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Archived Postings

May 15, 2008 – May 21, 2008

Two good things occurred at the LSLBO banding station this past week. First, we had our first large scale songbird passage of the spring on the 18th. Over 3000 songbirds flew over the banding station throughout the morning. At times the passage was intense as hundreds of birds would pass over in a matter of five minutes. The interesting thing about this movement was that the birds were flying against a gusty northerly wind. Migrating birds will take advantage of favorable weather conditions to conserve energy and maximize efficiency, that’s why it was puzzling to watch these birds fly into a strong head-wind. The wind impeded the ability to identify many of these songbirds, it whistled past your ears making it impossible to hear flight calls. Many of the birds were also flying well above the trees, far too high to distinguish field markings. About half the birds went unidentified. The other half consisted mainly of yellow-rumped warblers (over 700), blackbirds (over 600), and chipping sparrows (over 500). We also had small numbers of rose-breasted grosbeaks, yellow warblers, black-and-white warblers, Swainson’s thrush, eastern kingbirds, and white-throated sparrows moving through that day. We also encountered our first American redstarts and gray-cheeked thrush of the spring. Although the 42 birds we banded on the 18th was the highest daily banding total so far this spring, it did not represent the number of birds passing through. The banding total could have been higher, but the winds blew the nets around too much, which reduced their effectiveness to catch birds. The next good thing to happen was that the ice on the lake in front of the banding lab began to break up. Not only did this bring a better state of mind by having the last traces of winter erased, but waterfowl began to congregate in the pockets of open water. We saw northern shovelers, surf scoters, white-winged scoters, green-winged teal, blue-winged teal, long-tailed ducks, and finally heard the calls of common loons. We watched common goldeneye courtship displays. A group of males will surround a female then throw back their heads and make a weak croaking noise. The intricacies of duck courtship displays are quite complex, including subtleties like the timing of the head throw. What’s not so subtle is when things stop going well and you hear splashing as the males begin to fight. Banding has been slow this spring. With the exception of the 18th, our daily banding totals have been under 20 birds a day throughout May. Typically, the second half of May is the busiest time for spring migration, so we are anticipating some good banding days ahead. Wood-warblers have been relatively absent from the banding totals. With the exception of yellow-rumped warblers, black-and-white warblers, and northern waterthrush, many of our expected warblers have not arrived in numbers we expect to see. Even with the lack of warblers, we have had some great birds in the nets, including a spectacular male rose-breasted grosbeak and our first sharp-shinned hawk of the spring.

2010