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Archived Postings

September 3, 2007 – September 9, 2007

It was an exciting week at the LSLBO. Unfortunately, the excitement did not come from any strange or odd birds that were captured or from any major migration movements. In fact, the weather was so lousy during the week that the nets weren’t even set for half the time. While the rain was busy keeping banding attempts to a minimum, the heavy winds helped by keeping bird activity to a minimum. If there were birds moving about it was very difficult to find them. Only 35 birds were banded through the week, which consisted mostly of Swainson’s thrush and yellow-rumped warblers. However, we did band the first blue jay of the year. Although blue jays are far from a rare species, not too many end up in the nets and they are good looking birds. We also banded the first white-crowned sparrow of the fall. White-crowned sparrows are late fall migrants, whose arrival was not unexpected. For anyone aware of my obsession with red-breasted nuthatches, you’ll be happy to know that I did manage to finally catch one. I was alone at the lab that day and didn’t have to share it with anybody else; I enjoy being selfish sometimes. The first flock of greater white-fronted geese was also spotted flying over the banding lab. Although this flock only had 70 birds in it, we expect to see a lot more pass through in the next few weeks. Late one morning the sky cleared and the yellow-rumped warblers took advantage of the break in the weather. About 780 were counted within a couple of hours and we even caught 12 of them. Other than these few highlights, there was very little going on at the banding lab. With less than a month left of fall banding, it would be nice to see a few days of sunny weather and to have a chance of some good fall birding. Sunny autumn days are a wonderful thing, and when one finally arrives, it will not be wasted. The event that took place that will become one of the highlights of the year was the videographer from National Geographic that visited the LSLBO and the Boreal Centre. He was collecting footage for a series that will include boreal songbirds and conservation. The footage collected was going to focus on songbird banding, but there was also interest in filming the saw-whet owl banding. Initially I was nervous, I had no idea what to expect. All he wanted was to get some footage of banding birds and all the pertinent information would be provided in later interviews. So, I was fitted with a microphone and was asked to “act natural”. I tend to ham things up whenever I am in control of a microphone, so it took awhile for the naturalness to come through. The first portion of the filming was the saw-whet owl banding. The crew came to the Boreal Centre in hope to film the banding of one of these owls. It was early in the season and the chances of catching one were slim, but after a short while we did find a saw-whet dangling from a mistnet. The young female was perfect and provided some amazing shots. The crew came out the following day to the banding lab to film some songbird banding. It was a bit rainy early in the morning, but eventually the nets were opened and they were able to film the banding of an alder flycatcher and common yellowthroat. It was a fun experience, with the birds posing pretty for the camera and my theatrics; I am looking forward to seeing what footage will actually make it on the program. The series will be aired on National Geographic TV and PBS later this winter.

2010