The birds behaved quite strangely today. Almost no activity during the cool, crisp, sunny early morning hours. Then, a burst of activity (including about half of the birds captured) about 11 a.m. as the temperature climbed and we tried to get the nets closed. Not a lot of variety – Yellow Warblers and Lincoln Sparrows continued to dominate. We know there are tons of our breeders around, but they weren’t very active today. (House Wren females are laying eggs, which may be the reason the HOWRs are less active.) Here’s the breakdown of the 27 banded and 2 returns for the day:
House Wren 1
Gray Catbird 2
Yellow Warbler 7 new, 2 returns (both banded last year)
Clay-colored Sparrow 1 (FOS, and an unusual species for this station)
Lincoln’s Sparrow 5
White-crowned Sparrow, Mountain 1
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
House Finch 3
American Goldfinch 3
Open daily, weather permitting, through next Sunday, June 2. I’ve been saying come early because of the heat, but now I’m not sure about that advice! (Really, early should be better!) We do have school groups scheduled for Wed-Fri, from about 9 a.m. on, so on those days early really is best.
Meredith McBurney
Biologist/Bander
Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
303-329-8091
Celebrating 25 Years of Bird and Habitat Conservation
No comments:
Post a Comment