Weekly Reports

I can’t believe it is already fall! We inevitably get that every year when we tell people we are firing up fall migration monitoring on July 12. It may seem unreasonably early to be watching for south-bound birds but it isn’t. True, many migratory birds will stick around all the way until September, but a… Read more »

It hasn’t been a very eventful week this past week. We finished the third round of MAPS banding during the only couple days it wasn’t raining, we did all our net repair and we got caught up on some office work. Out at MAPS we have just started seeing juvenile birds fledging. We have seen… Read more »

After that big storm, a lot of people may be wondering if, and how birds were affected. It is still a little early to tell, but it is likely that many in the area lost their nests. Aside from the obvious source of failed nesting – blow-down, the persistence of the rain was another source…. Read more »

As you may have noticed I wasn’t able to find the time last week to write an article. With the huge wind and rain storm we were scrambling to figure out where we stood in regards to our summer projects and come article day I found myself working a twelve hour day instead of writing…. Read more »

The weather continued to be variable this week which was nice for us. Lots of very cool mornings, a smattering of clouds and showers and even some calm conditions. Most migration is over and the only birds we see passing overhead are the occasional cedar waxwing and American goldfinch. Just because birds are no longer… Read more »

We’ve finally had some rain this week and although it is getting quite late in the spring migration season, we did see some better migration as a result. It is too bad that this change in weather came after the peak period for most species including some of our top-banded species like ovenbird and Swainson’s… Read more »

After another hot week we are wishing for rain as much as the wildfire fighters and officers. Bird activity has been pretty low given the heat, but every day this week new species have arrived. Now, with the exception of a couple warbler and flycatcher species, all the bird species we expect in the area… Read more »

It has been another week of clear, cool nights, and sunny, hot days, with a wind that seems to appear out of nowhere every day at nine a.m. This is perfect weather for migrating songbirds. They can travel vast distances at night when it is cool and then sit out the windy period of the… Read more »

Last week I opened by saying it felt as though migration was taking its time getting going. Well this week, at least for half of it, migration was on. May 4 marked the beginning of the migratory rush we had been waiting for. Over 3300 American robin passed over the observatory and they were joined… Read more »

Over this past week we have been seeing more species every day, but it still feels as though migration is taking its time getting started. Canada and white-fronted goose have been seen on most mornings moving over in large flocks, and on a couple days there was decent migration of sandhill crane as well. Raptor… Read more »