July 11th, 2006

Ruthven

It was a beautiful early morning at Ruthven. There was a lot of bird activity along the edges - which didn't ease even as the sun got up and the day warmed. There are a lot of young birds fledging (especially Yellow Warblers and Song Sparrows) while some species are still defending territories (Indigo Buntings for example). All the American Goldfinches handled today were adults - no young have fledged yet.

I ended up handling 74 birds.

Banded 59: 1 MODO, 3 BCCH, 3 AMRO, 4 GRCA, 18 YWAR, 3 RBGR, 1 INBU, 9 SOSP, 1 BAOR, 1 OROR, 1 HOFI, 14 AMGO.

Retrapped 15: 1 SSHA, 1 AMRO, 1 GRCA, 1 REVI, 2 YWAR, 1 INBU, 1 CHSP, 1 SOSP, 1 BHCO,
5 AMGO.

Some of the retraps were interesting:
AMGO - banded October 2004
AMGO - banded September 2004
CHSP - July 2001
YWAR - July 2000
REVI - June 2004
SOSP - October 2003
SSHA - April 2006

Only had about half the nets open as the others are being used in the MAPS program. The nets used were: # 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9.

Rick

Bander Brian Pomfret moonlights as an exotic dancer in Toronto. Here he is seen with his interpretation of "Dance of the Faeries". Alcohol, a very great deal of alcohol, evidently enhances the appreciation of his performances.



Selkirk

Another decent July day at Selkirk today.

Banded: MODO 1, DOWO 2, BCCH 2, HOWR 1, AMRO 1, GRCA 1, CEDW 1, YWAR 2, RBGR 2, SOSP 1, RWBL 5, BHCO 2, AMGO 3 = 24

Selkirk has operated for 5 of the past 6 days and banded 147 birds. Most Augusts and a lot of Septembers Selkirk is hard pressed to band 300 birds for the entire month. Not sure what this good start means but most likely the wheel will fall off shortly and the day's banding totals will be back to between 5 & 10 birds per day.

Tomorrow morning's weather forecast is not promising so it could be a rain out morning.

John