October Week 4

This will be my last post for this amazing trip to North America as the next two days will be spent shutting down the banding station before jumping on a plane and heading back home to Lancashire (who should I pack?). Adding up my lists for the journey I have seen 290 species since crossing the Atlantic of which 63 have been lifers. This made me look at my life list and I soon realised that Kittlitz’s Murrelet was a very important bird taking me to the landmark of 1000. I have really enjoyed getting to learn more about the birds through banding and have reached an impressive total of 116 species. So it’s now time to go back to all my Blue Tits in the garden and try to sort out what to do with my life!!!!!!!!!!!! (any ideas?)

31st Oct – wash out

Rain and more rain as the season comes to an end.

30th Oct – 3rd Shrike

Banding was slow today as just 25 birds were caught. However another record was broken as we caught our third Northern Shrike. Only raptors of the day seen were a Cooper’s Hawk and a Northern Harrier but a cool surprise in net 8 was a Saw-whet.


Downy Woodpecker

29th Oct – Blackbirds head south

A light northerly wind definitely had our heads pointing up this morning as an estimated 2500 Red-winged Blackbirds and 700 Common Grackles moved over, as did 27 Buff-bellied Pipits. The majority of the days catch were 20 Slate-coloured Juncos whilst a Pine Siskin was a nice change.

The lake was full of life on a calm afternoon as I recorded:
· 67 Common Loons
· 46 Horned Grebes
· 2 Gadwall
· 4 Black Ducks
· 65 Mallards
· 500 Long-tailed Ducks
· 4000 Greater Scaup
· 10 Black Scoter
· 12 Surf Scoter
· 420 White-winged Scoter
· 9 Buffleheads
· 75 Red-breasted Mergansers

28th Oct – closed

A rather damp day resulted in very little noted with just a Northern Harrier, whilst a walk in Traverse Wood found just 10 Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Myrtle Warbler. Last night we caught a Screech Owl.

27th Oct – Meadowlark drops in

104 reached now as a Red-bellied Woodpecker found our hawk nets, also caught were 2 House Finch. By the afternoon the wind had gone and out on the lake were 10 Black, 7 Surf and 500 White-winged Scoters as well as 40 Horned Grebes, 300 Long-tailed Ducks, 30 Buffleheads, 15 Black Ducks and 3000+ Greater Scaup. A group of shorebirds also flew by comprising of 4 Sanderling, 3 Dunlin and a White-rumped Sandpiper. Late afternoon and the grass in front of the house filled with 40+ Robins and an Eastern Meadowlark.


Eastern Meadowlark

26th Oct – repeat of yesterday

The sun was out today and thankfully this meant we could get a little electricity from the solar panels. Today we dropped to 39 birds banded but our observations were similar to yesterday with a Golden Eagle over and a visit from an Evening Grosbeak but this time a female and unfortunately she was more interested in the few hornbeam seeds rather than our sunflower seeds.


Eastern Bluebird

25th Oct – list grows one more

At last the wind finally makes it back around to the northwest. Bird numbers stayed very stable though but there was a little activity overhead with a 1st year Golden Eagle (first for year at the point) and 2 Red-tailed Hawks. A walk to the lighthouse found a very late Blue-grey Gnatcatcher with a group of Chickadees. But by far the best sighting of the day was of a bird I’ve been hoping to see for some time now. It was mid morning when a volunteer walked into the banding lab saying she had just seen a large bird by the feeders with yellow and a big bil…………. I shot out and after staring at the large cedar trees for ten minutes or more, the bird hopped out into view, WOW it really was an EVENING GROSBEAK and a stonking male as well! (that’s when the eagle flew over which was a lifer for Brendan)


Evening Grosbeak

An hour later and he finally made his way into the trap. As the sun set we were ready for a busy night and we were not disappointed as we got our biggest catch of the season as were hauled in 79 Saw-whets along with another Barred Owl.

24th Oct – first tree return

Much better weather today as a gentle southeast wind blew and cloud cover meant for warmer temperatures of 12-15 degrees Celsius. The nets delivered 70 birds with another addition to the seasons list when two American Tree Sparrows were caught. In the yard 3 Eastern Bluebirds made a brief visit. Out on the lake there are still 8 Black, Surf and 200 White-winged Scoters but conditions were far from ideal for scanning.


American Tree Sparrow

23rd Oct – strong winds stop play

Sadly the strong easterly winds and threat of rain tracking over the lake meant no banding was carried out. An early watch on the lake found a flock of 80 Brants heading south as were 3 Common Loons. Morning census was carried out with only 17 species logged. But this did include a single Vesper Sparrow feeding along the roadside verge. By the afternoon the weather was improving so we made attempts to catch the sparrow and after an hour or saw after being out foxed by the bird we finally got it! Bringing the seasons total to 102 species and forms.


Vesper Sparrow

22nd Oct – 2 Warbler species

The day started with Dave heading off to Quebec for the weekend attending the Canadian Migration Network meeting at Tadoussac leaving me in charge!!!!!!!!!!!! The weather was calm and cloudy with a few birds flying around early on with 5 Buff-bellied Pipits and 400 Red-winged Blackbirds. The nets confirmed that there were very few birds in the woods with just 51 birds caught. (maybe an indication that the season is coming to an end?) Best bird banded was a fine male Pine Warbler that bizarrely got caught in a ground trap, the only other warbler seen were 4 Myrtles. 3 Northern Cardinals also appeared around the feeders.


Pine Warbler