Bird banding – Page 11

Final Fall Fallout of Migratory Songbirds & Our First Saw-whet Owl of the Season!

October 22, 2011 By wctbirds

Nashville Warbler by Adrian Binns — Nashville Warbler at Rushton Woods Preserve by Adrian Binns (Fall 2011)

Last Friday (10-14), we banded 56 birds to the delight of my adult class (age 50+) from Widener’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. After studying birds, bird banding and bird conservation in the classroom, the enthusiastic students came out to Rushton Woods Preserve to experience the banding production in person. They were thrilled to touch and be so close to these wild feathered beauties and were pleasantly surprised at the diversity of species: Eastern Phoebe, 5 Palm Warblers, 3 Myrtle Warblers, 1 Common Yellowthroat, 4 Black-throated Blue Warblers, lots of sparrows, 1 Gray-cheeked Thrush, towhee, goldfinch, cardinals, Carolina Wren, and 1 late CATBIRD!

The net over the compost pile was very busy that day with over 15 birds in the net at once during the mid-morning net check. Doris was packing 2-3 birds of the same species in each bag (we need more hand-made bird bags if you can sew and want to lend a hand!). Poor Doris also suffered deep puncture wounds during that same net check from an ungrateful mole or vole that she rescued from the net. “Don’t get no respect, even from rodents!”, she cried.

This past Tuesday (10-18) was our second big fallout day, probably the last one for this fall. We banded 93 birds of 20 species, which is 7 birds over Rushton’s previous record of 86! A Northern Parula Warbler was the best of 6 warbler species, and several Golden-crowned Kinglets were new for this year. Our loyal volunteers Alice, Lou, and Godefroy extracted non-stop and kept the birds safe. Win and Justin helped at the open and went to work saying, “Here are 6 birds. There are 2 more in #7 and 12 in #6.” That was 7:45 and we never stopped until after 10. Doris says, “No bird was held more than 90 minutes, which is long for Rushton, but nothing for the big banding stations which routinely hold birds for longer.”

Thursday and Friday of this week were slower, with probably more High School kids than birds. About 100 honors students from Conestoga High School’s Environmental Science class came out to Rushton over the past two days. They had the chance to visualize and experience concepts they have learned or will learn in the classroom this year by rotating through 3 stations: a woodland ecology walk, tour of the sustainable CSA farm, and bird banding and conservation. The students were impressed with the common birds we all sometimes take for granted like the handsome American Robin and Northern Cardinal and the charismatic Tufted Titmouse. The very last catch of the day was a stunning Sharp-shinned Hawk, which the kids got really excited about. The cell phones immediately came out of pockets and were snapping pictures left and right! This is probably the same hawk that we have occasionally seen darting in and out of the hedgerows and even dive-bombing Lisa one day as she was closing the nets. I think the Sharpie was angry that she wasn’t leaving the net up to facilitate his lunch endeavors.

Sharp-shinned hawk- Young female — Young female Sharp-shinned Hawk (by Blake Goll)

As for the Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO), we were off to a very slow start. For the first couple of weeks, we ended up empty-handed every night except for a red-phase Eastern Screech Owl two Fridays ago at 8pm and then again at 11pm. He just couldn’t get enough of our nets, apparently. Let’s just hope he has learned his lesson and stays away once we really start catching saw-whets (screech owls are a predator of NSWO, believe it or not).

Eastern Screech Owl recapture (by Blake Goll)

We don’t know what’s taking the Saw-whets so long, but it may be related to this crazy wet weather we have been having (which seems to have delayed this year’s songbird migration as well). There is also some speculation that this year was not a very successful breeding year for the NSWO, and therefore the number of young “Hatching Year” (HY) birds is much lower than last year. Since most of the owls we band are HY birds, we don’t expect to band as many this year as last. (The older more dominant males tend to prefer to stick out the winter on their northern territories rather than migrating south with the young owls and the females. )

The NSWO is also an irruptive species closely tied to the pine tree seed crop up north. Last year was an irruption year during which we had more saw-whets coming south than usual because the pine trees did not produce as many seeds as the previous year, which caused the rodent population (owl food) to plummet. When food up north is scarce, more owls travel south for the winter. Bird migration is related to food scarcity, not cold weather. Most birds, even some hummingbirds like the Rufous, are well adapted to dealing with cold weather.

You can imagine our delight last night (10-21) when we finally caught our first Northern Saw-whet Owl!!! It was a cute-as-a-button feisty young female weighing in at about 92 grams. It was about 9:00 at night when she found her way to our nets while investigating our audio lure that incessantly plays the male’s territorial call. Everyone was ecstatic, and even men’s voices were raised an octave or two as they ‘ooed’ and ‘aahed’ over the little owl. As for myself, I was a little intimidated by her mesmerizing yellow eyes that seemed to be boring into my soul from some wild place and “reading my mind”, as one woman said.

Young female Northern Saw-whet Owl — Our young female Northern Saw-whet Owl (by Blake Goll). My, what beautiful eyes she has!

Photogenic Northern Saw-whet Owl — Our very photogenic Northern Saw-whet Owl

Alas, there is hope for this year’s owl banding season! Remember to contact Lisa Kiziuk (lkr@wctrust.org) if you are interested in observing owl banding. Songbird banding will also continue on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for the next couple of weeks. No reservation required for songbirds.

And speaking of Lisa, congratulations to her on winning the DVOC (Delaware Valley Ornithological Society) Rosalie Edge Conservation Award for her tireless bird conservation work! Without her vision, the Willistown Conservation Trust’s banding station at Rushton Woods Preserve would never have become a reality. Today, the Rushton bird banding station is not only a reality but a wonderful destination where adults and children of all backgrounds experience some of nature’s finest works of living art while learning about the importance of such scientific research in the understanding and ultimate conservation of our nation’s feathered bounty. Thank you, Lisa, for making your dream come true and for all you do for the birds. I know Rosalie Edge would be proud of you.

~Blake

Rushton Migration Minutes: An Unexpected Second Wave of Warblers Preceded the Sparrow Surge Last Week… and One of Our Banded Owls Appeared In Quebec!

October 13, 2011 By Communications Team

“Bird Migration is the world’s only true unifying natural phenomenon, stitching the continents together in a way that even the great weather systems fail to do.”
~Scott Weidensaul, Author & Naturalist

red tailed hawk_dalton portella — Red-tailed Hawk by Dalton Portella

Migration is such an exciting time of year because you never know what to expect! Here at the Rushton Wood Preserve banding station, every day is different and brings new surprises. As difficult as it is to wake up before the sun rises on banding days, it is much easier when I imagine the endless possibilities of woodland gems we could encounter in one of our 11 webs.

Last week (the first week of October) was the first week I really felt the fall chill in the air, but our nets were hot! On Tuesday (Oct. 4) we banded 60 birds and to our surprise, a bunch of them were warblers. As I said in my last blog post, we were observing a drastic decline in the volume of warblers and therefore expected that they were almost finished passing through. Not so! The second wave of warblers last week must have been the birds who were held back by all the rain of previous weeks. Whatever the reason for this fallout, we were thankful because we had species that Rushton has never seen before, including a Tennessee warbler. This dainty warbler of the Canadian boreal forest is becoming increasingly uncommon throughout its range, so having one at Rushton was spectacular. The Tennessee warbler specializes in eating the spruce budworm, so its population may be closely tied to budworm fluctuations up north.

TennesseeWarblerLRR — Tennessee Warbler by Robert Royse (taken from Google Images)

Another amazing warbler we banded was the Blackpoll warbler. Lisa and I had never before seen one, let alone held one in our hand, so we were a bit skeptical at first. First we thought Pine Warbler, but ruled that out by the black centers in our bird’s feathers. Next, our guide indicated that in the fall Blackpoll warblers are often confused with Bay-breasted Warblers, but we finally ruled out the Bay-breasted by the bright yellow soles of our bird’s feet! The Bay-breasted has more grayish feet. Gotta love “confusing fall warblers”.

We had 2 Blackpoll warblers that day. One was skinny and the other had lots of fat stored in its wishbone area (or furcular hollow), which is what we love to see on long-distant migratory birds. It is especially important for Blackpolls to have lots of fuel because they have one of the longest, most strenuous journeys of all our wood warblers. Their journey begins on their breeding grounds of the northern boreal forest of Canada. They double their mass and fly all the way to South America, which is impressive in itself. Even more incredible is that many of the Blackpolls opt for the oceanic flight; they fly from northeastern U.S. out over the western Atlantic nonstop for 1,864 miles to Puerto Rico or S. America. The flocks of Blackpolls have shown up as diffuse blobs of glowing green on radar scopes over the West Indies at altitudes of 23,000 ft! These tiny warblers land in S. America about 88 hours after leaving the New England coast. Ornithologists have compared this dumbfounding journey to a human running 4 minute miles for 3.5 days, without rest, refueling, or water. Absolutely mind-boggling!

Other warblers in last week’s catch included Magnolia, Black and White, Common Yellowthroat, and Black-throated Blue.

Female Black throated Blue warbler — Female Black-throated Blue warbler at Rushton Woods Preserve by Blake Goll

Male Black & White warbler at Rushton by Blake Goll

On Thursday of last week, the sparrows replaced the warblers. White-throated Sparrows were the catch of the day, and a Lincoln’s Sparrow was the most photographed sparrow of the day. This very handsome sparrow likes boggy areas and is only seen in our area during migration on his way to the southern U.S. and Central America.

It is safe to say that last week was an all out fallout for Rushton Woods Preserve. The migratory birds came in on the cold front overnight and touched down in our enticing habitat by dawn. Depending on each bird’s individual physical condition, they will stay for a day to several days or even over a week in a stopover habitat such as ours. Then they will continue their migration, refueled. We could tell the birds last week had traveled very far overnight because many were showing signs of exhaustion, even those that we “popped” out of the net in seconds. We quickly processed these tired migrants first and released them immediately, so they could get back to refueling on insects and berries in the rich hedgerows and farm fields.

I spoke with our farmer, Fred, and he and the other growers who had been working the fields last week noticed the “fallout” of birds as well. As they were walking through the fields harvesting, they were often startled by birds, including warblers, flying right our from under their feet. The birds would fly only a short distance away from them and land in the grasses or vegetable plants a few feet away, as if too exhausted to go farther. Fred suspects the warblers glean insects from the crops; for example, the tomatoes are being left on the vine to rot in preparation for winter because the fermented fruit preserves the seeds for next year. This rotting fruit attracts a lot of insect activity, which the birds immediately discover. Fred also notices migrant birds following the farmers as they walk through the fields because the birds know that such human movement kicks up the insects from the undergrowth. Fascinating stuff! And to think, many birders never dreamed that farms could be beneficial to birds. A prize will go to any photographer who helps us document this revelation by getting a picture of a warbler on a tomato plant at Rushton! 🙂

This week we have been rained out from banding everyday so far except for Tuesday when we got 81 birds! The first of the Yellow-rumped Warblers came through; these warblers are the last to migrate because they winter farther north than other warblers, due in large part to their ability to digest berry fruits. We banded a few other warblers this week including Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Blue, and Magnolia, but the catch was largely sparrows: Lincoln’s, Swamp, Chipping, Song and Field. We banded some nice thrushes including Hermit and Wood Thrush in addition to towhees and resident birds like Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, and woodpeckers. The Ruby-crowned Kinglets are moving through in greater numbers now, and there are officially no more Gray Catbirds in Rushton until next spring.

Ruby Crowned Kinglet at Rushton. Blake Goll

Perhaps the most exciting birds we caught on Tuesday were a Winter Wren and a Brown Creeper, both very brown but uniquely exquisite. The Winter Wrens have one of the most elaborate songs of all; their voice echoes the heart of the forest. The Brown Creepers sing of “Trees, trees, beautiful trees!” in a sweet tinkling

voice, and their secretive habit makes them very exciting to spot creeping along a tree trunk. They sing of trees, crawl up and down trees, place their nests behind flaps of loose bark on trees, and even look like they are cut from the same cloth of tree bark. Their long , gnarly toes even remind be of tiny tree branches, and their marvelously curved bill is perfectly suited to “tickling the tree trunks” for insects. What a wonderful little bird.

Speaking of wonderful little birds, the Northern Saw-whet Owls are on their way to Rushton! Please read the following notification from the Rushton Banding crew:

___________________________________________________________________

2011 NSWO Update!

You’re invited to the Rushton Woods Banding Station this fall for a rendez vous under the stars to observe first-hand the techniques and uses of bird banding and to learn about the biology of Northern Saw-whet Owls. We will open to the public from October 20 until November 23 with Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings available, but we can accept visitors on a RESERVATION BASIS ONLY. Many people wish to visit our station with the hope of seeing these owls up-close, but our space is extremely limited.

The monitoring of Northern Saw-whet Owls (NSWO) is a nocturnal activity whereby this small owl species is caught using a system of loudspeakers (playing their calls) surrounded by mist nets in which the owls become entangled. The information collected from this process gives scientists information about the cyclical nature of the migratory cycles of these species and their reproductive success.

Please reserve an evening by e-mailing Lisa Kiziuk at lkr@wctrust.org as soon as possible and note that banding is weather dependent as rain or high winds will cause the station to close.

The station is located in the farm shed at Rushton Woods and Farm Preserve and the GPS address to use is 1050 Delchester Road, Malvern, PA 19355. Please note that parking is at a premium and you may be asked to park in the field lot. DRESS WARMLY.

Important NSWO Update!

Yesterday we received news that one of our “Rushton NSWOs” was caught at the Observatoire d’Oseaux de Tadoussac in Quebec. Here is the link to the observatory where she was caught on October 3 2011: http://www.explos-nature.qc.ca/oot/. NSWO number 0494-81906, or “Frenchy” as we call her, was caught at the Rushton Woods Banding Station last year on November 6 and weighed in at 99.3g. She was a “hatch year” owl, which means she was born in the summer of the year we caught her. This year on October 3, she weighed in at 103.3g, a sizable increase, possibly in preparation for migration, and she is now aged as a “second year” owl. We hope to see her again at Rushton this Fall!

New This Year:

In order to help support our long-term monitoring of the population dynamics of Northern Saw-whet Owls, and to improve our understanding of these mysterious night visitors, the Rushton Banding Crew is seeking donations to the program through our newly created “Owl Donation Box.” Your contributions will help financially sustain our continued collection of valuable information about these nocturnal birds, which are discreet and difficult to monitor. Your contributions also help fund our songbird banding efforts.

See you under the stars!

The Rushton Woods Banding Crew

_____________________________________________________________________

Ok Folks, that’s all for now. Phew! I had a lot to tell you! There is just so much happening in the natural world this time of year, and birds make these seasonal transitions so much more evident and exciting. Remember, you are welcome to share in the excitement Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Rushton Woods Preserve banding station through the first week or so of November.

Make sure you go see “The Big Year” this weekend…I can’t wait!

~Blake

Screech Owl Steals the Stage and Compost Pile Attracts a Pile of Birds!

September 23, 2011 By Communications Team

Black throated Blue warbler — Young male Black-throated Blue Warbler. Notice the greenish hue to his back. This indicates he was born this summer.

Hello Everyone,

Here is our banding update for the past 2 weeks of Fall Migration Banding thus far. Sorry for the delay, but we have been up to our ears in rain and getting ready for the Run-a-Muck, which is still on for tomorrow rain or shine, from 2- 6 PM ish. Check out our website for more information about this delightful countryside bash!

Blake with Eastern Screech Owl — Me (Blake) with the Eastern Screech Owl at Rushton Woods Preserve.

The following is our official banding update written by our magnificent Master bander, Doris McGovern:

Friends of Rushton Banding,

We began our 2011 fall season weeks later than 2010. August’s never-ending rain filled our net lanes with standing water and made it unsafe for birds and impossible for banders to work. That’s why you haven’t heard from us until now.

However, when we finally got underway we caught the cutest gray phase Eastern Screech Owl I’ve ever seen. Its plumage was an intricate bark-like camouflage pattern with subtle gray shadings, streaks and contrasts. This young bird was so cooperative; there were more than a few visitors who would have been happy to have it as a pet. We don’t anthropomorphize (attribute human personality to things not human) very often, but this little guy or gal came very close to being adopted. This is our second Screech Owl. The first, an adult red-phase, was caught late at night during Saw-whet Owl banding in 2010. Only Lou Hahn and I saw that bird, but this little owl was seen by lots of visitors. Children were wide-eyed. These owls are quite common even in suburbia. If you haven’t seen or heard one, check out http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Megascops&species=asio

Last fall we caught six Connecticut Warblers, an amazing feat since these illusive warblers, skulkers in fields and low vegetation, are rarely seen by even the most avid bird watchers. Last week on the 16th we caught our first Connecticut, an attractive male with a gray hood. A female followed this week (Tuesday the 20th) and we could get a few more of these warblers if it ever stops raining. Thirteen warbler species netted so far this season include Worm-eating, Wilson’s, Black-throated Blue, Prairie, and lots of American Redstart and Magnolias. Of course, we enjoy all the vireos, thrushes and woodpeckers that live in and stop over at Rushton Preserve as well.

This Northern Flicker is a resident of Rushton.

Our catch for the past 2 weeks has been very good with no total below 28 birds and one as high as 57. On Wednesday Godefroy, a post doc at Penn from Burgundy, suggested setting a net near the farm’s compost piles where we often see birds flitting about as we are leaving. The birds glean insects and seeds from the rows of vegetables and use the hedgerow for shelter. Lou and Godefroy set the net late in the day, but within half an hour, we caught 15 birds including Field and Chipping Sparrows, Indigo Buntings and wrens. While the sparrow migration is on, this could become our best net.

Young female Canada Warbler — This young female Canada Warbler was one of our first migrant warblers this season.

Members of ’PA Young Birders’ will attend a banding session scheduled just for them next Thursday, September 29th from 9-11 am. This program was very successful last fall when over 40 youngsters from 7-17 attended and were overwhelmingly excited by the experience. If you have a youngster or know a young person who would be interested in learning about birds, contact Lisa Kiziuk (lkr@wctrust.org) for a schedule of the fun birding and nature programs that she and Blake Goll (bhg@wctrust.org) have prepared.

See you in the woods,

Doris McGovern

Blogster Blake here again. I just want to emphasize how exciting it was to have all those 15 birds in the “compost net!” Lisa is the one who found them all in the net by herself as we were closing up. She quickly called for reinforcements, and Doris drove her car right up to the net from the banding station! After helping Lisa to extract all 15 birds, she drove the birds back to the banding table for speedy delivery, and Doris and I got to work banding birds double time!

Many of the Indigo Buntings, Field Sparrows, and Chipping Sparrows in the “compost net” were young of the year, which is great proof that they nest in or near Rushton Woods Preserve. In addition to contributing to nationwide bird conservation efforts, one of the main reasons we set up this banding station last year was to see which birds are using this special habitat. Baby birds are great proof of the quality of our habitat as a breeding ground. The baby Field Sparrow was especially important because they are declining throughout their range as a result of loss of grassland habitat. Plus, this sparrow was absolutely adorable with its tiny pink bill, its bright white eye-ring, fuzzy baby body feathers, and lopsided tail (the rectrices were all coming in at different rates). He was a cute little mess! Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture to show you because we were in the middle of processing the 15 birds.

Adult Field Sparrow — An adult field sparrow banded earlier this summer.

The other thing I wanted to share with you is this recent New York Times article about the sobering truth of glass buildings luring millions of birds nationwide to their death each year. Collisions with glass buildings in cities is the second leading cause of deaths to migrating birds, after habitat loss. I don’t like to end on such a sad note, but this is a real problem that Audubon and the American Bird Conservancy are working hard to publicize. Raising awareness is the key, as some architects are already coming up with innovative solutions that are being readily adopted by some cities.

And for the next addition to your personal library, I would recommend “The Birder’s Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds.” It is an essential companion to any identification field guide. I spotted Doris’s copy on the banding table the other day and immediately snatched it up to page through it. It is quite a treasure and a joy to read (for bird lovers). There are species accounts with the most detailed information, like what height in the tree you should look for that particular bird, interspersed with fascinating articles on avian natural history and ecology. I’ll be ordering my copy from Amazon very soon!

I hope to see you at the banding station next week, Tuesday and/or Thursday morning, if the rain has stopped! The Rushton fields of goldenrod are absolutely stunning, almost as stunning as our fall warblers…

Happy Fall,

~Blake

Portrait of our Eastern Screech Owl by Justin Thompson.

Fall Warblers are Back in Town

September 1, 2011 By Communications Team

…. “Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art.”
~Izaak Walton

Female Prairie Warbler banded April 2011 at Rushton Woods Preserve.

The little colorful warblers have indeed begun streaming down from the North to grace us with their fleeting presence this autumn. I think the hurricane may even have helped to stir them up a little. On the day of Irene’s visit, before it got really nasty, I spotted a visiting Black-and-white Warbler and a lovely pair of American Redstarts hunting insects in my yard, and Doris (our Master Bander) had a Canada Warbler in hers. Unfortunately, we won’t hear the warblers’ “curious ditties” much, if at all, because they are more cryptic during fall migration in both voice and plumage. This is why you hear the term “confusing fall warblers”; identification is extra challenging because they are not in their bright breeding plumage, differences between species are more subtle, young males born this year look an awful lot like adult females, and song is no longer a dead giveaway! But if you want to start studying your bird songs in preparation for next spring, here is a great resource: Nature Instruct.org.

Male Canada Warbler — Stunning male Canada Warbler banded May 2011 at Rushton Woods Preserve.

And of course, you are invited to drop by our banding station (no sign-up required) this fall to see, touch, and learn more about these beautiful migrants that visit Rushton Woods Preserve. We are in the process of clearing vegetation from the net lanes and finishing data entry from summer MAPS banding. We are eager to start the passerine banding season next week on Tuesday September 6 and will band every Tuesday and Thursday from sunrise to 11am (when it’s not raining) through Nov 1^st. Public Northern Saw-whet Owl banding (by reservation only) will begin the week of October, probably Friday October 7^th. More on that to come…

Check out these unbelievable pictures of an incredible early morning fallout of migrants, mostly warblers, this past spring on Machias Seal Island, Canada. Be sure to scroll through all 12 pictures! Those poor birds are so exhausted they are letting the photographer pick them up in his hand. We forget how amazing a feat these migrations are for such small creatures… It literally almost kills them. I wonder what these birds are saying to each other…Anyway, this is the type of fallout we are hoping for at Rushton this fall! Miracles happen, right?

Speaking of fallouts, did you hear about the exotic seabirds that Hurricane Irene blew in last week? Birders were going crazy along the Delaware River and Cape May checking off life birds they would normally have only been able to see by taking a trip out to the sea or the islands. These seabirds travel effortlessly in the relatively calm eye of the storm and then drop out into ‘new worlds’ when the storm begins to weaken. Sightings included 10 species of terns including a Bridled Tern and a Sandwich Tern (Who thinks of these names?), a Jaeger, and even a Whitetailed Tropic Bird, normally seen in Bermuda and the Caribbean. Very exciting.

Some South-bound Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones were also "beached" during Hurricane Irene. This is a Sanderling being banded this past spring for the Delaware Shorebird Project.

Although some birds can travel unscathed through the eye of a hurricane, I’m sure Irene forced the burgeoning Monarch butterfly migration to a screeching halt! All the rain in general last month seems to have slowed the butterflies down; we didn’t find many Monarchs or other butterflies during last week’s PA Young Birder meeting, “Monarch Madness.” We did find and observe one tiny Monarch larvae, one Spicebush swallowtail adult, and some praying mantises! The children had fun bug hunting and learning all about Monarch life cycles and migration while wearing their “thinking antennae!” Please read more about this community event and see the great pictures by photographer Amanda Mahnke in The Malvern Patch!

A PA Young Birder observes a Praying Mantis. Photo by Amanda Mahnke

This month’s PA Young Birder meeting will take place at Rushton Woods Preserve on Saturday September 24, 9-11 AM. The little birders will discover the fabulous fall migrants as they join us for songbird banding. They’ll see that around this time of year, Rushton becomes a hoppin’ Bed and Breakfast Inn for a multitude of different bird species, many of which we don’t see during any other time of the year. Each Jr. Birder will also get to spend a life changing personal moment with some of these special avian visitors before they continue on their way south for migration vacation! Interested Jr. Birders should RSVP to Lisa Kiziuk (lkr@wctrust.org).

Side note: Don’t forget to contact me (bhg@wctrust.org) if you are interested in volunteering to monitor our milkweed patch at Rushton for monarch larvae or to tag migrant adult monarchs this month. The data from these citizen science projects is crucial to Monarch butterfly conservation.

Monarch Larva feeding on Common Milkweed. Photo by Amanda Mahnke

There is yet another interesting migration event that I should let you in on…. Nighthawks. Most active during dawn and dusk, they say these strange birds are the missing evolutionary link between diurnal birds and owls. They sort of look like owls with their cryptic coloration, they fly like bats skillfully catching mosquitoes out of the air, and they have the word ‘hawk” in their name. So what is it? It is actually a member of the Nightjar family and related to the Whipoorwill. Right now, these strange little birds are migrating by the hundreds to South America, and you can view this fascinating phenomenon at the Haverford College Observatory from 6-8pm any evening from now until September 11. Observers saw 648 migrating nighthawks last night! Better than a fireworks show! Read more in the BCDC blog

Unfortunately, migration may be the only time most people see nighthawks in this area. Although their “peent” call used to be a familiar sound in cities and towns, they are now thought to be declining through most of their range as a result of changes in roofing. They prefer to nest on old fashioned, flat peastone gravel roofs and hunt for insects attracted to city lights. Project Nighthawk is an Audubon initiative encouraging people to create gravel nest patches on their roofs. This is a project we hope to become involved with in the near future as well! Go to the Project Nighthawk website for more info.

And last but not least, while we are sort of on the topic of hawks…here are two remarkable videos about hawks that are worth watching:

“Parahawking” over the skies in Nepal (watch in HD)

Goshawk in slo-mo (only works in full-screen mode)

Oh and don’t forget to plan a visit to Hawk Mountain this Fall! No Goshawks so far, but they’ve had 700 raptor migrants of 14 species in addition to many species of warblers. Click here to see the count. And since we like Monarchs too, I’ll tell you that their Monarch Celebration day is September 17^th.

Have fun, and I hope to see you at the Rushton banding station soon!

~Blake

Bird Babies, MAPS, Monarchs and More!

August 17, 2011 By Communications Team

Feisty Gray Catbird biting finger — A feisty Gray Catbird bites a bander's finger before being released. (Photo by Adrian Binns)

I hope this finds you enjoying the height of your summer and the company of those nosy, gregarious catbirds that have multiplied in your yard! Sadly, they won’t be here for too much longer. Gray Catbirds as well as many of our other favorite summer birds like Wood Thrush, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Veery, Scarlet Tanager, Eastern Phoebe, and Common Yellowthroat are finished nesting and are now gearing up for their southern voyage. This usually involves molting into their “fall clothes” (depending on the species) and then fattening up for migration. They fill their furcular hollow (the wishbone area) with fat in much the same way as you fill your tank with gas before a long trip!

Young male Baltimore Oriole — This young male Baltimore Oriole nested here this summer. They too will be leaving us soon for their home in South America.

But enough with migration talk for now…We still have another couple of weeks of summer, according to a bird’s calendar! In fact, there are some birds that are taking their time and still nesting or just finishing up. Goldfinches are among the last North American birds to nest, usually waiting until July or even early August; this is when milkweed, thistle, and other plants produce their fibrous seeds which goldfinches use as nesting material and the main food source for their young. They are strict vegetarians and raise their kids that way too, unlike most other seed-eating avian parents. This is bad news for lazy, young Brown-headed Cowbird moms who think they can get away with shirking their parental duties by dropping off their eggs with goldfinch foster families. Once hatched, cowbird babies in goldfinch nests never survive because the all-seed diet isn’t enough for them.

Indigo bunting nest attached to sunflower — This surprisingly late nest was found a little over a week ago in a farm field in the area. Can you guess what bird species this precious nest belongs to? It is not a goldfinch nest. It is an open cup of soft leaves, coarse grasses, stems, strips of bark and paper, all held in place and attached to the sunflower with spider web and lined with soft grass and deer hair. It belongs to an Indigo Bunting!

I also want to fill you in on all of the exciting bird happenings of this past month at Rushton, namely the MAPS babies. MAPS, which stands for Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship, is the most important, data intensive project that a banding station can do. The program was started in 1989 by the Institute for Bird Populations in Point Reyes, CA, and there are now over 500 certified, constant-effort MAPS stations all over North America, including Rushton Woods Preserve as of this summer!

As an official MAPS station, we banded once every 10 days during the breeding season, following strict IBP protocol that ensures that our data can be easily compared to continent-wide data. This involved clearing and setting up 10 new strategic net lanes throughout the preserve, with each net a certain distance apart from the others within an 8 hectare total area. Then we completed a rigorous Habitat Survey Analysis of all the habitat types, plant species, and botanical structural composition of our study area. Banding in the oppressive heat of the summer while trying to ward off ticks and Lyme disease was another challenge, but we enjoyed every minute of it knowing it’s all for the birds! OK, so maybe someone didn’t exactly enjoy the Lyme disease…

The banding process — Doris Mcgovern (Master Bander) and Lisa Kiziuk (who holds a sub-permit under Doris) efficiently processing birds. Notice all of the essential MAPS banding tools and materials, including the coffee mug on the right.

Our resulting data will contribute to critical information on the ecology, conservation, and management of North American landbird populations, and the factors responsible for changes in their populations. Check out the IBP website to learn more about MAPS and the other important projects underway as well as their training programs. There, you will also find interesting bird banding resources and publications, including the MAPS annual report.

I’d say Rushton’s first MAPS season was very successful! We have records on 242 birds total, including 138 new birds and 98 recaptures. Many of those recaptures were birds we had caught in one of the previous springs (2010 or 2011) in our migration nets. Other recaptures were birds that had bad luck and got stuck in our ‘webs’ more than once this summer. We recorded a total of 42 species on the Breeding Bird Survey (or BBS, another part of the MAPS protocol); each species was designated as a Confirmed Breeder, Probable Breeder or merely as Observed based on the quality of our observations over the 8 banding sessions.

We are in the process of entering and making sense of our data and will hopefully be able to give you a more comprehensive summary soon! For example, if we analyze the data and find that most of the breeding catbirds were Second Year (SY) birds rather than older adults, this could indicate that the habitat isn’t so great since we know older males get the better territories. In another scenario, if we have all older birds and no returning SY individuals of a neotropical migrant, this could indicate high mortality on the wintering grounds. However, we always need a big picture before we can make such conclusions, which is what continent-wide MAPS data from constant-effort MAPS stations gives us.

We do know that we banded oodles of adorable babies of 16 different species, so 16 of those 42 species on the BBS were without a doubt breeding successfully in Rushton! See if you can identify the species of each of our babies pictured below. Then scroll down for the answers.

Some of the babies are more “babyish” looking than the others, depending on how far along they are in their first molt. You can tell baby birds apart from adults by looking for wispy under-tail coverts and other wispy feathers on the body. Juvenile birds also usually have bare “wing pits” and purple featherless bellies that can be mistaken as brood patches. (A brood patch is a bare belly on adult female birds who pluck their tummy feathers out in order to be better able to monitor and regulate the temperature of their eggs). Another telltale sign of a baby bird is the presence of “bird lips,” which are just yellow fleshy parts on the corners of the bird’s bill that disappear as the bird matures. There are species-specific clues to juvenile bird ID too: thrushes are usually speckled, towhees’ eyes are black and turn red with age, cardinals’ bills start out light and turn red with age, etc.

The species whose baby birds we banded included (in the order pictured above) Wood Thrush, Veery, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Brown Thrasher, and Indigo Bunting. Did you get them all right? In addition, we banded babies of Eastern Towhee, Eastern Wood Peewee, American Robin, White Breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, and last and most abundant, Gray Catbird. We are proud of our list of babies! Of course, we would be more satisfied if we had Kentucky Warbler (which has been recorded as using Rushton in the past) and/or Louisiana Waterthrush. What could this indicate about our habitat?

Neither of these prized species were seen or heard this summer, although we did band a Louisiana Waterthrush in May during migration. Since we did not catch or hear the waterthrush during MAPS banding, we cannot confirm that they breed here. However, we did hear him singing vigorously this spring, and it is thought that unlike many other warblers, he does not usually sing until he arrives on his breeding grounds. Waterthrush are also known to be early breeders. Named the “feathered trout” of forest streams, the Louisiana Waterthrush is a bio-indicator of water quality because it feeds primarily on aquatic macroinvertebrates, like mayfly larva, that are intolerant to acid pH and pollution. Therefore, the presence of Louisiana Waterthrush in Rushton shows the importance of the protections that the preserve affords to the Indian Run tributary of Ridley. Read more about this special bird in the American Birding Association’s article. Also be sure to check out the accompanying WebExtra with comments by PA ornithologists.

Here’s an interesting birding tip from Cornell Lab of Ornithology: To differentiate between Louisiana and Northern Waterthrush, remember that the pitch of the Louisiana’s song usually descends just as the hilly stream habitat it prefers, while the beginning notes of the Northern’s song stay on the same pitch just like the flat bogs and waters it prefers.

This month, we will be focusing on a different kind of migrant of equal importance, the Monarch butterfly. I’m pleased to announce that in addition to becoming an official MAPS station, Rushton Woods Preserve became an official Monarch Waystation this month! We are on the University of Kansas’ national registry of hundreds of Monarch Waystations that provide milkweeds, nectar plants, and shelter for monarchs throughout their delicate annual cycle of reproduction and migration. This nationwide conservation effort is extremely important because Monarch butterflies are declining due to habitat loss from development, frequent mowing, and widespread use of herbicides in croplands, pastures, and roadsides. Invasive milkweed pests and monarch parasitoids are also threats to the population. It is our duty to do everything we can to ensure that this miraculous migration continues to inspire people of all ages for generations to come.

Monarch on wildflowers — Male Monarch on Joe Pye Weed in a demonstration native wildflower meadow at the Willistown Conservation Trust's headquarters. Visit our model wildflower gardens anytime!

I encourage you to learn more about and/or participate in some of the citizen science projects for monarch conservation including Monarch Watch through the University of Kansas (migration tagging and waystation certification) and the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) through the University of Minnesota. These projects are fun for children and adults and crucial to monarch research and conservation. You are also more than welcome to come out to Rushton to visit our spectacular Monarch Waystation; the fields are full of Common Milkweed, Monarch adults and larvae, and other flowers and butterflies. Also, please let me know if you or a friend would like to collect data for Rushton for MLMP. Rushton is a certified MLMP site, but we haven’t had the time to monitor! MLMP data is important to understanding how and why monarch populations vary in time and space.

The PA Young Birders meeting this month is Monarch Madness! We will meet at Rushton Farm from 6-7:30 PM on Wednesday August 24. Join us as we explore the fascinating lives of Monarch butterflies and contribute to their conservation. We will be surveying our milkweed patch for Monarch larvae and other interesting creatures that call milkweed home. Afterwards, we will send our citizen science data to the MLMP. There should also be a few migrant Monarch adults around for us to tag for Monarch Watch, although the peak migration is projected to occur around the second week of September for our latitude. Catching Monarchs for tagging is no easy task because they are actually faster than you’d expect, so make sure your children have on their running shoes! Tagging records have been able to show that the overall migration advances only 25-30 miles a day, but some individuals, like one late season monarch flying from Virginia to Texas, can average 61 miles per day!

For a recap and pictures of our last fun PA Young Birders meeting, “Birds and Beaks”, go to Notes from the Wildside, Adrian Binns’ blog!

Birds and Beaks Class — A PA Young Birder is happy with his "crop" full of bird food!

These days, I’m hearing a change in the night symphony… a subtle crescendo of crickets and a lessening of the cicada choir… Several leaves of the Black Gum tree in my woods have turned a deep red and spicebush berries are ripening… There is a certain crispness to the air here and there, and the birds seem a bit more anxious…. Time to shake the dust off those ‘confusing fall warbler’ guides and wipe your ‘bin’ lenses clear! For our dear old friend, Autumn, is near…

And there’s a lot going on the woods,

~Blake

Final Fall Fallout of Migratory Songbirds & Our First Saw-whet Owl of the Season!

Rushton Migration Minutes: An Unexpected Second Wave of Warblers Preceded the Sparrow Surge Last Week… and One of Our Banded Owls Appeared In Quebec!

Screech Owl Steals the Stage and Compost Pile Attracts a Pile of Birds!

Fall Warblers are Back in Town

Bird Babies, MAPS, Monarchs and More!

OUR NATURE PRESERVES

CONTACT

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST