A northeast wind meant that it was a cold day as we dropped to 94 birds of which 28 were Kinglets and 13 Hermit Thrushes as the only warbler was an Orange-crowned. The most alarming sight occurred mid morning as a net check of lane eight saw a Barred Owl holding onto a thrush in the net. As I approached the owl tried to fly away with the bird but soon gave up as it flew up into the trees. Amazingly the Hermit Thrush was still alive as it few off strongly into cover after being extracted despite loosing a few feathers in the experience. Later on the only worthy sighting was a Goshawk the circled over. At night we were owling once again and thankfully there was no sight of the Barred but 18 Saw-whets were caught by midnight along with our second Screech Owl of the season. 
Northern Saw-whet Owl
13th Oct – Turkeys feel safe
Much the same as yesterday with another drop in bird numbers to 127 banded despite the wind still being in a favourable direction. Early morning logged 180 Common Grackles moving south. A walk to the lighthouse found a single Black Duck with the 37 Mallards in the harbour and whilst walking through the dry swamp I disturbed four roosting Wild Turkeys.
12th Oct – Thanksgiving
Barred Owl
As I ventured out of bed this morning I was given a band and was sent to the banding lab where a Barred Owl was waiting for me after being caught overnight along with 42 Saw-whet Owls. (best night so far) After playing with my banding tick and only getting bitten once we headed out and opened the nets on a cool morning as the first frost laid on the ground. Bird numbers were slightly down as the ground traps start to make a larger input with 30+ White-crowned Sparrows of which 10 were adults and therefore identified as Eastern White-crowns but there was also an intermediate bird as well. In the evening we enjoyed a big turkey dinner. 
‘intermediate’ White-crowned Sparrow
11th Oct – Fox return
Banding again was busy once again with 245 birds caught of which 127 were Ruby-crowned Kinglets. New for the season was a Fox Sparrow as possibly the last Blackpoll Warbler was also banded and for the second day running a large female Cooper’s Hawk managed to bounce! As wind strength increased we were forced to close at the end of the period. A look at the lake mid-afternoon got a single Surf Scoter with 16 White-winged Scoters and 5 Horned Grebes bouncing up and down on the waves. Over at the lighthouse a flock of 6 Black-bellied Plovers dropped onto the rocks briefly followed by 3 Eastern Bluebirds around the obs at dusk.
10th Oct – RCKI’s
Another wave of birds arrived today as the wind was back from the Northwest. 315 birds were banded as variety starts to drop to 28 species. The majority of the total was made by 31 Hermit Thrushes, 56 Golden-crowned and 132 Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Warblers were represented by 8 species with 15 Myrtle, 4 Nashville, 2 Orange-crowned, Black-throated Blue, Magnolia, Western Palm, American Redstart and Ovenbird. 
Myrtle Warbler
9th Oct – lake bursts into life
A very calm cloudy day made good for lake watching. The nets were still catching Kinglets mostly with 71 Ruby-crowned and 34 Golden Crowned. Numbers were boosted by a Black-throated Blue, Orange-crowned, American Redstart and 3 Myrtle Warblers to 142 birds for the day. Grabbing my telescope I headed out to the lakeshore just after lunch, the water surface was still flat calm making viewing easy and birds were everywhere. Winter must be on the way as I counted 44 Horned (Slavonian) and 2 Red-necked Grebes, 9 Lesser Scaup, 150 White-winged and 2 drake Surf Scoters but by far the most numerous was a large raft of c.2000 Greater Scaup out in the distance. 
Swamp Sparrow
8th Oct – Sapsucker sets new heights
A Northwest wind meant we were back in business with birds flooding through. The skies were filled with 150 Turkey Vultures, 4 Red-tailed Hawks, Bald Eagle and a Cooper’s Hawk. Whilst the nets were filling up with 63 Hermit Thrushes, 48 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 11 Myrtle Warblers and a second very late Black-billed Cuckoo after yesterdays. However most notable was the fact that another record was broken as we tallied up 7 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers for the day. In the evening the mud in the harbour finally produced a bird as a single Solitary Sandpiper had a good feed whilst a Belted Kingfisher watched from above.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
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