I haven't posted for a while, because I haven't had anything newsworthy for weeks. Migration banding has been REAL SLOW at Clear Spring Ranch, at least in the willow marsh area I work. Last year I was catching 20-30 birds per day, with around 50 Yellow Warblers in August, and 75 Wilson's Warblers, 80 Orange-crowned Warblers in just the last three weeks of September. This year I've only been catching 5-7 birds most days, and not even SEEING many migrants go by. Not sure why. I banded about 40 Yellow Warblers this August, about 40 Wilson's, and 3 Orange-crowned so far. Very different. (but 3 times as many Com Yellowthroats as last year - go figure!)
I banded a Hatch-year female Yellow Warbler today, and that seems pretty late in the season. I've been banding in August the last several years to take advantage of the Yellow Warbler migration that is going on by then, and usually finished by about Labor Day. I can't tell the dates for sure - but it looks like the latest we saw a YEWA at the Chico Basin Ranch station, from the 6 years of fall banding I saw, was about 9/15/2013. October 1 seems notable, even if the species is common in season. (last one I saw at CSR before this was 9/3/15).
I plan to continue monitoring CSR through October, and will post if I get something cool.
Happy Migration,
Steve Brown
Colorado Springs
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