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Archived Postings

May 28, 2007 – June 3, 2007

I like surprises. Surprises are good. They can come in the form of a gift, a message from a long lost friend, or a ten dollar bill found on the beach. Surprises come in all shapes, colours, sizes, and, in our world, are covered in feathers. When Tyler passed off the last batch of birds of the day for me to band, I had no idea one of them was a bay-breasted warbler. According to Tyler, the little smile that formed on my face when I realized what I was holding was well worth letting me band the bird. Bay-breasted warblers breed in coniferous forests and can be found in the older pine and spruce stands on the top Martin Mountain. A few are banded at the migration station every year during fall migration, but these are either young birds or adults already in their drabber winter plumage. Rarely are these birds seen at the banding lab during spring migration when they are all dressed up in their fancy breeding plumage. In fact, this particular bird is only the second spring banding record in the LSLBO’s history; the first one was banded back in 1995. This particular bird was a female, so her plumage was not as spectacular as a male’s would be. But it really doesn’t matter whether it was a boy or girl. It was a bay-breasted warbler! To celebrate birds like the bay-breasted warbler, the LSLBO and Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation held the thirteenth annual Songbird Festival on June 2nd and 3rd. The weather cooperated quite nicely, becoming rather hot later in the afternoon. The turnout for the event was good as visitors enjoyed the presentations, the activities, and the pancakes that were being cooked up at the Centre. Guided hikes and buses brought some of the visitors to the banding lab to investigate what was going on over there. The birds cooperated and every group that joined us at the lab was able to see banding demonstrations on live birds. Groups had the chance to see birds ranging from ruby-crowned kinglets to white-throated sparrows to Canada warblers up close. We also reached a benchmark later in the morning; the banding of the 1000th bird of the spring. It was a male common yellowthroat, a handsome looking little wood-warbler. After it was banded, we expected a few bells to sound and some ticker tape to fall from the ceiling. After a brief pause, we realized that this just wasn’t going to happen, so the bird was released out the little escape hatch and we moved on to the next one. The Songbird Festival is a neat event because it allows us to interact with birders of all different skill levels to share stories and information on our common interest. We hope that seeing the little songbirds in hand, watching the presentation on bird vocalizations, or even building a little bird feeder gave everyone a greater appreciation of what songbirds are all about. Now that Songbird Festival has wrapped up we are looking at the final week of spring migration monitoring. The signs of the end of migration are becoming apparent with much lower daily banding totals, birds in breeding condition, and a higher rate of recapturing birds banded earlier this spring. This means that there are fewer birds moving through the area and more moving within the area as they prepare for nesting. We will continue monitoring for the week to catch the last of the late migrants before we switch to the breeding grounds monitoring program. But a lot can happen in a week. We have learned to expect the unexpected. Plus I want to repay Tyler with a surprise bird. That’s how we work.

2010