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Archived Postings

July 3, 2006 – July 9, 2006

July 3 to July 9, 2006 It was a quiet banding week. Fortunately, the timing for a quiet week could not have been any better because it was hot outside. We definitely took the time to enjoy the summer weather. Some time was spent each day monitoring the remaining two Canada warbler nests. Banding only occurred for the first two days of the week to finish the third MAPS round; bringing us to the mid-point of this monitoring program. It’s a pretty good time to see how MAPS has been going so far. Twelve days of banding have been spent at the different MAPS stations since spring migration monitoring ended. 171 birds have been captured during the first half of MAPS banding (114 banded and 57 recaptures). The proportion of recaptured birds is higher in MAPS than migration. This is expected because the nets are set in breeding territories where individuals are going about their breeding duties (yes, there is important work for the birds to do during the breeding season, it is not all fun and games…..well, some of it may be). Since the nets are set in the same locations each visit, many of the same individuals whose territories are near the nets are captured again and again. The most fascinating aspect about these recaptured birds are the ones that have been seen at the same breeding sites year after year. Adult birds have a high rate of site fidelity, they return to the same breeding grounds every year. Of the 57 recapture records so far this year, there are 12 birds that have returned to the breeding site for two or more years. In the case of two American redstarts, this is the sixth year they have been breeding near the LSLBO. It still amazes me that these birds migrate thousands of kilometers every year and come back to within a half-kilometer of where they nested the previous years. Now that nests are finishing up and the forest is quickly filling up with young birds MAPS banding will start to pick up. It won’t be long before these youngsters will moult new feathers, become strong fliers, and build up enough fat reserves to start migrating south. It is a scary thought, but next week we begin fall migration monitoring. Already!

2010