Bird activity at Ruthven has certainly slowed down as compared to the middle/end of July. The young birds, that were so noticeable following their parents around, begging for handouts, have pretty well dispersed and the adults tend to be lying low while they moult. Of the Yellow Warblers handled (banded and retrapped) these past two days, a majority were adults - all were either finishing or had just finished moulting their flight feathers. There were in fact few Yellow Warblers to be seen - the ones in the nets were sort of a surprise.
There seems to be a "fresh" batch of young Song Sparrows about. Perhaps a second brood? At one point I saw a group of 8 in the parking area close to net #2. Ten minutes later I had 6 of them in the net. Any adult Song Sparrows netted so far have not shown sign of moulting.
AND....the Ruthven AMGO (AMerican GOldfinch) factory is just starting to rev up: banded the first two HY birds of the season today. The harbingers of the hordes to come.
August 6th:
Banded 16: 1 BCCH, 1 WBNU, 2 HOWR, 1 GRCA, 4 YWAR, 1 NOCA, 1 CHSP, 3 SOSP, 1 BAOR, 1 AMGO.
Retrapped 16: 1 MODO, 2 DOWO, 2 BCCH, 2 GRCA, 2 YWAR, 2 COYE, 1 RBGR, 1 SOSP, 3 AMGO.
August 7th:
Banded 26: 1 GCFL, 2 BGGN, 1 GRCA, 3 YWAR, 1 NOCA, 1 RBGR, 11 SOSP, 1 HOFI, 5 AMGO.
Retrapped 13: 1 DOWO, 1 BCCH, 1 REVI, 4 YWAR, 1 NOCA, 1 SOSP, 3 AMGO.
Rick
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment