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Archived Postings

August 27, 2007 – September 2, 2007

The LSLBO experienced another very slow week of bird banding. The week started with banding totals reaching 12 birds a day. By the end of the week we were only catching two birds during a full day of banding. Even in early stages of autumn, with cooler daytime temperatures, the leaves starting to turn, and the distinct fall smell, we should have been catching more birds. But the banding totals deceive the true bird activity during the week. Migrant songbirds made a late August push during the middle of the week resulting in two days of furiously counting birds. Most of the migrants we counted during those two days were yellow-rumped warblers. On the first day of passage we counted just over 750 yellow-rumped warblers, which is a good number of birds. Over 1700 yellow-rumped warblers were counted on the second day, which is considered a lot of birds. At one point over 400 were seen passing overhead in a matter of 20 minutes. But the yellow-rumped warblers were not alone in this passage. A host of other species joined them, including: bay-breasted warblers, orange-crowned warblers, Wilson’s warblers, yellow warblers, Tennessee warblers, western tanagers, American pipits, Lapland longspurs, rose-breasted grosbeaks, red-breasted nuthatches, Swainson’s thrush, savannah sparrows, ruby-crowned kinglets, and even black-capped chickadees. Most of the birds were flying above the treetops during the early morning hours and coming down into the treetops to forage for food later in the day. For two days the forest and sky was alive with birds, leading to a couple of incredible days of bird-watching. Unfortunately, these birds were moving with a purpose and we were only able to capture a small number of them. For example, we banded only two of the 2450 yellow-rumped warblers observed over the two days. As quickly as this migration passage began, it ended. The rest of the week provided only a handful of observations and fewer birds banded. Migration is an unpredictable event which can start and stop at any time, and our job is to be there ready to observe that migratory activity and to band those birds. Seven more northern saw-whet owls were banded during the week. A nights worth of banding is only bringing in one or two owls. It is still early in the season and owl banding action should begin picking up within the next week. On two separate nights we unexpectedly captured some other creatures of the night that briefly took the attention away from the saw-whet owls. Two northern flying squirrels ended up in our mistnets. Extracting a northern flying squirrel from a fine net is a lively event. The first one came out quite easily, mainly because it managed to chew most of the net away before we arrived. It left us with a squirrel sized hole to mend. The second flying squirrel was a bundle of fur completely covered in a mass of net. The major challenge with squirrels is that as soon as you grab them they curl up in a tight little ball and begin to battle with your hand. Tyler decided he wanted to try his hand at removing the squirrel from the net. Being the ever helpful and nice guy, I assisted the extraction by taking pictures of the event. After some time dealing with squirrel growling, biting, gnawing, and scratching, Tyler managed to free it. The squirrel then proceeded to leaped out of Tyler’s hand and landed straight back into the net. The second extraction attempt was rather unprofessional; it involved us trying to shake the thing out. Eventually the squirrel was freed, and after that ordeal, dealing with the saw-whet we caught on the next check seemed like a breeze.

2010