NYS Ornithological Association Annual Meeting
Peregrine Falcon at Iroquois
This weekend I attended the New York State Ornithological Association Annual Meeting in Batavia, New York. This meeting was hosted by the Buffalo Ornithological Society and I would like to say “thanks” for doing such an astonishing job organizing everything. You guessed it . . . . I had a LIFER this weekend!! (more…)
BBBO Birdies
Golden-crowned Kinglet and my thumb
This week I have been posting pictures from our “big” banding day at Braddock Bay Bird Observatory, which is located in Rochester, NY. My first two post talked about the Wood-Warblers and the Thrush species that were banded by the BBBO Staff. Today I wanted to do a post on some of the other great birds that were banded and how the staff is able to run a station like this. (more…)
BBBO Thrush
Hermit, Gray-cheeked and Swainson’s by Young Naturalist J
My previous post showed the amazing warbler day that we had at Braddock Bay Bird Observatory on Monday. But note that the warblers were not the only family of birds that we caught!! We had just as wonderful of a day with 4 species of thrush. (more…)
Chimney Swifts in Allegany State Park
Chimney Swift
One of my joys of being around Allegany State Park is watching the Chimney Swifts entering chimneys around the Administration Building during dusk hours. These unique birds look almost like flying cigars and are remarkable fliers. You typically hear them chattering before you ever get a chance to see them. Chimney Swifts are constantly flying throughout the day in search of food and can travel long distances. They will roost and nest in chimneys and are historically known to use the hollow trees in the forest for nesting. I sometimes wonder if they are not still doing this in some areas. (more…)
Tagging my first Monarch
Just Hatched
While Young Naturalist C was in Cape Cod watching Whales and having a good time at the beach . . . . those of us back in Allegany State Park were butterfly sitting her caterpillars/chrysalis while she was off on vacation. Just last Thursday her oldest Monarch Butterfly emerged from its chrysalis (who Young Naturalist C named Lulu) and so I asked her mother if I could tag my first monarch (C couldn’t be around to tag it). (more…)
CLDC END YEAR REPORT
Eastern Towhee
Here is my end of the year report for the CLDC MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) 2007 season. I have not entered all the data into the computer yet . . . . so this is only preliminary “end of the year” report. I quickly went through the data for the species numbers (hope I didn’t miss anything)! We had 7 banding sessions and were able to capture 153 new individuals and 14 recaptured individuals from previous years. We used 10 (12 meter) Polyester mist-nets and banded for 6 hours after the official sunrise time. We had 167 different individuals captured with 200 total captures (including same year captures) for the 2007 season. (more…)
SWAT END YEAR REPORT
Song Sparrow (most captured species)
I have finally gone through all of my 2007 SWAT MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) raw data this week. It has been hard trying to focus on this report with “other” new higher speed internet distractions that I have been having recently. Regarding the SWAT report: we had 6 banding sessions and able to capture a total of 164 different individuals with 34 same year recaptures. We used 8 (12 meter) polyester mist-nets and banded for 6 hours after the official sunrise time. That gave us a total of 198 captures for the station and we were very happy with the excellent year that we had. Even with the need to close the station early due to the Long-tailed Weasel that terrorizing us. We are not sure what we will do with next season (regarding the weasel) but we have all winter to figure something out. (more…)
My Morning Alarm Clock
Ruby-throated Hummingbird!
When I lived in the city . . . . we typically had one, maybe two hummingbirds that regularly visited my feeder. Once I moved into a house in the woods; I quickly learned that the hummingbird feeders not only attract many hummingbirds but they also attract other critters (like bears). Three years ago I had a bear encounter that changed where I have placed my hummingbird feeder. Making the long story short; about 2am in the morning the bear destroyed the feeder, fell “threw” my screen window (was half into my house), broke the window frame and woke me up from a dead sleep. Now if I would like to feed the hummingbirds . . . . I need to place the feeder somewhere on the second floor (out of reach of the critters). The most convenient location was outside my bedroom window. (more…)
Last CLDC MAPS Session
A recaptured Common Yellowthroat who remembers me from last year.
Today was our last CLDC MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding session for the 2007 season! This was such a wonderful year and I can’t wait to enter all my data into the computer to learn how this season compared with other years. I promise in the near future that I will do a summary for both CLDC and SWAT banding station. (more…)
SWAT Shut Down!
Long-tailed Weasel (with eye flash)
I made it official today . . . . the SWAT banding site is closed for the season. After an unwanted visitor showed some continued interest in my birds . . . . I made the decision to shut everything down for the safety of the birds. After discussing this situation with the Institute of Bird Populations, they agreed that my decision to shut down for the season is the best thing to do. (more…)
FOG AT THE CLDC MAPS
Tufted Titmouse
This morning was one of our foggiest days that we have had at the CLDC MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) Banding Station in a VERY long time. I feared that this thick fog would reduce the number of birds that we would end up capturing. Instead the birdies were soo abundant that we found ourselves spending most of our time trying to catch up with net checks! (more…)
GOOD AND BAD at SWAT!
Did you ever have one of these days when many good things happen but then you have some bad things happen! Today is just one of those days at the SWAT MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding station.
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Flickr Guest at CLDC MAPS
Sunrise Shot Overlooking the Banding Station
Yesterday was a slower day with the birds but we had some great company. Marg, who is a regular blog commenter and a wonderful flickr photographer visited the CLDC MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding station. It was an awesome way to spend some time together to talk about banding, flickr, photography and life in general. (more…)
Unwanted Visitor at the SWAT site!
A very light colored juvenile Downy Woodpecker
We had a wonderful day banding birds over at the SWAT MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding station today. We had a family visit who has been camping here in the park for a very long time, two couples from buffalo make it down, Young Naturalist C (who was the Banding Assistant for the day) and her sister Young Naturalist E visit the banding station. But, you ask, “who was the unwanted visitor??”!! I will get to it . . . . I promise!! (more…)
The Banding Process
Many of our tools use when banding birds!
Last weekend I handed my camera over to Young Naturalist J to document our banding station for the day. Since this is an off weekend for me, I figured this would be a more than appropriate time to do this post since so many of my die-hard blogging friends have asked for this post. I sure hope this helps give you an idea on what we do at the banding station but do note that all photos (except the last one) were taken by Young Naturalist J! (more…)
Makeup Rain Day – SWAT
(Brother and Sister) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Today we had another great day at the SWAT MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding session here in Allegany State Park. This was a rescheduled session after the rained-out day we had last Wednesday. (more…)
A “Veery” Busy Day
Veery taken by young Naturalist J
You know that you had a busy day banding when you find that you had many wonderful birds and very few pictures to show. Today at the CLDC MAPS banding site we captured 11 different species and 42 different individuals. We collected 23 Avian Bird Flu samples, placed 26 new bands on birds and recaptured 16 individuals. I really need to go back in my records to see how long ago we captured some of these individuals. Maybe this would be a great wrap-up post??
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Rain, grrr
This morning our SWAT MAPS banding station was scheduled for banding. I woke up with light rain but the weather man said that it wouldn’t rain until 11am. So, onward to the banding station and luckily it did stopped. . . . I decided to open the nets and give some banding a try. An hour into the banding session it started to rain again (uggg). I had just started doing a net check, so I decided to just close all the nets up. Birds were singing up a storm, we had captured a family of Redstarts, a Yellow Warbler, two male Magnolia Warblers and a Gray Catbird. The rain continued for about 45 minutes while I processed the captured birds and I then finally decided to cancel the session (just before the rain stopped). Do I open the nets again or do I keep them closed till Sunday?? Decisions, decisions!!! I figured the nets were close already; I would just reschedule the banding until next Sunday. I then went home to crawled back into bed!! I had woken up to the sun shining in my window and singing birds outside the window!! Ok, the sun was only out for a few seconds but I just knew at that point that I made the wrong decision in closing early! I hope that my make-up day is full of good birdies! (BTW: The time of this post would be when I would be closing up my nets.)
So . . . . Happy 4th of July! Now off to a Chicken Barbeque!!
Baby Day at the CLDC Site
American Robin fledgling.
Yesterday was our “Baby Day” at our CLDC MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding session. It appears that many of our fledglings are just starting to fledge the nest and will soon be on their own!! (more…)
Bald Eagles and their Change of Status
Peter Nye who is a Biologist and head of the Endangered Species Unit for the NYS DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) talked on NPR yesterday regarding his restoration and conservation efforts of the Bald Eagles here in New York State. You can listen to the story | HERE ON NPR|. This was done after yesterday’s announcement from the Interior Department that they are removing the American Bald Eagle from protection under the Endangered Species Act. Personally, I think it is still a little early for the federal government to remove them from this list but I guess this is a good thing that happened! (more…)
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in Allegany State Park
Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
In the 1930’s the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was considered “a regular summer bird of Allegany Park but it is not very common. It occurs regularly about the edges of big timber areas such as the Big Basin and other patches of mature Maple-Beech” (A.A. Saunders. 1942. Summer Birds of the Allegany State Park, NYS Museum Handbook 18). Saunders did not document any nesting pairs of Sapsuckers but did indicate that he saw some fledglings. Baird found the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had gone from 0 breeding pairs in 1930 up to 282 breeding pairs in the Quaker Run Valley in just over 55 years (T.H. Baird. 1990. Changes in Breeding Bird Populations Between 1930 and 1985 in the Quaker Run Valley of Allegany State Park, NYS Museum Bulletin No. 477). I have also found the Sapsucker to be commonly found (if not the most commonly found woodpecker) here in Allegany State Park. But I have also found that they are more commonly heard moving through the woods than being seen. They are quickly identified by their unevenly drumming song and their cat-like call notes that are very distinctive for this species. (more…)
Another SWAT morning!
Chestnut-sided Warbler being released on the MAPS Cap
Today a family from Michigan (who are camping in Allegany for the week) visited our SWAT MAPS banding station here in Allegany State Park. They have been attending my nature walks since 1999 and joined me with my bird banding for as long as we have been friends. They have always supported our studies and volunteered to make all of our bird bags that we are using. They saved the banding station with their wonderful sowing skills and we are grateful for all they have done for us!!! (more…)
Bird “Parts”
I am soo going to regret posting this because I am just going to get all kinds of sp@m from the verbiage that I am using! Today I visited Sharon’s “California Hill” MAPS banding station which is located about 45 minutes north of my house. Sharon has been helping me band birds at my stations for just about as long as I have been banding birds. It is nice that on my off days that I am able to assist her with her banding station. Today I was able to capture a few great bird photos but I will be posting them at a different time (maybe a birdQUIZ??)! I want to focus on today’s post with something unusual that we found on one of the birds. Before I get into that find, lets first talk about a few of the bird parts that us banders need to look at while banding!
Spanish Day at CLDC Banding Site
Chestnut-sided Warbler
On Saturday we had a superb day at the CLDC MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding station. We banded 18 different species of birds, 23 were newly banded individuals, 9 were recaptured birds and we were able to collected 14 Avian Bird Flu samples. We had both Young Naturalist J and Young Naturalist C as my banding assistants for this banding session (including their parents). Young Naturalist C brought her friend Amy with her to the station and of course I also assigned some duties for her to do. (more…)
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