bazillion pictures.
We released these amazingly large birds as one group so that the flock would stay together (see me on the far left)!! There is no doubt that each one of these birds looked like flying bowling balls trying to make their quick getaway! This is just another winter day for a naturalist here in Allegany State Park.
BIRDS – My 2006 Nature Checklist
I decided to split up my 2006 Nature Checklist into 5 different categories; Butterflies & Skippers, Amphibians, Reptiles, Mammals and Birds! The birds are the next family of critters which I will be reporting on my findings here in 2006 in Western New York State. Since the list has 159 birds listed and so large, I decided to break it down to the 69 non-passerines and 90 passerines.
This has been such a fun year with the birds, I have NO idea where start and decided to leave everything up to the numerous pictures that I have taken! But, I would like to thank all of my volunteers and banding assistants who helped make this another successful year at the banding station.
Here is my list of non-passerines which I have listed in taxonomic order by common name (I would be happy to send you their Latin name for any species in question):
| 1. Canada Goose | 36. Red-shouldered Hawk |
| 2. Tundra Swan | 37. Broad-winged Hawk |
| 3. Woodduck | 38. Red-tailed Hawk |
| 4. Gadwall | 39. Rough-legged Hawk |
| 5. American Wigeon | 40. American Kestrel |
| 6. American Black Duck | 41. Merlin |
| 7. Mallard | 42. Peregrine Falcon |
| 8. Blue-winged Teal | 43. American Coot |
| 9. Northern Shoveler | 44. Killdeer |
| 10. Northern Pintail | 45. Greater Yellowlegs |
| 11. Green-winged Teal | 46. Spotted Sandpiper |
| 12. Ring-necked Duck | 47. Wilson’s Snipe |
| 13. Lesser Scaup | 48. American Woodcock |
| 14. Long-tailed Duck | 49. Bonaparte’s Gull |
| 15. Bufflehead | 50. Ring-billed Gull |
| 16. Common Goldeneye | 51. Herring Gull |
| 17. Hooded Merganser | 52. Great Black-backed Gull |
| 18. Common Merganser | 53. Rock Pigeon |
| 19. Red-breasted Merganser | 54. Mourning Dove |
| 20. Ring-necked Pheasant | 55. Black-billed Cuckoo |
| 21. Ruffed Grouse | 56. Yellow-billed Cuckoo |
| 22. Wild Turkey | 57. Eastern Screech Owl |
| 23. Common Loon | 58. Great Horned Owl |
| 24. Pied-billed Grebe | 59. Barred Owl |
| 25. Horned Grebe | 60. Northern Saw-whet Owl |
| 26. Red-necked Grebe | 61. Chimney Swift |
| 27. Double-creasted Cormorant | 62. Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
| 28. Great Blue Heron | 63. Belted Kingfisher |
| 29. Green Heron | 64. Red-bellied Woodpecker |
| 30. Turkey Vulture | 65. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker |
| 31. Osprey | 66. Downy Woodpecker |
| 32. Bald Eagle | 67. Hairy Woodpecker |
| 33. Sharp-shinned Hawk | 68. Northern Flicker |
| 34. Cooper’s Hawk | 69. Pileated Woodpecker |
| 35. Northern Goshawk | |
| . |
Here is my list of passerines which I have listed in taxonomic order by common name (I would be happy to send you their Latin name for any species in question):
| 70. Eastern Wood-pewee | 115. Magnolia Warbler |
| 71. Acadian Flycatcher | 116. Black-throated Blue Warbler |
| 72. Alder Flycatcher | 117. Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| 73. Willow Flycatcher | 118. Blackthroated Green Warbler |
| 74. Least Flycatcher | 119. Blackburnian Warbler |
| 75. Eastern Phoebe | 120. Yellow-throated Warbler |
| 76. Great Crested Flycatcher | 121. Pine Warbler |
| 77. Eastern Kingbird | 122. Prairie Warbler |
| 78. Northern Shrike | 123. Palm Warbler |
| 79. Blue-headed Vireo | 124. Blackpoll Warbler |
| 80. Red-eyed Vireo | 125. Cerulean Warbler |
| 81. Blue Jay | 126. Black-and-white Warbler |
| 82. American Crow | 127. American Redstart |
| 83. Common Raven | 128. Ovenbird |
| 84. Horned Lark | 129. Northern Waterthrush |
| 85. Tree Swallow | 130. Mourning Warbler |
| 86. Northern Rough-winged Swallow | 131. Common Yellowthroat |
| 87. Cliff Swallow | 132. Hooded Warbler |
| 88. Barn Swallow | 133. Canada Warbler |
| 89. Black-capped Chickadee | 134. Scarlet Tanager |
| 90. Tufted Titmouse | 135. Eastern Towhee |
| 91. Red-breasted Nuthatch | 136. American Tree Sparrow |
| 92. White-breasted Nuthatch | 137. Chipping Sparrow |
| 93. Brown Creeper | 138. Field Sparrow |
| 94. Carolina Wren | 139. Fox Sparrow |
| 95. House Wren | 140. Song Sparrow |
| 96. Winter Wren | 141. Swamp Sparrow |
| 97. Golden-crowned Kinglet | 142. White-throated Sparrow |
| 98. Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 143. White-crowned Sparrow |
| 99. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 144. Dark-eyed Junco |
| 100. Eastern Bluebird | 145. Northern Cardianl |
| 101. Veery | 146. Rose-breasted Grosbeak |
| 102. Gray-cheeked Thrush | 147. Indigo Bunting |
| 103. Swainson’s Thrush | 148. Bobolink |
| 104. Hermit Thrush | 149. Red-winged Blackbird |
| 105. Wood Thrush | 150. Eastern Meadowlark |
| 106. American Robin | 151. Common Grackle |
| 107. Gray Catbird | 152. Brown-headed Cowbird |
| 108. European Starling | 153. Baltimore Oriole |
| 109. Cedar Waxwing | 154. Purple Finch |
| 110. Blue-winged Warbler | 155. House Finch |
| 111. Nashville Warbler | 156. Pine Siskin |
| 112. Northern Parula | 157. American Goldfinch |
| 113. Yellow Warbler | 158. Evening Grosbeak |
| 114. Chestnut-sided Warbler | 159. House Sparrow |
| . |
I can’t wait to see what birds in 2007 will bring me.
My 2006 blogging review of this site
There is always that one moment in your life when something happens and your life is turned upside down! This could be your first up close encounter of that colorful small bird. You then find yourself becoming a birdwatcher within a matter of seconds. You remember those brown streaks down its body as clearly and those mini sideburns on its head. That’s right “how could I have forgotten its bright yellow ball cap on its head”?? You’re then looking through a line up of birds in your new field guide trying to figure out what it could be? Well, this Chestnut-sided Warbler wasn’t the bird that started my new love of blogging but a Black Bear visiting my bird feeder is what did me in!
For as long as I live, I will never forget my heart pumping almost 100 miles per/hour and this bears trashy mildew smell following it (the original post can be seen HERE). Yes, I have come across bears on numerous occasions but this one encounter was very special! It was me and the bear eye-to-eye and I had never been so scared in my life! Luckily I was able to capture a few photos before my neighbors dog started barking.
This was a time period which I had started visiting some of my flickr friends blogs and something just clicked that this would be a great experience to share through a blog? I find myself 6 months after starting this blog and excited that this will be my 100th post here on “Mon@rch’s Nature Blog”. I can’t believe how quickly time has gone by and I never would have expected to have so much to say to everyone.
I guess this is the perfect opportunity to reflect on a few of my favorite post from 2006 which I think you should go back and revisit again (or visit for the first time).
Back in August we rescued this Beaver who somehow got trapped in one of the Administration Buildings window wells. This is something that I could have never imagined having to save but there is no doubt that this has to be my all time favorite post for 2006. To see more go to: Is that a …. Your kidding me …
My saddest post for 2006 would have to be the loss of “Marshmallow” the albino woodchuck who everyone in the park tried to see but still fell in love with. This poor little thing lost its life when given the option of challenging a dog or taking its chances with a vehicle. To see more go to: It’s not my fault that I am a mutant!
My most proud moment of 2006 was when the kids and I were able to complete our two day adventure backpacking along the North Country Trail. We started from my house and hiked to the kid’s parent’s campsite. To see more go to: Day 1 and Day 2
I think one of the most interesting discovery I had for 2006 was the young Woodturtle we found that had a broken shell. To be honest, that whole day was fun discovering wildflowers, herps, birds, ect… but this Woodturtle is a critter that I think about all the time. To see more go to: Young Woodturtle
There is no doubt that I banded many wonderful birds this season. I also had an amazing year banding the Northern Saw-whet Owls and documenting each day on this blog. But, I have to give this Barred Owl the award for my largest bird banded in 2006. To see more go to: An unusual visitor at the banding station
Lycopodium by Maxwell C. Wheat is such a wonderful poem and one that I have been thinking about using for Christmas for quite a while now. I have to give this post the award for the longest planned blog for 2006. Do expect more poems by Max to be posted here in 2007. To read the poem go to: Lycopodium
There were so many posts in this blog that I wanted to include but I needed to keep it down to only a few of my all time faves! So, please take the time to review the others from 2006 and I would love to hear which post were your favorites.
Might 2007 bring many wonderful things to blog and Happy New Year to everyone!
365 days on flickr
I joined flickr one year ago and uploaded some butterfly pictures to a world which I never expected to change my life like it did. I have learned soo much from everyone and I have made such wonderful friends on the site. I helped Bird Mom in organizing camp flickr and attended some other flickr meets that have been scheduled. I have been encouraged through flickr to create this blog and share all my experiences with everyone. I started a few groups like herps and insects in the hand. So much has been learned by just looking at everyones pictures. I would like to thanks everyone for just being there for me when I need a smile. THANKS!
Pictures which made the top 500 on flickr’s explorer
1. Saying So Long for Another Season, 2. Waxwing when we use to have leaves!, 3. Herring Gulls riding the wind, 4. Northern Saw-whet Owl, 5. darner species, 6. running away newt, 7. Red House Creek, 8. a Happy Red Squirrel,
9. Summer Velvet, 10. Trouble Bears, 11. summer azure, 12. mamma and the kids, 13. cecropia moth, 14. big campfire, 15. Along the side of the road!, 16. Office Visitor,
17. Sharp-shinned Hawk, 18. can I help you with something, 19. woodfrog eggs, 20. an older monarch photo, 21. Snowdrops in the Rain, 22. Northern Saw-whet Owl, 23. Mini Me!, 24. Scotish Highland Cow,
25. Red House Lake, 26. A Summer Millipede, 27. Viceroy, 28. Gray Comma Looking a little camouflage!, 29. NSWO, 30. White Admiral
The End of a Good Season
This year the Allegany State Park (Northern Saw-whet Owl) Banding Station was open for 28 nights and we captured 40 individuals with 49 total NSWO captures. We do not catch the large numbers like what the big migration sites catch but the numbers this season was significantly better than the previous two years. We caught an additional Barred Owl and Eastern Screech Owl during the project with the unexpected captures of some Northern Flying Squirrel, a Northern Long-eared Bat and then a White-tailed Deer which run through one of the nets.
A NSWO just after being released.
The percentage of captured males / female / unknown sex were fairly consistent with the previous year’s numbers. We also found similar consistency with hatch year and after hatch year birds. There was a significant increase of birds per 100 net hours and our capture numbers were also increased due to two big migration nights. On 26th October we had a 10 bird night with 3 additional birds returning to the mist net that same evening. The next big night was on the 10th of November with 9 new captures, 2 recaptures from the 26 th of October and one same night recapture. The birds who returned 15 days later both lost weight during their stopover.
|
|
Captured Individuals |
% Male |
% Female |
% Unknown Sex |
% Hatch Year |
% After Hatch Year |
Birds per 100 nethours |
|
2004 |
13 |
8 |
77 |
15 |
31 |
69 |
4.03 |
|
2005 |
26 |
12 |
69 |
19 |
58 |
38 |
2.87 |
|
2006 |
40 |
10 |
70 |
20 |
60 |
40 |
5.25 |
Part of being involved with Project Owlnet is the ability to network and share everyone’s knowledge with other Northern Saw-whet Owl Banders across North America. We are able to look for unique differences or similarities throughout each of the stations by using similar protocols. The obvious observations this year across the East Coast were that the Northern Saw-whet Owls were a week or two behind in their movement south. I have a strong suspicion that many of those birds had a longer stopover here in the Western New York area (as reported by my two 15 day recaptures). This season our last capture date was on the 24th of November which was 12 days after our 2005 late date. I have to agree with my fellow banders that these birds were behind in their movement south.
This picture is of a NSWO caught in the mist net.
On occasion we capture foreign owls originally banded by another bander. After reporting these finds to the Bird Banding Lab the Project Owlnet will sometimes assist in quickly connecting your wonderful find with the original bander. This season we were able to capture 3 foreign recaptured birds. We learned that 2 of the birds were originally banded in Ontario Canada and the 3rd owl had not been reported to the Banding Lab yet. I have a strong suspicion that this bird also came from Ontario Canada (time will tell).
A foreign recaptured NSWO (after second year) with a unique wing molt pattern
I would like to thank my banding assistant Jordon and numerous other volunteers which assisted me with the banding operations. It is with their help which keeps this station in operation and keep me entertained after my many long hours of sleepless nights. The season is being scheduled to start again October 1st, 2007 for Fall Migration here in Allegany State Park. I have to work out the detail but I would love to give Lake Erie State Park a try for Spring Migration. Please return to the blog to see any updates on my visits to the numerous Saw-whet Owl boxes which were placed by some Eagles Scouts last summer and any summer breeding pairs located!
fun two owl species night!
We caught and banded two different species of owls last night. Since this project is about studying the migration of the Northern Saw-whet Owls, we obviously did catch one of these fuzz balls. If you would have told me a month ago that I would still be catching so many of these owls this late in the season, I would have just shook my head and smiled. Once again, there is still a great deal that needs to be learned about these owls! About 10-15 years ago we didn’t even know that Saw-whet Owls migrated, yet alone realize how common they really are.
Didn’t I mention that I caught two different species of owls?? Sometimes you “JUST” have a feeling that there are birds around. I had this “feeling” on my midnight check last night. I walked to the end of the nets – with no owls. Turned around and started walking back with a larger bird which I spooked and it flew right into the nets. With my mind started thinking quickly, “no way is that a saw-whet”, then “could it be a Long-eared Owl”??. Ok, I did hear one in 2004 vocalizing around the nets but someday my dream might come true that we’ll catch one! This time it was the turn of the Eastern Screech Owl (gray phase). Although they are commonly heard around the house, I have never heard one vocalizing way up the hill where the nets are located. This was an absolute surprise and a first for the project. I do hope in the future that these birds decided to use my nest boxes that I have placed back behind the house. It has been 3 years now and I probably should choose a better location which would be less interesting to the starlings.
Screech Owls do come in two color phases. The gray phase is the most common color phases but on occasion, we do encounter the red phase. About two weeks ago; one of the maintenance guys (for the museum) brought me a dead red phase which was located along the road here in Red House. They said they had a small brown owl and my first thought was “Saw-whet”! But this bird did turn out being my first red phased Eastern Screech Owl that I have encountered here in the park in a very long time. It was a sad find but also an interesting find.
Winds are picking up this evening and I plan on staying open as long as possible without having to close. I do anticipate this might be my last evening unless the weather man is wrong with his predictions for the rest of the week. Winds are picking up, bad weather is approaching quickly and the moon will be getting brighter and higher in the sky every night. It has been a wonderful season and it is very sad that this will be coming to the end soon. When I do finally call it quits, I will give an overall summery for everyone to read. Wish me luck tonight!
Thanksgiving Day
Today I had a wonderful day off going for a long hike and having Thanksgiving dinner over at my parent’s house. I did make it back from Thanksgiving dinner to open the mist nets on time. Three more Northern Saw-whet Owls were caught this evening with perfect light NE (becoming northern) winds coming from the nor’easter moving up the east coast.
This might sound strange but I was excited to see a Porcupine walking down the middle of the trail during my second net check. After living here for 3 years, this is the first Porcupine that I have encountered around the house! Although, they are extremely common throughout the park; I believe the absences of the Porcupines in this area is due to a Fisher that has become more numerous over the past few years. They live in trees and are specialized in flipping over Porcupines without getting injured from their quills. Tracks were first observed in this area around 2001 and this summer we were able to spotlight one while it was calling around midnight. This helped me confirm those unusual vocalizations which have been keeping me awake in the late hours of the night. I even chased one through the picnic grounds, through a wetland and up into a pine plantation about 5-5:30am trying to get a photo of this critter (without any luck). The presents of this Porcupine has to be a sign that the balance between the Fisher and Porcupines must be good and those unusual sounds will continue many more nights next summer.
This is a little off track but I needed to include this in tonight’s blog!! One of the neighbors had Thanksgiving dinner over at their house and their family wanted to see me band one of the owls that I caught! So, a few of them came over to the house and I started doing a mini banding demonstration. Moments later one of their cell phones started to go off with “get over here right now, your stove is smoking!!”. Good thing they did, they opened the oven with a fire extinguisher in hand and there were large flames coming out! Although the house filled up with smoke, no one was injured and the fire was put out before anything got worse. I have a feeling he spent the night cleaning up after the fire extinguisher and smoke!
I hope your evening wasn’t as eventful and you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Another frost night brings in the birds!
Can you believe it; I caught two more Northern Saw-whet Owls tonight. One was what we call a hatch year bird (born this summer and the other was a foreign recaptured bird (originally banded by someone else). The Bird Banding Lab didn’t have any data on the recaptured bird, so it will be a little while until I learn where it originated.
Weather looks good for the next few nights; I plan on continuing the project until the Owls stop moving or weather forces me to close! Working around the holiday will be hard but I will make it happen (somehow). Ugg!! Winds should be too perfect not to open!
Sun, Stars and the Night Sounds
I find myself turning off my headlamp after checking the nets for owls!! There is nothing like walking through the woods in the absolute darkness. It’s only you and the sparkling stars which are leading you back to the banding station. Yes, I slip in the mud, crunch in the frozen leaves and even trip over twigs, but there is no way I would have wanted to miss that green shooting star streaking across the sky. Looking up, I see my favorite star cluster which takes me back to the main part of the road. Hmmm ….. Oooo ….. wait…… what is that cluster called??? Ugg, I can never remember those star names!!
When you find yourself in total darkness, your other senses take control. What are those squeaking sounds?? Isn’t this where I always see that Peromyscus mouse looking for food in the mud?? What’s that smell?? Are those Geese down on the lake?? No wait, that’s a pack of coyotes vocalizing?? Quickly, headlamp comes on; flash light come out from the pocket; I start walking quicker.
This is the coldest it has been since early November when we were hit with the lake effect snow. Even with the sun out today, the temperatures never got above 37 degrees F. I seriously considered taking the day off of work to get out enjoying the sun. But, I continued the numerous projects that I was working on and dreamed about the possibilities of catching a fluff ball tonight.
The past two nights had perfect North West winds which resulted in no birds. Now tonight we had light South West winds and resulted in catching three Northern Saw-whet Owls. One of which was a foreign recaptured bird (originally banded by someone else) from Ontario Canada in 2005. Isn’t it amazing that I can report a band number to the Bird Banding Lab and within seconds have its life history? Then again, isn’t it amazing your all reading my blog and finding out what I have been up to??
BTW: I remember now, Cassiopeia is the star cluster which I love! Why can’t I remember this Queens name?? You think I would remember!!
Following the Pot of Gold
A rainbow appeared around 3pm today after a constant 20 hours of rain. I just needed to open my windows due to temperatures being above average (71.2°F) and I wanted my cats to get some outside smells. I had full intentions on going to Wal-Mart for some needed groceries but something told me to try to find that gold (or fluff ball) at the end of that rainbow!
Photo taken by Birdmom in mid October during the Camp Flicker Event.
I have found myself reenergized after the opportunity of meeting Scott Weidensaul yesterday. We had some wonderful discussions on owl banding and I feel it helped me remember how important it is to get out each evening to study these owls.
As the sun started to set, I started asking questions like “will I continue to capture birds later than the previous two seasons”, “Could birds still be hanging around” or “could I capture any new birds tonight”?? All questions which I anticipate answering after another wonderful warm evening.
On my first net check there was a recaptured Northern Saw-whet Owl from a few nights previous but with this rain there weren’t any surprise that it was still hanging around. I did not expect that newly captured bird caught only minutes before a mini rain storm that hit. This has been my 31st bird this season. During the 4th hour of operation the nets were closed due to a larger storm that started to approached from the south. Thank goodness for nexrad radar for giving me the heads up on this storm.
It’s so hard to believe that snow and more rain is predicted for the next few evenings. I saw numerous Redbacked Salamanders running along the the leaves and logs while closing my nets. It almost feels like April Showers without any of the May flowers. I don’t expect to open again until next Monday or Tuesday!
FYI: I would like to thank my friend Bill Adams who blogged one of my owl photos from this site. Please check it out at: http://billadams.net/billblog/?p=70
Scott Weidensaul Returns to Wild America
On Wednesday author/ornithologist Scott Weidensaul spent the day speaking to many guest and members of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, New York. I have had numerous communications with Scott via email due to my Saw-whet Owl studies here in Allegany State Park. I found it a pleasure in finally meeting him in person. I recommend that you take the time to read his book “Living on the Wind” which has won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize. I love this book so much that I have quoted the “studying bird migration by the full moon” info in my Mon@rch Nature Blog.
Scott currently has numerous bird banders and volunteers involved with his Northern Saw-whet Owl banding project. Currently he oversees 3 banding stations located across southern Pennsylvania and has had a very low number of captures this season. We were comparing our numbers of owls, mice heard and of course this wet weather. I hope Scott is correct with his prediction that next season will be an irruption year for these little fuzz balls. During the “meet the author” reception, Scott discussed what genetic studies his team has been looking at across North America, some radio telemetry work being done in Pennsylvania and discussion on how he is using this information to better understanding the nomadic behaviors of these owls.
Scott continued in his discussion on some of his other studies involving western hummingbirds that have showed up across the eastern North America. He described some of the theories on why this has started to occur and what it means for those rare species that are regularly visiting people’s hummingbird feeders.
Further discussions reveled that Scott is also very interested in herpetology since childhood. I feel very fortunate to learn about an experience he had with a Milk Snake and the proper ways of grasping these snakes.
The main lecture was focused on his new book “Return to Wild America”. In 1953, Roger Tory Peterson and British Ornithologist James Fisher adventured down the east coast starting in Newfoundland, across the Florida Keys into Mexico, then up into Alaska. Scott followed this North American tour exactly 50 years after these two renowned naturalists took the trip and Scott was successful in describing the changes (good and bad) which have occurred over those 50 years. He showed a beautiful slide program with descriptions on how the two adventures were similar and different. I will let you read the book to hear some of those stories but you had to be there to experience the sound effects he vocalized and his discription of visualizing some sausages he saw out on the beach. I enjoyed this slide program and suggest that you take the time to visit him when he speaks at a Nature Center near you.
Overall, Scott was a very kind hearted individual and I would have loved to spend some time out in the field with him. He autographed my book with “For Tom, a fellow Saw-whet Nut – keep sending them south!”. You can purchase his book at Amazon.com to read more about his adventure.
Next author being scheduled at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute is Bill Thompson III (still unsure the date and time). Bill is the current owner of Birdwatchers Digest and both Bill and his wife (Julie) are wonderful “entertaining” speakers. I recently learned about their blogs at Bill of the Birds and Julie Zickefoose blog and plan on visiting these blogs on a daily basis. I am lucky to say that I have had the opportunity to meet both of them on numerous occasions. The family has gone camping here in Allegany State Park during the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage and I have run into him at a few conferences that I have attended. I expect this to be equally entertaining program and I hope you are able to attend.
the night might be a little wet but all is good
Weather man stated that it was going to be raining but I still decided to give another banding session a try! What makes tonight unique is that if I catch a Northern Saw-whet Owl it will be the latest in the season which I have ever banded one.
Of course the weather man was right and I had to close my nets early due to light rain. Even with this rain, I still was able to band that cute fluff ball very early in the night!! I have hopes that the next two nights will produce some better weather.
A Northern Saw-whet Owl – November Surprise
Friday evening after 11 hours of banding, the Allegany State Park station had one of its best nights. What I don’t understand was that Thursdays evening also had equally nice winds (from the north) but we didn’t catch any owls. The different I did notice between the two nights was that birds normally moving south were observed in the NEXRAD radar moving in a westerly direction.
Within the first 4 hours of operations we had banded 7 newly captured birds and there was no doubt that I wouldn’t be going to bed until 5am in the morning. Winds were calm from the North East and then slowly shifted to the South East as the evening progressed. I had decided to close early due to a slow spell that appeared to be developing. But I have this simple rule that when you catch an owl, the nets must stay open for another net check. It wasn’t until 4:15am that I got my first opportunity to close and head to bed. I seriously considered doing an all nighter but the winds really started picking up and there was a big storm closely approaching. It was time to close everything up and head to bed.
Catching 11 individuals for the night is the stations new record!! Overall the station banded 9 new birds and 2 additional individuals originally banded 15 days ago during the Perfect Fluffball Night. The one recaptured bird was our friend from earlier in the week (Nov 6 ) which had lost 10.3grams!! Over the past 4 nights this bird has gained back 2.2grams. The other recaptured bird which I had originally banded 15 days ago had lost 5.2 grams (which is almost 6% of its body weight).
Questions that I begin to ask after looking at the data include: Are these two young birds local birds which have no intention on migrating south? Were they hatched late in the season and not ready to start moving yet? Could these birds have arrived at their current wintering grounds? Is it possible that due to weather these birds have located a stopover site and will continue migration in the near future? I hope that over time that we can answer these questions and get a better understanding of these birds Natural History. All I can hope is that my neighboring banding friends catch these fluff balls at their station!!
FYI: Many banders across the North East have been reporting this owl season being one of their worse season in 10 or more years. I have not had the consistent captures like last year but I have had 2 “BIG” nights which have taken me over my previous two year’s numbers (birds per net hours and individuals captured). The best part is that my season isn’t over yet! Check back to Mon@rch’s Nature Blog for learning how my season continues. (I think its time for a nap)!!
A few new and one old friend
I caught three owls tonight. The first was around 7:30ish and boy what it cute. I then needed to do a quick trammel line fix after a flying squirrel did some chewing, grrr. While spending a little time mending, I heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl vocalizing just above me. I quickly finished tying the line and got out of there as quick as I could. Next check there was that fluff ball in net B7. This was a recaptured bird that I originally banded 11 days ago (during the Perfect Fluffball night). Over the past 11 days this bird lost 10.3grams which turned out being 9.8% of its body weight. The last capture was a new bird around closing. Radar showed a decent movement of birds this evening and many stations along the east coast are finding similar results.
Other bird news: While out banding ~ 9:30ish (EST) there was a large flock of Tundra Swans flying overhead. It appears their migration has started!
Full Moon and Apple Fritters
Tonight was a good night at the Allegany State Park Owl Banding Station! I had that feeling things were going to be good as soon as my neighbor dropped off some Apple Fritters just because they had a little extra! I was happy to thank them with a phone call around 7:30pm asking them if they would like to see a foreign recaptured owl that I had just caught. This Northern Saw-whet Owl was previously banded two years ago in Ontario Canada (thanks to quick database response from the Bird Banding Lab). It will probably be a few days before I learn more about this owl’s previous capture.
This is this stations second ever foreign recaptured bird and both have come from Ontario Canada. What is also ironic is that both birds have been caught in the fall during the official “full moon” night. Tonight’s bird was caught with dark clouds covering the moon where the other bird was caught during the darkest part of a lunar eclipse.
Radar shows very little movement of birds and this might be due to bad wind direction.
Night with almost a full moon
This evening I had a visitor from the Buffalo area with hopes of catching a Northern Saw-whet Owl. Of course we didn’t catch any fluff balls but we did recapture that Barred Owl from earlier last month (Unusual Visitor). What was interesting was that this bird lost just over 100 grams from its last capture (~7.5% of its body weight). We both agree that it was exciting to watch it flying up into the tree (backlit by the moon), turn around to look back at us and then fly away! I regret not having my camera with me!!
I would like to thank Jerry for putting up with my numerous bird quizzes and me being me!!! I would also thank you for the Sliced Cream Cake that you left here! Hmmmm! I hope next time we will be very busy banding Owls and I would love to break that 10 bird night record!
Radar did show a little movement of birds but the winds were from the south and there might have been some rain disturbance across WNY. As discussed in previous moon blog (full moon bird observations), the capture rate of owls isn’t good when the moon is out. I think having snow on the ground with no leaves made everything appear much brighter than last month’s full moon. I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t catch any owls for the next few nights.
Today was a very pretty morning with a light layer of snow on the ground and the sun out! For good bird news, I had my first of the fall Ring-neck Ducks and Pied-billed Grebes in Red House Lake. I also might have seen my first of the fall Tree Sparrows along Rt. 2 but didn’t have my binoculars to confirm the sighting. It shouldn’t be long before I start to see them everywhere.
I am off to bed and I hope my next blog reports capture of some fuzz balls.
Happy Halloween!
Halloween is the time for the hunted ghost, goblins and critters that move through the night! As a kid, I remember getting dressing up and begging for candy from my neighbors. Once older it was my job to assist my mother in giving away candy to the up and coming little trick or treaters. For the past few years I have moved away from the candy business and spend my time better undstanding the soft feathered owls moving through the sky (which are the halloween spooks).
Tonight I was not expecting any owls due to southern winds, clear skies and the bright moon. Radar showed very little bird movement and conditions were not good at all. This was a true Halloween treat during my second net check locating a fuzzball. There was no other activity the rest of the night except at the strike of midnight!! I ended up with a little brown bat in my net (happy Halloween to me, grrr). Thank heavens for thick gloves and rabies shots!
My Nephew going Boooo!!
*** I would like to thank my friends from Ontario Canada for visiting the banding station yesterday. I was able to call in an Eastern Screech Owl for them but I was not able to band owls due to very high winds and rain from the previous night. Lets hope that on their next visit that the nets will be full of little fuzz balls for them.
The Perfect Fluff Ball Night
Ok, let me cut to the chase! First net check and there she was the most beautiful fluff ball that I have ever seen!! I must admit that I had a feeling that this night would be good but I never expected this to be the best night in this banding stations history!
I really need to go back in time and tell you what is going on. For numerous nights the weather here in Allegany State Park has not been the best for my owl studies. The discussions with other owl banders from across the eastern United States have all been disappointed by the low numbers being captured. Some of the theories are that food supply is very good up in Canada and the owls just don’t need to migrate south this year. I guess we will never know until the season is over. Small banding stations like Allegany rely on good weather conditions to have a good owl night. If you look in some of my previous post, you will notice that I have been watching radar for good movements of birds. Tonight’s weather is almost perfect with very calm winds, clear sky, cold temperature and a waxing crescent moon. I believe that many of these birds were bottled up due to weather and just waiting for a night like tonight. Please check out this radar image from this evening to see the millions of birds that are moving south.
On my first check this hatching year female was just waiting to be banded. She was the most perfect owl and I took some pictures of her talons for a future blog!! After processing her and then with her release, I realized that it was almost time to head back up the hill for another check. As I turned the corner of one of the nets, I could see something up on the 8th trammel. Could that be leaves?? Nope, owl number 2 for the night!! It wasn’t until my fourth net check that I recaptured both previously banded owls from earlier in the evening! Not wanting to catch them for a 3rd time, I decided to take them a little further away so onward over to the Park Police station for a quick visit (they always enjoy seeing the birds being released). I was joined by one of my neighbors for the next net check (getting excited with all the owls being caught). It must have been his luck because we caught two more Saw-whet Owls. I quickly gave a banding demo after returning to the station and we laughed because one of my cats (Lazy) stood there looking through the window trying to figure out what we were doing.
My neighbor and I continue back up to the hill to check the nets once again! He said “did we catch another one”?? My comment was, “did we catch one?? we have three owls in the net”! You talk about things starting to get hectic!!! I just knew that there was no way that I would be going to bed any time soon and of course I need to be at work at 8am in the morning!
My record for the station was 5 birds on two occasions and I never expected to have banded 10 new birds with 13 total captures for the night! I kept the nets open until 3:30am and I am now off to bed. Please don’t mind any grammar errors; it’s been a long night!
Just another day!
These days happen to all of us from time to time! Mine started with my nose running and throat all scratchy. I almost forgot about doing a needed net repair after my last banding session. A flying squirrel had chewing through one of my trammel lines which I needed to replace before sunset. I had fallen in the mud numerous times while checking for owls. On my 9:15pm check I heard that flying squirrel going “squeak, squeak” not far from my nets. I looked around saying, “please not tonight – please”! Over and over again I end up checking my nets with no fuzz balls. Even worse, I forgot that the TV series Lost was on tonight and missed the first 45 minutes of the show!
Then again, days like today are what keep me one of the happiest naturalist in the world! I observed my first two Horned Grebes this fall swimming in Red House Lake. Weather has allowed me to open my nets again after many frustrating nights of rain and lake effect. The fresh air has allowed me to breathe again and it feels wonderful to be able to walk around!! I saw my little wild mouse buddy hopping around the path, I had to say hello. I continued to find myself turning off my headlamp while walk back to the house. It is amazing the numerous little sounds you’ll hear. Some of the sounds included small mammals squeaking, passerines calling over head, geese honking and the trickling sounds of the water in the drainage ditch! I also happen to catch a few stars trying to peek through the clouds (All of which I have not seen or heard in a quite a few days).
I might not have caught any owls tonight but it was well worth the attempt. There is always tomorrow to try again!!
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 