[cobirds] Barr Banding Station Update, 9/6/15

An interesting day!  Started slowly. At about 8:30, when we had a net run without birds, we slogged out to the area of the station that we have not been able to use to date because it has been too wet.  We found a relatively dry spot and put up 2 nets. It is still pretty muddy and quite buggy, but the smartweed is in bloom and looking healthy and beautiful. We proceeded to catch half of our 49 birds in those 2 nets in 2 big runs.  The 2nd of those runs included 1 MacGillivray's Warbler, 1 Bullock's Oriole, and 9 Red-winged Blackbirds.  Nicole, the volunteer who was first on the scene, said the flock of RWBLs going through when she arrived was well over 100.  I had no memory of catching RWBLs at Barr, so I went back and checked - the most recent ones were 4 in 2001, all at the end of October.  We've only caught 8 in September in the 28 years of this station.  Those caught today were mostly young and mostly female and all molting, not just body but wing and tail feathers.

The 49 birds caught today included 12 recaps (birds caught previously this season).  Here's the breakdown of the 37 first-timers:

Rock Wren 1 (FOS)

House Wren 2 new, 1 banded 2014.  (We had the ROWR and a HOWR together, which was a nice comparison/contrast for our visitors.)

Orange-crowned Warbler 2

Yellow Warbler 1

MacGillivray's Warbler 1

Common Yellowthroat 1

Wilson's Warbler 17

Red-winged Blackbird 9

Bullock's Oriole 1

American Goldfinch 1

We are closed tomorrow/Monday (Labor Day), then open the balance of the week. We are opening nets at 6:30, and will run until noon or whenever it gets too hot. School groups arrive about 9:30 a.m. most 

weekdays. It is still wise to come early for more/better birds, although as we get the outer nets up this week we should have more birds later (there is more shade "out there".) 

Meredith McBurney
Biologist/Bander
Barr Lake Banding Station
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

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