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Archived Postings

September 25, 2006 – September 30, 2006

September 25 to September 30, 2006 That’s it. It’s the end. No more…until next April. The banding season has come to an end. Although banding typically ends on September 30th, the weatherman predicted lousy weather so nets were rolled for the final time on the 29th. Funny thing, after over five months of working at the lab, I felt a little guilty about ending a day early…but not that guilty. By this time of year the migrant songbirds have pretty much finished passing through. Only a few strangler ruby-crowned kinglets, white-crowned and white-throated sparrows, hermit and Swainson’s thrushes, and orange-crowned warblers were seen during the last few days of monitoring. There were a number of winter residents in the area: dark-eyed juncos, American tree sparrows, black-capped chickadees, and some woodpecker species. Most of the 27 birds banded this week were winter resident species. Although we still catch and band the residents, they are not high on the monitoring priority list. There were still plenty of waterfowl on the lake, geese flying over, and flocks of cranes high overhead even though the forest was quiet. The swans are still expected to pass through; hopefully we will have a chance to see them. The last bird to be banded at the lab this year was a hairy woodpecker. It was actually captured as the nets were being furled for the last time. It was a nice surprise because it was the first hairy woodpecker to be captured this fall. The excitement and eagerness to band this bird quickly faded as soon as the extraction process began. Woodpeckers have a tendency get their bodies ridiculously tangled in the nets while keeping their heads free. This allows them to use their woodpecking skills to wallop your fingers during extraction. This particular woodpecker was no exception; it put up one heck of a fight. Woodpeckers use a combination of strong neck muscles and a mighty bill to remove bark from trees or to drill holes into tree trunks. A finger can only take so much punishment before the skin breaks, you start to bleed, and it feels like the woodpecker is hacking your finger bone. Eventually the woodpecker was freed, banded, and set on its way. There is now a hairy woodpecker out there with the taste of blood. It can be easily recognized by the crazy look in its eyes, or by the way it is hammering away on your fingers. Even thought the banding lab is closed, owl banding will continue for a few more weeks. 31 more saw-whet owls were banded this week, bringing the total to 154. It would be nice to break 200 this year, but it may be difficult. Nightly banding is starting to slow down with totals ranging from zero to seven owls banded a night. Days will be spent proofing banding data, summarizing the results, and writing various reports. All very dry stuff. That being said, this will be the last article for this year, otherwise reports will consist of how my typing skill have improved to over 20 words per minute. It has been a great year: had the pleasure of working with some amazing people, overcame some challenges, and had some great birding experiences. Looking forward to watching the migrants return to Lesser Slave Lake next year. Thanks for everyone for reading these little birding blurbs, they are a lot of fun to write. Until next year…..

2010