The Birdcast Forecast was for "High" migration activity last night for our area. I can confirm that happened at Clear Spring Ranch. This was by far the most passerine movement seen this year, although that didn't translate to birds in the net. 20 birds banded today.
Starting about 6:30 small flocks of same species birds started moving through the area, especially between 20 and 50' up in the trees. This went on intermittently until about 8:00, and most netted birds occurred in this stretch as well. After 9:30 it was just about totally dead. Even the dozens of male Red-winged Blackbirds sitting on the high point of their territories were not to be seen. (???) Also several Common Yellowthroat females WERE banded, all arriving together, and the first females to date. And very obvious were 3-4 flocks of Bullock's Orioles, mostly adult males, a few banded, and an SY male Orchard Oriole, trying to look like some kind of huge Kentucky Warbler. It had just a few rusty feathers on its otherwise all yellow breast.
One flock at 7:00 had 10 Audubon's Warblers, Wilson's Warbler, 2 N Waterthrush, a couple of Yellow Warblers, and way up high in a cottonwood, a female Blackpoll Warbler. Most of these were seen with "warbler neck", not in the nets. Also passing through were 16 Blue Jays in a flock, a couple of FOY Western Tanager females together, a couple of Black-headed Grosbeak females together, a FOY Lazuli Bunting male, and a hybrid IndigoxLazuli adult male (photo below). These were definitely motivated in their movement North, not stopping, or only bouncing off a branch after a second or two. There was no feeding going on. Maybe they know they are late!
So I saw lots of movement, in one direction, and mostly up high in the cottonwoods. But it was fun to actually SEE something for a change! More anticipation for the weekend, as the migration is still rated "HIGH" for activity.
Happy Migration,
Steve Brown
Colo Spgs
Note: Any "brown or rust" color seen is the tips of blue feathers still to be worn off, not the bright colors of a breast band. Pretty Cool.
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