Presque Isle State Park Bird Banding

Cleopatra, Queen of the Isle

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:48:00 +0000

We caught another saw-whet owl!

Friday, October 28th, was our last day of banding, and this little girl was our last bird, a great way to end the fall banding season!

We named her Cleopatra, Queen of the Isle.

Check out Cleo's feet! Those talons are sharp, take my word for it-- if you see any blood on them, it's mine!

The back view

Lauren found a new friend

Mattie did too

Getting ready to release Cleopatra

She liked us so much she decided to hang around in a nearby tree for a few minutes before flying off.

The end is upon us

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:34:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that Friday, October 28, will be our last day of banding for the fall (weather permitting, of course). We'll probably start later in the morning, around 9 a.m., because it looks like it's going to be pretty chilly. The plan is also to try to band owls tomorrow evening, again weather permitting.

We've got almost all our data entered, so I'll try to get some preliminary stats for the season up before migrating home for the winter myself! Personally, I want to know how many of those Myrtle's we caught!

Also-- check out who was in the news!

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011310279946

Make sure you click on the slideshow to see pictures of us banding on Wednesday!

http://reprints.goerie.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=38517493&event=1349714&CategoryID=60309

The Cutest Things Ever.

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:03:00 +0000

Northern saw-whet owls are pretty much The Cutest Things Ever. This is not an opinion, this is fact. If you look up “Cutest Thing Ever” in the encyclopedia, it says “See Northern Saw-whet Owl.” I am not making that up. Okay, maybe I am, but that’s what it should say. As soon as I’m done with this blog post, I’m modifying the saw-whet Wikipedia article.

Saw-whets live across most of North America, and some of them migrate south from Canada to spend the winter in the mid- to lower United States. Large concentrations of these owls will migrate around the Great Lakes, which puts Presque Isle right in the thick of it. Or that’s what we hoped when we set out to catch a few.

Northern Saw-whet Owl

We’d attempted to band saw-whets on three different nights, and apparently third time’s the try. The set up for banding owls is somewhat similar to our set up for banding other birds. We scoped out the best location, which Mattie decided was along the Pine Tree Trail, closest to the bay side of the park. We set up 6 nets along the trail, and then to really get the party started we put on a CD called “Hoot-Hoot!! Northern Saw-whet Party Mix,” a recording of various saw-whet vocalizations (I’m assuming this is the official name used by researchers). Have you ever listened to saw-whet calls on repeat for 4+ hours for three evenings? Needless to say, I’m pretty good with saw-whet calls now.

In addition to our rockin’ music selection, our banding party also includes hot chocolate, cheese and crackers (we’re a classy bunch), donuts, and soup. We set up a folding table and chairs with a lantern and a black-light to really get the mood right, and settle in for the wait. Every hour, in-between hands of Uno (it gets pretty wild, let me tell you), we get up and check the nets to see if any owls have been lured in by our recording.

1st saw-whet in the net


Mattie untangling the 2nd owl

Almost out

The first night we caught a flying squirrel, which was somewhat exciting (when you’re trying to catch one of The Cutest Things Ever, anything less is a bit of a let-down). It was not happy to be our guest, to say the least, and showed its displeasure by chewing a giant hole in the net. Giant as in I can just about fit through length-wise, and I’m 5’9”. For a creature the size of my palm, this is fairly impressive. This is also why our owl banding kit includes leather gloves.

Our second attempt yielded nothing, though we did cut the evening short because a thunderstorm decided to party-crash. Luckily, we managed to get everything packed up before the torrential rain put a damper on things. It was on the third try that our honored owl guests decided to join the party.

Lauren makes a friend

These two were actually pretty early for the party—they arrived in time for our first net-check, around 8:30 p.m., which means they were probably roosting somewhere in the park and had not flown across the lake that night. If we were catching owls that had just flown across the border we’d expect them to arrive fashionably later in the evening, having spent a few hours flying across Lake Erie from Canada.

We named this one Amy. She was feisty.

When we catch the owls, we record the same sort of data as we do for the smaller, less-cute birds we normally band. We measure the wing chord, weight, and attempt to determine the age and sex. Sex is determined by size, females having longer wings and higher weights. To figure out age, we break out the black-light (it wasn’t really for party atmosphere). If you shine a black-light on the underside of the owl’s wing, the feathers will glow either pink or purple. Younger owls have a uniform pink tint, while older owls will have a mix of pink and purple or all purple. How cool is that? However, what I’m wondering is this: who was the first to figure that out?

Mattie with our party guest

Saw-whets are basically fuzzy little heads with wings and a tail. Their wings are surprisingly long, with a wingspan of 16.5 to 18.9 inches, dwarfing their tiny bodies. They have feathers all down their legs and toes, which end in black talons, needle-sharp and tiny as kitten claws. These talons, though small, can deliver a surprisingly strong grip, as I found out with the first saw-whet, who had separation anxiety and wouldn’t let go of my fingers. Imagine a cat with opposable toes gripping into your nail bed, not quite breaking the skin, but close. It’s almost, but not quite, painful enough to detract from its cuteness.

Top view

Saw-whets eat mainly deer mice, but are too small to eat an adult mouse in one go. All About Birds says that one owl was found dead after it apparently tried to swallow a large mouse whole. Researchers don’t actually know too much about saw-whets because they are hard to study, being nocturnal, shy, and hard to find.

Like many other owl species, a saw-whet’s ears are located asymmetrically on the head, as in one is higher up than the other. This helps them to accurately pin-point prey by sound alone, one adaptation for hunting in the dark. I’ve tried it, and it really does help. Tilt your head sideways, so one ear is above the other, and it’s easier to figure out which direction a sound is coming from. You’ll look a little funny, but you’ll know exactly what direction that mocking laughter is coming from.

Lauren and and the 2nd owl

Another special owl adaptation is that the leading edges on their flight feathers are fringed, which allows them to fly silently. When we were ready to send our saw-whet guests on their way, complete with pretty silver bracelet party-favors, we released them back to the night. The first one flew from my hand, and if I hadn’t been watching I would never have noticed it flying away. I blinked and it was gone, absorbed back into the darkness.

Mattie and our 1st Owl

It was a real party on Saturday. Black-lights, drinks, games, dancing. I have a Happy Owl Dance (it’s very similar to my Snow Day Dance and my Staying-Warm-While-Waiting-For-The-School-Bus-Because-It-Didn’t-Snow-Enough-To-Cancel-School Dance, only with less foot stomping and more arm movements).

Apparently she liked us, because when we were done she didn't want to leave!

As soon as I was done taking this picture, she did fly away. (The owl, not Mattie.)

This is why being a field biologist is so awesome.

Birds of the week: Oct. 17 to Oct. 22

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:43:00 +0000

Monday, October 17: Fry's Landing

Golden-crowned Kinglet (3)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)

Myrtle Warbler (42)

Dark-eyed Junco (1)

Indigo Bunting (1)

White-throated Sparrow (3)
Hermit Thrush (2)

Total species: 7

Total birds: 53

Tuesday, October 18: Niagara Boat Launch

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (1)
Brown Creeper (4)

Winter Wren (3)

Dark-eyed Junco (1)

Hermit Thrush (6)

Song Sparrow (1)

Gray Catbird (1)

Recaptures: Northern Cardinal (1); Blackpoll Warbler (1); Tufted Titmouse (2)

Total species: 11

Total birds: 23

Wednesday, October 19: Fry's Landing

Brown Creeper (2)

Nashville Warbler (1)

Golden-crowned Kinglet (1)
Myrtle Warbler (91)
Hermit Thrush (2)

White-throated Sparrow (2)

Recaptures: Myrtle Warbler (1); Black-capped Chickadee (1); White-throated Sparrow (1)

Total species: 7

Total birds: 103

Thursday, October 20: Canceled due to weather

Friday, October 21: Canceled due to weather

Saturday, October 22: Fry's Landing

Golden-crowned Kinglet (11)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
Brown Creeper (1)

Myrtle Warbler (11)

White-throated Sparrow (11)

Hermit Thrush (2)

Recaptures: Myrtle Warbler (3); White-throated Sparrow (3)

Total species: 6

Total birds: 45

This week in birds: Oct. 10 to Oct. 15

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:18:00 +0000

Monday, October 10: Fry's Landing

Golden-crowned Kinglet (4)

Winter Wren (1)

Brown Creeper (2)
Tennessee Warbler (1)
Myrtle Warbler (104)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (1)
Blue-headed Vireo (1)

Indigo Bunting (1)
Hermit Thrush (7)

White-throated Sparrow (4)

Song Sparrow (1)
White-breasted Nuthatch (1)

Gray Catbird (2)
Northern Cardinal (1)

Yellow-shafted Flycatcher (1)

Recaptures: Black-throated Blue Warbler (1); Myrtle Warbler (2);

Song Sparrow (1); Downy Woodpecker (1)

Unbanded: Cooper's Hawk (young male)

Total species: 16

Total birds: 141

Tuesday, October 11: Niagara Boat Launch

Brown Creeper (1)

Blackpoll Warbler (3)

Dark-eyed Junco (1)
White-throated Sparrow (3)

Hermit Thrush (1)

Downy Woodpecker (1)

American Robin (1)

Total species: 7

Total birds: 11

Wednesday, October 12: Canceled due to weather

Thursday, October 13: Erie Bluffs

Brown Creeper (1)
White-throated Sparrow (8)

Unbanded: Cooper's Hawk (adult male)

Total species: 3

Total birds: 10

Friday, October 14: Canceled due to weather

Saturday, October 15: Canceled due to weather

Mom, this one's for you

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:11:00 +0000

Last week, as I was telling my mother about the Cooper's Hawk we caught, she was complaining that my face was in shadow in the pictures. So, Monday, when we caught another Cooper's Hawk at Fry's Landing, I made sure to get better pictures. How many mothers can say their daughter caught a hawk for them? I hope these pictures pass muster, because it's not at all certain that we'll catch another hawk any time soon.

So far this season we've caught two Cooper's Hawks, an adult female last week at Erie Bluffs, and a young male this week. In the spring we caught two Sharp-shinned Hawks, both at Erie Bluffs. It is not very common to catch hawks in our nets, we've been extremely lucky.

The beautiful young male Cooper's Hawk we caught on Monday

Amy with the Cooper's Hawk

Lauren and Frank determining age and sex

Volunteer extraordinare Frank Frisina with the Cooper's Hawk

Lauren again, not in the shadows.

Jessica Miller modeling with our famous guest

Our bird bag hanging rack that Amy and I made for the fall banding season. Each of the bags has a bird in it. There are probably over 60 birds in bags in this picture, from one net run. We caught a total of 141 birds on Monday, 107 of which were Myrtle Warblers. Needless to say, we are now very competent in sexing and aging Myrtle Warblers.

Mattie with our hawk guest

The real reason I volunteered to do the blog was so that I can put a bunch of pictures of myself up :)

We also caught a Blue-headed Vireo. That was the big excitement for the day, until we caught the Cooper's hawk, then everyone pretty much forgot about the poor little vireo. I mean, he's pretty cool, but not much can beat a hawk for excitement. As I was the one to remove both birds from the nets, I can say with confidence that the hawk was much more thrilling to extract. The vireo was more difficult, because it kept stabbing my fingers and wouldn't stop thrashing around. I had Amy's help with the hawk, so it went much more smoothly. Both birds went after my hands with their beaks, and of the two, the vireo was the more painful. Their bills have a sharp little point on the end, which makes it feel like someone jabbing your hands with a pair of tweezers. Repeatedly. They're quite powerful little guys, with lots of stamina, which means lots of hand-pecking.The hawk felt like a knock on the knuckle (he just hit my hand with the blunt part of his bill, didn't actually bite me).

Blue-headed Vireo

One last note: the bird house and birds that pop up on the blog are part of Audubon's Birding the Net (I'm not sure if you can see them if you have not signed up on Facebook).

If you have Facebook and want to do some virtual birding for a chance to win prizes, check it out:

http://getintobirds.audubon.org/birding-net

This week in birds: Oct. 3 to Oct. 8

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 20:59:00 +0000

Monday, October 3: Fry's Landing

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (9)

Golden-crowned Kinglet (3)

Brown Creeper (1)

Nashville Warbler (1)

Myrtle Warbler (18)

Common Yellowthroat (1)

Blackpoll Warbler (1)

Ovenbird (1)

Winter Wren (3)
Red-eyed Vireo (1)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (3)
Swamp Sparrow (2)

Song Sparrow (1)
Gray Catbird (3)
Yellow-shafted Flicker (2)

Total species: 15

Total birds: 50

Tuesday, October 4: Niagara Boat Launch

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)

Black-throated Blue Warbler (3)
Blackpoll Warbler (4)

Common Yellowthroat (1)

White-throated Sparrow (7)

Gray Catbird (1)

Swainson's Thrush (1)

Hermit Thrush (3)

Gray-cheeked Thrush (1)

Recaptures: Gray Catbird (1); Black-capped Chickadee (1)

Total species: 10

Total birds: 24

Wednesday, October 5: Fry's Landing

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)

Golden-crowned Kinglet (11)

Brown Creeper (14)

Black-throated Green Warbler (1)

Myrtle Warbler (31)

Blackpoll Warbler (1)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (1)
Dark-eyed Junco (3)

Swamp Sparrow (2)

White-throated Sparrow (13)
Song Sparrow (2)
White-crowned Sparrow (1)

Indigo Bunting (1)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (2)

Hermit Thrush (5)
Swainson's Thrush (1)

Gray Catbird (1)

Recaptures: Ovenbird (1)

Total species: 18

Total birds: 93

Thursday, October 6: Erie Bluffs

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
Winter Wren (1)
Lincoln's Sparrow (1)
White-throated Sparrow (7)

Hermit Thrush (4)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (1)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (2)

Cooper's Hawk (1)

Total species: 8

Total birds: 18

Friday, October 7: Fry's Landing

Golden-crowned Kinglet (2)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)

Brown Creeper (3)

Myrtle Warbler (84)

Blackpoll Warbler (3)

Orange-crowned Warbler (1)

Common Yellowthroat (1)

Black-throated Blue Warber (1)
White-throated Sparrow (9)

Hermit Thrush (1)

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (2)

Northern Cardinal (2)

Blue Jay (1)

Recaptures:

White-throated Sparrow (1); Song Sparrow (1);

Black-throated Blue Warbler (1); Downy Woodpecker (1)

Total species: 15

Total birds: 115!

Saturday, October 8: Niagara Boat Launch

Black-capped Chickadee (1)
Blackpoll Warbler (2)
White-throated Sparrow (2)

Total species: 3

Total birds: 5

Look what we caught today!

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:12:00 +0000

This beautiful adult female Cooper's Hawk flew into the net as Mattie was untangling some thrushes. Luckily, she reached it in time before it escaped.

Just look at that huge wingspan! Female Cooper's Hawks can have wingspans of 79 to 87 cm, or 31 to 34 inches. Her wing chord is 238cm, which is the distance from the bend of the wing (the wrist) to the tip of her longest primary feather (measured when the wing is bent).

To give you an idea of how big this is, a white-throated sparrow's wing chord is generally about 70cm, with a wingspan of around 23cm, or 9 in. A ruby-crowned kinglet generally has a wing chord of around 55cm, and a wingspan of 16 to 18cm, or 6.3 to 7.1 in .

Check out those talons and that curved beak! With hawks, it's not as much the beak you have to watch out for but the talons. When they hunt, it's the feet that do the grabbing and killing. The beak is just for eating. I imagine that lovely hook on the end helps with ripping apart the small mammals, lizards, amphibians, and insects that comprise an ideal Cooper's Hawk diet.

Mattie with the prize catch of the day

Of course we all had to take turns holding her. That's really why we band birds, for the photo opportunities!

Amy with the Cooper's Hawk

We didn't put a band on her because we don't have bands big enough. Female Cooper's Hawks are larger than males, and they take size 5 bands. The largest bands we have are size 3. As we mostly deal with warblers and sparrows, which take size 0 and 1 bands, we really don't have need for larger sizes. Except for the one day a season we catch something huge, like today!

Lauren's turn.

The birds of Sept. 26 to Oct. 1

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:02:00 +0000

What we caught last week:

Monday, September 26: Fry's Landing

Brown Creeper (1)
American Redstart (2)
Magnolia Warbler (2)
Blackpoll Warbler (1)
Philadelphia Vireo (1)
Red-eyed Vireo (2)
Swainson's Thrush (1)
Gray Catbird (1)
Yellow-shafted Flicker (2)

Recaptures: Yellow-shafted Flicker (1)

Total species: 9
Total birds: 14

Tuesday, September 27: Niagara Boat Launch

Magnolia Warbler (2)
Tennessee Warbler (1)
Nashville Warbler (1)
Black-throated Green Warbler (1)
Bay-breasted Warbler (2)
Blackpoll Warbler (2)
Philadelphia Vireo (1)
Black-capped Chickadee (1)
Ovenbird (1)
Tufted Titmouse (2)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (1)
Gray Catbird (1)

Recaptures: Northern Cardinal (2)

Total species: 13
Total birds: 18

Wednesday, September 28: Fry's Landing

Blackpoll Warbler (4)
Myrtle Warbler (3)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (2)
Gray Catbird (4)

Recaptures: Gray Catbird (1)

Total species: 4
Total birds: 14

Thursday, September 29: Erie Bluffs

Magnolia Warbler (2)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (3)
Gray Catbird (1)
Northern Cardinal (1)

Recaptures: Gray-cheeked Thrush (1)

Total species: 4
Total birds: 8

Friday, September 30: Rain Day

too rainy and windy to set up the nets

Saturday, October 1: Rain Day

ditto

New Study Shows Blue Jays Roost Upside-Down

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:04:00 +0000

Erie, PA—A recent discovery has shown that Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata), common backyard birds in the eastern United States, spend their nights hanging upside-down from perches, similar to bats. This ground-breaking finding was made recently by the three young women who run the Audubon banding station in Presque Isle State Park, located in Erie, Pennsylvania.

It was Assistant Bird Bander Amy Gondran who first realized something was unusual. “We’ve banded a lot of Blue Jays, but this one was weird. I put the band on, and took all the required measurements: measuring the wing, taking a weight, determining amount of fat deposits, aging and sexing the individual, looking for ticks. Then, when I was done, it just hung by its feet from my finger, dangling head-first.”

Assistant Bird Bander Amy Gondran with the Blue Jay hanging from her finger

Head Bander Mattie VandenBoom was mystified by the odd behavior. “It [the Blue Jay] hung there for quite a few mintues, in a trance. I took a picture with my phone so we would have proof that it actually happened,” she says. “In all my 10 years of banding experience, I’ve never seen behaviors like this in a wild bird.”

Adds Lauren Smith, Associate Bander of Birds, “It hung there by its feet for like two minutes, and it closed its eyes at one point, so we figured it was sleeping.”

“We believe it was probably slightly stressed from being caught in our mist net and then having been handled during the banding process, which made it tired,” says Gondran.

After the birds are removed from the mist nets, they are placed in cloth bags and transported to the banding area, where they are processed. “Our hypothesis is that the dark bag calmed the Blue Jay down, which caused it to fall asleep once the banding process was complete,” says Gondran.

During the spring migration earlier this year the women banded approximately 60 Blue Jays, but had not noticed any unique behaviors. “We have had other Blue Jays rest on our hands for a few moments before flying away [after the banding process], but this was definitely a unique behavior,” says VandenBoom.

This discovery seriously alters the way scientists think about Blue Jays, says Smith. “Before, we just assumed that they all huddled on a branch at night. This completely changes everything we know about their social structure and basic behavioral ecology.”

Other birds do hang upside down, including black-capped chickadees, which can be quite acrobatic in their foraging [see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P87zzgHhKBE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l05MU2tQO4&feature=watch_response], and male oropendolas, tropical birds which will fall forward head-first off a branch, wings open, in order to attract a mate [see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HjNZ1a0PTY&NR=1 ]. However, no bird species have ever been observed roosting in this hanging position.

The discovery is currently under review for publication in the scientific journal Nature. “Our sample size is one, but we have photographic evidence, so I don’t see how anyone could doubt our findings,” says Gondran.

Further studies are already underway, and the banders are working on a book about their discovery, tentatively titled “The Bird Who Hung by His Feet.” Film rights have already been purchased by 20^th Century Fox, with Kristen Stewart, Anne Hathaway, and Drew Barrymore reportedly signed as the leads.

On a related note, the banding team may or may not have also discovered the only remaining population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the world. “It was crazy, the Ivory-bill was flying around in this mixed-species flock, with a Bachman’s Warbler, a couple Passenger Pigeons, and a Carolina Parakeet,” says Smith. “Amy left her camera at home that day, but we’re confident that we’ll soon have photographic evidence to confirm our newest discovery for the ornithological community.”

“Apparently all the species have modified their behaviors in order to survive the rigors of the modern world together,” says VandenBoom. Research is in progress to support this claim, but the results “look positive” for these species.

###

Birds of the week: September 19-24

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 20:27:00 +0000

We caught some fun birds this week, so we thought we'd share with some pictures! It was a pretty slow week, and we closed up early on Monday and Friday due to inclement weather. We're hoping for some cold fronts to push the migrants through next week! Keep your fingers crossed...

Monday, September 19: Fry's Landing

Magnolia Warbler (1)

Recaptures: Gray Catbird (1)

Total species: 2

Total birds:2

Tuesday, September 20: Niagara Boat Launch

White-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch (2)

Downy Woodpecker (1)

Gray-cheeked Thrush (1)

Northern Cardinal (1)

Gray Catbird (2)

Recaptures: Black-capped Chickadee (1); Tufted Titmouse (2)

Total species: 7

Total birds: 10

Tufted Titmouse

Wednesday, September 21: Fry's Landing

a young White-eyed Vireo

Magnolia Warbler (1)
Chestnut-sided Warbler (2)

Blackpoll Warbler (3)

Common Yellowthroat (1)

Black-throated Blue Warbler (3)

Black-and-white Warbler (1)

White-eyed Vireo (1)

Red-eyed Vireo (1)

Marsh Wren (1)

Swamp Sparrow (1)

Gray Catbird (4)

Recaptures: Northern Cardinal (1); Magnolia Warbler (1); Gray Catbird (1); Downy Woodpecker (1)

Marsh Wren

Total species: 13

Total birds: 24

Thursday, September 22: Erie Bluffs

Nashville Warbler (1)

Hooded Warbler (1)
Ovenbird (1)

Gray-cheeked Thrush (2)

Wood Thrush (6)

Blue Jay (1)

Gray Catbird (1)

Total species: 7

Total birds: 13

Friday, September 23: Fry's Landing

a young Brown Thrasher

Magnolia Warbler (1)

Common Yellowthroat (2)

Gray-cheeked Thrush (1)

Song Sparrow (1)

Gray Catbird (9)

Brown Thrasher (1)

Recaptures: Black-throated Blue Warbler (1)

Total species: 7

Total birds: 16

Saturday, September 24: Niagara Boat Launch

Swainson's Thrush (2)

Gray Catbird (1)

Recaptures:White-breasted Nuthatch (2)

Total species: 3

Total birds: 5

This week in birds: September 12-17

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 18:44:00 +0000

Bird Summary Of The Week

Monday, September 12: Fry's Landing

American Redstart (1)
Tennessee Warbler (1)
Nashville Warbler (1)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (1)
Common Yellowthroat (2)
Yellow Warbler (1)
Trail's Flycatcher (1)
Least Flycatcher (1)
Philadelphia Vireo (1)
Warbling Vireo (1)
Red-eyed Vireo (4)
Gray Catbird (7)
Song Sparrow (1)

Recaptures: Common Yellowthroat (3); Gray Catbird (1)

total species: 13
total birds: 27

Tuesday, September 13: Niagara Boat Launch

Gray Catbird (1)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (2)

total species: 2
total birds: 3

Wednesday, September 14: Fry's Landing

Wilson's Warbler (1)
Blackpoll Warbler (1)
Common Yellowthroat (5)
Black-and-white Warbler (1)
Yellow Warbler (2)
Bay-breasted Warbler (1)
Ovenbird (1)
Trail's Flycatcher (1)
Red-eyed Vireo (1)
Swamp Sparrow (1)
Song Sparrow (1)
Downy Woodpecker (1)
Gray Catbird (10)
Northern Cardinal (1)
Yellow-shafted Flicker (2)
Swainson's Thrush (1)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (1)

Recaptures: Common Yellowthroat (3); Song Sparrow (1); Warbling Vireo (1); Downy Woodpecker (1); Northern Cardinal (1): Gray Catbird (2)

total species: 18
total birds: 41

Thursday, September 15: Erie Bluffs

Northern Cardinal (1)
Hairy Woodpecker (1)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (2)
Swainson's Thrush (2)
Common Yellowthroat (1)
House Wren (1)

total species: 6
total birds: 8

Friday, September 16: Fry's Landing

Nashville Warbler (10)
Magnolia Warbler (6)
American Redstart (1)
Wilson's Warbler (2)
Black-throated Green Warbler (2)
Tennessee Warbler (1)
Common Yellowthroat (5)
Blackpoll Warbler (8)
Yellow Warbler (1)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
House Wren (3)
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (1)
Philadelphia Vireo (3)
Red-eyed Vireo (3)
Swainson's Thrush (5)
Gray-cheeked Thrush (2)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (1)
Gray Catbird (4)

Recaptures: Gray Catbird (5)

total species: 18
total birds: 64

Saturday, September 17: Niagara Boat Launch

zero
zilch
nada
nothing
none

total species: 0
total birds: 0

In conclusion: if you want to come see us in action, then definitely come on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, when we band at Fry's Landing. Otherwise, prepare for some lengthy conversation time! Today we had a great time shootin' the breeze with some volunteers and visitors. Unfortunately, no birds dropped by to pass the time, and our nets were completely empty all day. Hopefully things will pick up next week!

Duck Banding

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:48:00 +0000

This past month we've had the opportunity to volunteer with the PA Game Commission, helping them band ducks. One of our wonderful banding volunteers, Frank Frisina, invited us along and we jumped at the opportunity. Banding waterfowl is very different from banding songbirds, mostly because of the size difference, and the fact that these birds aren't trying to rip our fingers off (like Northern Cardinals) or trying to actively wrap themselves in as many layers of mist-net as birdly possible (House Wrens. We had one today that took Mattie about 20 minutes to untangle. They're only about 4.5in long, I don't understand how one tiny bird can get so wrapped up after being in a net for such a short period of time). It's been so much fun to work with birds that are relatively calm and easy to handle. And big!

Amy, Lauren, and Mattie with Mallards. Frank is in the background.

Mattie with a Wood Duck

Amy loving on a Wood Duck

Lauren with a Blue-winged Teal

"Always strive to excel, but only on weekends."

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:44:00 +0000

title quote by Richard Rorty

What was in our nets this week-

Monday, September 5:

Nashville Warbler (1)

Magnolia Warbler (3)

Common Yellowthroat (2)

Canada Warbler (1)

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (1)

Veery (1)

Downy Woodpecker (3)

Song Sparrow (1)

Gray Catbird (7)

Recaptures: Northern Cardinal (1)

Tuesday, September 6:

Common Yellowthroat (2)

Gray Catbird (2)

Recaptures: Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (1)

Wednesday, September 7:

Magnolia Warbler (2)

Nashville Warbler (1)
Black-throated Green Warbler (1)

Wilson's Warbler (1)

Black-throated Blue Warbler (1)

Common Yellowthroat (3)

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (2)

Least Flycatcher (1)

House Wren (1)

Veery (1)

Gray Catbird (1)

American Robin (2)

Recaptures: Common Yellowthroat (2)

Thursday, September 8:

Hooded Warbler (3)

Gray Catbird (1)
Common Yellowthroat (1)

Blue Jay(1)

Friday, September 9:

Magnolia Warbler (1)

Bay-breasted Warbler (1)

Cedar Waxwing (1)

Eastern Wood-Pewee (2)

Gray Catbird (5)

Song Sparrow (1)

Saturday, September 10:

Magnolia Warbler (1)

Ovenbird (1)

Veery (1)

Swainson's Thrush (1)

Wood Thrush (2)

Gray Catbird (12)

Recaptures: Gray Catbird (1)

So far we have caught and banded 269 birds, and 27 recaptures in 24 days. This includes fall migration banding and a few days in late July/early August when we banded for Yellow Warblers.

Flycatchers Galore!

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 23:50:00 +0000

Yesterday was all about quality, not quantity. We caught 19 total birds, but 12 different species, which made things interesting. The singletons: Nashville warbler, Black-throated green warbler, Wilson's warbler, Black-throated blue warbler, House Wren, Veery, Least Flycatcher, and a Gray Catbird. We caught a trio of doubles: Magnolia warblers, Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, and American Robins. We had one triple: Common Yellowthroat, plus 2 Common Yellowthroat recaptures.

By far the most time-consuming birds are the Empidonax flycatchers, two of which are pictured here (Least Flycatcher on the left, and Yellow-bellied on the right). In order to identify them, we have to take a series of measurements, including bill width, length of the bill from nostril to tip, wing length, tail length, and lengths of 3 primary feathers (the longest ones on each wing, also called flight feathers). Then, we look at the eye-ring shape and color, leg color, and lower mandible color. If it's still a bit fuzzy after all that (which it usually is, as the measurements for each species overlap quite a bit) we can use a series of equations to find more numbers to compare (finding the differences between the flight feather lengths). Usually by that point we've got a pretty good idea of what the bird is, though sometimes it can take quite a while. Normally, we can process a bird (put a band on, measure wing length and weight, determine how much fat it has, look for and remove any ticks) in about 2 minutes (longer if removing ticks, which is a delicate operation). Empidonax flycatchers, on a good day, take at least 10-15 minutes each just to figure out the species. This can be a problem when we have a lot of birds to process, but has not been an issue for us yet this season, where 19 birds in a 4 or 5 hr netting session is a "big" day. We're eagerly awaiting the big waves of migrants coming through, enough of these catbirds and robins!

Now it's time to put your Empidonax id skills to the test!

Can you tell which flycatcher is which?

Come visit us at the banding station sometime soon!

Happy Birding!

This Week In Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:23:00 +0000

What we found in our nets this week:

Monday, August 29

Magnolia Warbler (4)
American Redstart (3)
Northern Waterthrush (2)
Common Yellowthroat (4)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (2)
Warbling Vireo (3)
Trail's Flycatcher (1)
Red-eyed Vireo (1)
Song Sparrow (2)
Downy Woodpecker (3)
Gray Catbird (3)
Northern Cardinal (3)
Baltimore Oriole (6)

Recaptures: Common Yellowthroat (1)

Tuesday, August 30

Wood Thrush (1)

Recaptures: Gray Catbird (1); Magnolia Warbler (1)

Wednesday, August 31

Magnolia Warbler (1)
Common Yellowthroat (7)
Gray Catbird (10)
American Robin (2)

Thursday, September 1
No banding, uncooperative weather

Friday, September 2

Blue-winged Warbler (1)
American Redstart (1)
Common Yellowthroat (3)
Song Sparrow (1)
Gray Catbird (10)
American Robin (5)

Recaptures: Gray Catbird (2); Common Yellowthroat (3); Song Sparrow (1)

Saturday, September 3

Swainson's Thrush (1)
Gray Catbird (1)

Orioles v. Yankees

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 01:21:00 +0000

Today's score: Orioles 6, Yankees 3.

(We caught 6 Baltimore Orioles, and there are 3 of us Yanks banding: Sarah, Mattie, and Lauren. Amy, the Texan, was the ump.)

Today was an excellent banding day, as we caught more birds today than total last week. We caught 13 birds last week, and 34 today. Our record for the season is 76 and 10 (# birds caught and # days banding). Hopefully this streak of catches continues, as we were getting tired of all the flys (the mosquitoes, not fly balls. They're horrendous out at Fry's Landing. We bring out our pinch hitter, DEET, on a regular basis).

Game highlights:
Mattie managed to tag a Trail's Flycatcher before it could steal home in the bottom of the second in a well-executed play at the plate.

Amy called foul on the Northern Cardinals, which were pulled from the game for misconduct (excessive biting of the ump).

In the top of the fifth, Lauren picked off two Song Sparrows in a double play, keeping the score at 3-3, but the Gray Catbirds staged a comeback with three home runs, giving the lead to the avian team.

Outstanding catches of the game: Magnolia Warblers, Black-throated Blue Warblers, Northern Waterthrushes, Warbling and Red-Eyed Vireos, Common Yellowthroats, Downy Woodpeckers, and an American Redstart.

We have sextuple-headers each week, so bring yourself out to one of our games sometime soon!

Pictures by Lauren this time (Baltimore Oriole, gloating in his win; Red-eyed Vireo; Downy Woodpecker)

The Beginning Of the Fall of Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:53:00 +0000

Fall banding has officially begun! We started banding this week, with our new head bander, Mattie VandenBoom. We are all looking forward to a great fall banding session!

As always, visitors are welcome to come join in the banding fun! There hasn't been too much activity so far, but it's still early in the season. Time spent waiting for birds to fly into our nets can be a bit slow, so tomorrow I'm breaking out The Great North American Bird Watching Trivia Game. It's more fun with more players, so come out to our banding station and test your Bird Watching Trivia skills.

Fun and games!
Guest appearances of the avian kind!
Bird Watching Trivia!
Free Parking!

And, as a special offer to the first thirty visitors who arrive before 7am, get a FREE tutorial on how to set up a mist net! Act now, because this offer is only good until October.

See you all at the banding station!

What is migration?

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:38:00 +0000

This summer, before the fall banding started, we slaved away on a special migration window display for Sarah's office in Meadville. I personally think it's worth a drive down there to check it out, but for those of you who can't go jaunting off to Meadville, here are some pictures.

We cut out and painted 43 different migrating bird species, and then glued them onto a background. Anne, the creative genus behind the project, painted a map of the migration flyways, and we all helped stencil the information, which, while tedious, was still better than clearing invasive species. Although that's not saying much, as just about anything would be preferable to clearing honeysuckle in the hot, muggy, end of July. We all had a great time working on this display, and we hope you (and everyone else who sees it) enjoy it as much as we do!

Next time you're in Meadville, stop by and check it out! See if you can identify them all!

(Hint: the three standing in front are Lauren, Amy and Anne.)

The Audubon Avengers Honeysuckle Eradicators (we go by AAHE)

noreply@blogger.com (Presque Isle Bird Banding) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:28:00 +0000

It’s been awhile since our last blog post, but we’ve been busy! Marsh bird surveys are now over, and we’ve moved on to the next big thing: removing invasive plant species from our banding sites, a.k.a. clearing brush and pulling weeds. But before I get to that, here are some of Amy’s pictures from the marshes here in Presque Isle. Though we may not have always enjoyed getting up early in order to get out on the water before sunrise, once we were in our kayaks and paddling out into the sunrise, we agreed it was worth it. Most of the time. (I mean, when it’s in the 50’s and still dark out and you have to go heaving kayaks about and then wading into cold water, would you always be enthusiastic?)

Now I suppose we must get to the vegetation removal…. We’ve been focusing mainly at Fry’s Landing, and it looks like a disaster zone, but in a good way. Some areas were so completely over-run with honeysuckle that we basically clear-cut them. We’ve been kicking ourselves for not taking a before picture, because it looks completely different now, and we’ve only been working there about a week. Saturday we had a group of lovely, lovely Audubon volunteers come out and help us, and the work they did was fantastic. Fry’s Landing is going to look like a completely new place once we’re done with it, and we’re looking forward to seeing how the birds like it. Already we notice the gray catbirds, robins and yellow warblers flitting about in the newly-cleared areas, enjoying their new foraging grounds. The honeysuckle was so thick that nothing grew underneath it, so once we clear it there’s not much there but leaf litter filled with yummy insects. Every once in a while we also will uncover a tree that had been engulfed by honeysuckle, rescuing it from the thick tangled grasp of the all-encompassing noxious plant.

If you have a desire to wield some clippers in the good fight against the attempted world takeover of honeysuckle, please do join us in the park. Fellow honeysuckle eradicators are always welcome. We’ve got extra gloves and clippers, just bring your own bug spray, sunscreen, and water. And maybe some long-sleeves, if you don’t want to get poison ivy. ( I don't actually expect anyone to show up, but if you do I'll bake you cookies!)

Make sure to come out sometime in the fall to see what our site looks like when we’re done. The bird-watching opportunities are going to be fantastic, I guarantee (or your money back)!

Happy Birding!