Adding to what Julie S said about Chico Basin banding - it has been an interesting fall migration at Clear Spring Ranch. Recently I've been catching a few more birds than Chico or Barr Lake - but I also have more nets open. I have yet to get a big arrival of Wilson's Warblers - just a few trickle into my corridor station, and Orange-crowned Warblers arrive in small numbers as well.
What I DO get is sparrows. The last few weeks I've had big numbers of Chipping Sparrows, as usual (1450 netted so far), but I was also seeing weeks with (a) lots of Lark Sparrows, then (b) lots of Savannah Sparrows, and (c) today lots of Song Sparrows. Anecdotally most of the Song Sparrows I see are pretty solitary, and I may catch several in a day, even a few returning birds from previous season that are faithful to the corridor and stop here. Today was the first time I've seen big numbers of them at the same time - even multiples in the same net. Today there were 25-30 sitting up on sorghum stalks across the road from my nets, and I managed to net 10, including three banded last year. (all on the same day??) I don't think these were local breeders as I hadn't seen them in the last 7 weeks, but I think site-faithful migrants. Pretty cool.
I also caught and banded a Sharp-shinned Hawk - a hatch-year male, who was kind enough to return a Blue Grosbeak that I had banded yesterday - although without its head. :(
Numbers netted this week - Sunday 105 (mostly CHSP), Monday 56, Tuesday 34, Wednesday 46, Thursday 42. Most of these days it has been pretty slow at dawn (except that is when I am catching most of the warblers), then things get busier about 9:00 as more sparrows are moving. Mostly it is the same 'ol same 'ol regular species, but this week I did catch 2 Marsh Wrens, 4 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and a FOS Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler. I also netted a hummingbird this week, a late Black-chinned juv female, but most are long gone.
Happy Migration,
Steve Brown
Colo Spgs
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