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Archived Postings

June 26, 2008 – July 2, 2008

It is considered a good stretch of banding when you return to the Boreal Centre every day to report at least one very cool bird encounter. That’s exactly what happened this week. We completed the third round of MAPS and the banding was great, over 20 birds were captured at each site. Most of the birds were common breeders, such as white-throated sparrows, ovenbirds, and American redstarts. It was the uncommon species we captured that made each day both interesting and fun. We banded a Philadelphia vireo, which happens to be my favorite of the four vireo species found here. A pair of brown creepers were banded, only five have been banded in previous MAPS seasons. The female black-throated green warbler was a nice surprise. They tend to stay high in the canopy and out of the range of the nets. The black-backed woodpecker was not captured, but spotted very close to a net lane. This species is rarely seen near the banding station. While wandering the forest looking for nests or tending the MAPS sites we sometimes randomly encounter events that provide more insight into the bird world. For instance, we encountered a nest predator in action. We stumbled on a pair of ovenbirds making a racket and thought the birds were using distraction tactics because we had wandered too close to their nest. Turns out the distractions were not aimed at us, but focused on the squirrel picking young out of their nest. Eventually we saw the squirrel run up a tree with a half eaten chick in its mouth. There are many predators in the forest, but somehow a squirrel just doesn’t fit the image. One of the Canada warbler nests we were monitoring this season was losing one chick a day. Obviously, this nest was being depredated, but we were confused because most predators would destroy the entire nest. However, a squirrel may have been the culprit. There are two forest encounters that are not exciting or educational, but scary. Both recently occurred. The first takes the form of an extreme startle. Female ruffed grouse with young will not budge until you are almost right on top of them. Then the female will explode out of the bush. A large bird unexpectedly bursting out beside you can get your heart pounding. The female will then charge you while making a hissing noise. That part is just amusing. The other scary encounter wasn’t as amusing. I was intently watching a pair of Canada warblers trying to locate their nest. I looked up and made eye contact with a black bear standing 15 meters away. It was one of those moments when you wonder “how is this going to turn out?” The bear ran off quickly, which was a very good thing. The bad part was that it ran right towards the area where my assistant was intently looking for Canada warbler nests.

2010