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Banding Summary:
Week of October 5, 2003 |
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See the weekly Banding
Table
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Sunday October 5. 95 new, 23 recaps. We begin the day gently freeing a Norway rat that became entangled in our indoor catching net while trying to raid our snack box! NABC trainers and candidates conduct exit interviews and we congratulate Charley Eiseman, Tom LeBlanc, and Dan Webb for passing their Landbird Certification examination. RIT senior continues her video production interviews. We have a north wind and band 57 White-throated Sparrows – a sign of things to come.
Monday October 6. 532 new, 2 recaps, new species Chipping Sparrow. It’s the second best fall day since banding began in 1986! The nets are so full right after dawn that we release 40-50 kinglets to prevent them from becoming stressed. Phone calls are made for help and we are grateful for a quick response from four volunteers. We band 26 species including a one-day record 107 Hermit Thrush and 33 Brown Creeper. Thanks to our really excellent banding crew that remained calm and helped to make this such a memorable day: Betsy Brooks, Kelly Dockery, Virginia Duffy, Charley Eiseman, Marilyn Guenther, Judy Gurley, Kristi Hannam, Ryan Kayhart, Coby Klein, Jeanne Skelly, and Doug Smith.
Tuesday October 7. 393 new, 70 recaps, new species Fox Sparrow. Another very busy day for BIC Jon Dombrowski who has spent most of his banding time at the RIT station this fall. Ryan enjoys banding the first Fox Sparrow of the fall. Even two-year old Delaney helps by bringing extra bird bags and clothespins to the back nets! The action continues into the late afternoon and makes up for the six weeks of sunny, warm afternoons and no birds in the earlier part of the season. The White-throated Sparrow total builds to 170 and we also band 67 Golden-crowned Kinglets.
Wednesday October 8. 128 new, 55 recaps. The “slow” day of the week but Linda Boutwell’s apple walnut cheesecake makes the day! We enjoy four Blackpoll Warblers and a very late Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
Thursday October 9. 285 new, 54 recaps. The action begins to build again with few kinglets but 102 Hermit Thrush and 98 White-throated Sparrows. SUNY Brockport grad student Brendan McCabe has plenty of White-throated Sparrows for his research and Cornell post-doc Meena Haribal has a good supply of Gray-cheeked, Swainson’s and Hermit Thrush for her study of
gland secretions. RIT seniors Chara Batchelder and Anna Ludi also have 13 Brown Creepers to photograph for their study of primary covert molt.
Friday October 10. 410 new, 12 recaps, new species Eastern Towhee and Field Sparrow. Ryan, Charley and Betsy all hear a towhee calling at dawn but we are astonished to capture seven during the morning! We begin the day singing birthday greetings to Dan Niven and later enjoy a picnic lunch complements of Carol and Dave Southwick. The banding is non-stop and we band a one-day record 241 White-throated Sparrows, despite fewer nets (the alphabet trail
was taken down for the season). We say goodbye to Charley and Ryan. The BTC students take their final exam. Congratulations to Mary Hughes and RIT students Amy Ares, Mike Burkett, and Tina Link for successfully completing the course. Betsy heads for Alfred knowing that the last week has made it a very good season.
Saturday October 11. 185 new birds captured with a limited number of nets.
Jeanne Skelly, Marilyn Guenther, and Kelly Dockery provide BIC David Bonter
with greatly appreciated experience, as the crew is mostly comprised of staff
and students visiting from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. White-throated
Sparrows are the bird of the day, and the kinglets are still largely missing
from our nets. Are we ending the fall season too soon? Marilyn
brings bags of her famous homemade muffins. Yum!
Sunday October 12. 125 new bands, new species Blackburnian Warbler and Rusty Blackbird.
The crew from Cornell returns and is kept busy learning how to band birds and
take down nets. A hatch-year male Blackburnian Warbler was a pleasant
surprise. A gorgeous fall weekend of banding ends in style with the first
Rusty Blackbird of the season.
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