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For the Love of Birds

November 14, 2018 By Blake Goll

Golden-crowned Kinglet banded on October 30th. Photo by Blake Goll
On the morning before Halloween, the hedgerows and meadows of Rushton were teeming with migratory birds that had descended on the preserve in the pre-dawn chill.  Banders skillfully processed a rush of 60 birds in just the first two hours of opening; the sun was high by the time Alison and I finally had the chance to look at each other and exchange morning greetings after those blurred hours of poring over birds side-by-side behind the banding table.  During the lulls in activity, cold banders could be seen standing in the meadow thawing in the morning sun—some dressed in ridiculous (and awesome) bird onesies in the spirit of the holiday.
One of our banding volunteers as a Scarlet Macaw on October 30th Banding Bender. Photo by Blake Goll
We could not have picked a better day for Rushton’s first 24-hour long banding big day or bird banding bender as some called it.  The purpose of this endeavor was to understand how the bird community shifts throughout the day at Rushton, whether foraging strategies change toward dusk, and if different species are active later in the day.  Banders took shifts throughout the 24 hours until dawn of Halloween.  The resulting catch was 115 songbirds of 22 species and 12 Northern Saw-whet Owls.
Northern Saw-whet Owl banding at the end of the big day, October 30th.  This owl was not amused by the costumes.  Photo by Amanda Dunbar
Analysis of the results led to some interesting finds.  Most of the activity occurred during the first few hours after sunrise, as we suspected; this is when birds’ energy demands are highest after a long night of traveling or simply resting and metabolizing body fat for warmth.  There was a drop in activity mid-day followed by a surge of activity from 4pm until sunset, such that banders had to finish processing the catch with headlamps lighting the feathers.
Banding birds at sunset on October 30th. Photo by Fred de Long
The top species from the banding bender included sparrows (White-throated, Song, and Swamp), American Robins, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  Interestingly, the sparrows were only captured during the morning and evening rushes, whereas the kinglets were captured consistently throughout the day.  We suspect  this is because the kinglets have such high metabolisms that the mid-day siesta is not an option for them; they must forage all day long to meet their energy demands, gleaning mostly insects and spiders along with some seeds and berries.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet getting banded. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Visitor releasing a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Golden-crowned Kinglet getting banded on October 30th. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Hermit Thrush banded October 30th. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Banders were most excited about a White-crowned Sparrow, Brown Creeper, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk (banded at dusk).  After operating the owl station through the night, we began catching songbirds again around 5:30 am, well before dawn.  These were probably incoming migrants, dropping out of the night sky to rest their wings in the habitat that Rushton offers before the morning feeding frenzy.
Brown Creeper banded October 30th. Photo by Alison Fetterman
Leg gauging a Sharp-shinned Hawk for size at the end of the big day, October 30th. Photo by Amanda Dunbar
After the monumental effort of the big day, banders were back at it on November 1st for what was to be the last day of songbird banding for 2018.  However, it didn’t quite feel like the end of the bell curve that we are trying to capture by working the entire season of avian migration.  There was no tapering off of migrants, no time for stretching and yawning and reflecting on how great of a season it was.  The only quiet moments were stolen during the opening of the station in the pre-dawn—hands reaching up to set the black nets against navy skies under the white moon, as sparrows twinkled and stirred in the hedgerows.

White-throated Sparrow banded November 1st. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
The morning rush hour on November 1st. Photo by Blake Goll
Then it was all hands on deck, bird bags weighing down our rack, nets sagging under the weight of birds, and leaves replaced by wings.  Everywhere we looked, small balls of energy were flitting about; kinglets darted and hovered in the shrubs within an arm’s reach, the meadow was alive with sparrows, young White-throats babbled their beginner songs from every corner,  robins streamed overhead, and flocks of geese sailed through the blue skies.
Rushton Farm sunrise on November 1st. Photo by Blake Goll
Banders extracting birds on November 1st. Photo by Blake Goll
There was a palpable migratory energy in the unseasonably warm air.  There was plentitude, multiplicity, and joy.  Psychologists claim that the human mind derives joy from abundance, round things, and color.  I realized that morning why birds bring people so much joy.  They are all of these things and more.  We’re in this business to try to keep them abundant.
Cedar Waxwing in the hedgerow on November 1st. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
When all was said and done, we  processed 97 new birds on November 1st (during the normal banding hours).  A total of 14 species were caught including 32 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 10 Purple Finches, 27 White-throated Sparrows, and 2 White-crowned Sparrows. It was a strange day for the first of November with dragonflies, milkweed bugs, and butterflies active again, taking advantage of the last warm day.  “If you can live, LIVE,” Alison said matter-of-factly.  That struck me.  All any of us creatures have is today, this season, and the beauty of this moment.  And so we soldier on.
White-throated Sparrow release. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
White-crowned Sparrow banded November 1st. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Todd Alleger determining the age of a Tufted Titmouse banded November 1st. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Palm Warbler banded November 1st. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Male Purple Finch banded November 1st. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Female Purple Finch banded November 1st. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
It didn’t feel right shutting down the station with such a high capture rate and key bookend species missing including the Dark-eyed Juncos and Fox Sparrow.  Though we were all tired from a long season, we decided to open the station again last week for one final day.  “Can’t stop, won’t stop,” Holly said.
Holly Garrod taking “light box” photos of the birds on October 30th  for feather study. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
For the love of birds, we operated last Thursday, November 8th.  We processed 73 new birds and 14 recaps of 17 species, including the Dark-eyed Juncos and another Brown Creeper.  The juncos are our snowbirds, breeding in the western mountains and Appalachians as well as throughout Canada, and gracing us with their white-tailed beauty all winter long.  Like other overwintering sparrows, they enjoy feeding on the seeds of native perennials like goldenrod that we have available in the wild meadows of Rushton.  For this reason, we do not mow our meadows until spring.
Dark-eyed Junco banded last Thursday. Photo by Blake Goll
Brown Creeper banded  last Thursday. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Brown Creepers are one of our favorites as well.  These bark-colored birds use their down-curved bills to probe under furrowed bark of large trees for insects and other arthropods.   Methodically working their way up from the base of the tree, they use their rigid tail feathers as a kickstand, much like woodpeckers.
We concluded the season appreciating a few of our common residents including a Carolina Wren and a White-breasted Nuthatch.

White-breasted Nuthatch banded last Thursday. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Carolina Wren banded last Thursday. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Aging a Tufted Titmouse. Photo by Celeste Sheehan
Swamp Sparrow banded last Thursday. Photo by Blake Goll
Last Gray Catbird banded last Thursday. Photo by Blake Goll

All in all, it was an extraordinary season, thanks to an exceptional team of licensed banders, ornithologists, volunteers, visitors, students, photographers, and bird lovers.  The grand total was 1,010 new birds and 162 recaps of our own.  We’ll be out there again next spring, for the love of birds.
There’s a heck of a lot going on in the woods,
Blake

Golden-crowned Kinglet released after banding last Thursday. Photo by Blake Goll

P.S. Stay tuned for a special owl report coming to a blog near you.
 

Filed Under: Bird Banding, Bird ecology, migration Tagged With: Bird banding, Bird Conservation, Brown Creeper, fall migration, Golden-crowned kinglet, kinglet, songbird migration

Last Days of October Produced The Season’s First Juncos, First Snowfall, and A Bunch of Halloween Owls

November 3, 2011 By Communications Team

2 sawwhets BINNS IMG_1910 copy
2 of our Saw-whet Owls of 2011 by Adrian Binns. Notice the one on the left has a more complete white ring around its face than the one on the right. The one on the left is older.

I haven’t brought you up to date on last week or this week yet because it has been pretty hectic for us sleep-deprived, cranky bird banders.  This is the time when we are working hard banding back to back: nights for Saw-whet Owls and mornings for the last fall songbird migrants.  This sounds crazy, I know;  why don’t we just quit the songbird banding and focus on the owls?  The reason is because it is very important to gather as much songbird data as we can up until the very end when the flight peeters out so as to flesh out the entire picture of the fall migration.  Quitting songbird banding too early could mean we miss the unexpected migrants on the periphery of the fall movement.  So we soldier on for the love of birds and the loyalty of scientific research.

lisa & cardinal BINNS IMG_2128 copy
Lisa Kiziuk soldiers on with songbird banding after a long night of owl banding and apple/ finger peeling that made her more vulnerable to the fury of blood thirsty Northern Cardinals. Photo by Adrian Binns.

We went for songbirds last Tuesday (10-25) and Wednesday (10-26) morning and were surprised by large numbers of migrants still moving through.   We banded 59 birds on Tuesday, including a feeding flock of snarly Chickadees and Tufted Titmouse.  Wednesday was the  notable fallout day, with migrant birds virtually dripping from the trees and carpeting the fields;  the hedgerows were alive!  A large flock of Cedar Waxwings eluded us all morning by staying high in the canopy, but we banded 70 birds that day, including a late Nashville Warbler, several Yellow-rumped Warblers, lots of White-throated Sparrows, a handful of lovely little pink-billed Field Sparrows,  a flock of young Hermit Thrush, and the first batch of Dark-eyed Juncos of this year!  It was good to see the Juncos again… to hear their familiar metallic chipping in the shrubs, and to watch the flash of white outer tail feathers as they jovially flit about the hedgerow….almost like welcoming old friends back for the holidays.  Of course, Juncos are the first sign of impending snow, and they indeed brought the snow with them.

Yellow-rumped warbler
Female Yellow-rumped Warbler Fall 2011. (Blake Goll)
Hermit thrush
Hermit Thrush Fall 2011. (Blake Goll)

Perhaps last Wednesday was so busy because all the birds knew  they had to get a move on before the rain of last Thursday and the snow of Saturday.   In the calm before the storm they can feel the pressure changing and thus sense what is to come.  In any case, Wednesday was a day to be remembered.

I went home briefly for lunch after morning banding and stepped out of my car in my driveway to a birder’s paradise.  There were birds EVERYWHERE.  I think I left the keys in the ignition with the car running and the door wide open as I grabbed my binoculars from the dashboard and excitedly scanned the yard.  A Brown Creeper was creeping 5 feet away from me in a magnolia tree, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet was flitting around hunting insects in an ornamental tree 2 feet in front of me.  Further into the yard was a Hermit Thrush distinctively bobbing its tail up and down under the blue spruce.  Suddenly a woodpecker whizzed past the spruce and into the arborvitae next to the house.   Could it be?  It was!  A beautiful male Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, only seen in my yard during migration!  I ventured further into the shallow woods behind my house, lured by the restless flurry of birds.  There I saw about 20 Robins, the Hermit Thrush (which followed me and was spying on me as I find they often do),  an abundance of Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Golden-crowned Kinglet, lots of White-throated Sparrows, and yet another Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (a juvenile) tap tap tapping on an oak.  What a day!

  yellow bellied sap male
Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (from Cornell All About Birds website)
Juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (from Cornell All About Birds website)

Speaking of Golden-crowned Kinglets, on that same Wednesday (10-26) we had an interesting catch, if you can fairly call it a catch.  Lisa, Lou, Doris and I were about to disperse for another net run when a little Golden-Crowned Kinglet came careening into the banding lodge and flew up into the skylight.  She didn’t have enough speed to injure herself fatally because in order to hit the skylight she had to dip down and then up.  However, she did bump her head unexpectedly and then sat on the railing totally stunned.  I saw the whole transaction and am still not sure who was more stunned: me or the bird.  As Lisa and I were standing there staring at the bird in disbelief, Doris quickly reacted and said, “Grab it and band it!”    Lisa and I looked at each other in shock and then looked at the bird.  She seemed okay, so I gently picked her up and banded her.  She perked up and flew away after we processed her, but she didn’t fly far.  We saw her perched in a tree 5 feet away looking at the banding shelter and then at her ankle as if thinking, “What on earth just happened to me?  One minute I was flying and the next I was stopped by an invisible wall and then picked up by a giant who stuck this shiny thing on my ankle!”  She got over it fast and soon went back to foraging.

Male Golden crowned Kinglet
Male Golden-crowned Kinglet (Blake Goll)

That day, we also got a recap White-throated Sparrow, which was exciting because the band looked like an old band.  Getting a recapture songbird from someplace else is very unusual; most all the recaps that we get are our own birds that we banded just a few days ago at Rushton  (they either haven’t moved on yet or are here to stay).  This White-throated Sparrow ended up being  our own as well.  However, looking back at the records, Doris discovered that it was first banded at Rushton as an After Hatching Year (AHY) bird in December of 2009.  This means the bird is over 3 years old and probably spends its winter in Rushton Woods Preserve every year!  Interesting example of winter site fidelity.

Older White-throated Sparrow recap
Older White-throated Sparrow recap of this year. (Blake Goll)

Yesterday (11/2) was pretty slow for songbird banding, with only 34 birds, which is probably how it will be from here on out as fall migration comes to a close.  Tuesday (11/1) yielded 58 birds including a gorgeous male Golden- crowned Kinglet, an exquisite Brown Creeper, the first handsome Fox Sparrow of the season, and a bizarre White-throated Sparrow with bright orange lores instead of the usual yellow  (referring to the area right in front of the eyes).   There are still Palm Warblers moving through the area in decent numbers as well; they were at Rushton yesterday, and I saw one at Okehocking on Sunday while walking in the snow with my pug.  Next week will most likely be the last week of songbird banding before we close for the season.  As always, you’re welcome to come out and observe Tuesday and Thursday.

Brown Creeper
Brown Creeper (Blake Goll)

As for the Northern Saw-whet Owl (NSWO) banding, the season is well underway.  We are going out every night this week to take advantage of the peak of the season and the relatively dark nights before the full moon thwarts our efforts next week.  (Moonlit nights are not good for catching NSWO because they can see the nets better and tend to move less because they know they are more visible to predators like Great Horned Owls, Screech Owls, and Barred Owls.)

lou blake lisa sawwhet BINNS IMG_1932 copy
Lou, Me (Blake), and Lisa observing the wing of a Saw-whet to age. (by Adrian Binns)

I believe our total for this season so far is 23  Saw-whets. The season started out a couple of weeks ago with a very slow trickle of none, 1, or 2 owls a night until All Hallow’s Eve when we got 7 ferocious Halloween NSWOs.  They were especially feisty that night with talons flailing and beaks clapping…maybe they knew it was the Devil’s night!  Tuesday night (11/1) we got 8 Saw-whet owls including a recapture banded a few nights ago by us.  Last night, we banded 4 new Saw-whets.  This week we also banded a gorgeous red-phase Eastern Screech Owl, which brings our screech total of this season to 4 (3 red and one gray).  Screech Owls can be predators to Northern Saw-whet Owls, but so far (knock on wood) our resident Screeches have been behaving themselves.   We enjoyed hearing them singing last night amidst the meowing contact calls of the Saw-whets in the hedgerows.

eastern-screech-owl-thermal-vision-BINNS-IMG_1855-copy
Eastern Screech Owl next to a thermal camera. The yellow areas represent the warmest temperatures of the body, which appear to be his giant eyeballs! (Photo by Adrian Binns)
Screech Owl wing
Screech Owl wing (by Blake Goll)

All of the other Saw-whet banding stations nearby are starting to get the owls in greater numbers as well, but no one is seeing the abundance of last year.  Even Scott Weidensaul’s 3 stations near Schuylkill Haven, PA (“the Big Boys”) have only about 31 owls as of November 1, which is slightly behind their worst season in 2006, when they had 33 for the date, and well below their 10-year average of 64 for the date.   This year is definitely not an irruption year for the little fuzzballs.  Perhaps there are too many rodents up north to warrant many of the owls to migrate south or perhaps the breeding owls were not as successful this summer.

In any case, this is shaping out to be the best week this year so far for migrant Saw-whets to reach Rushton and jump into our nets.  If you would like to observe the mistnetting and banding process of these wondrous little creatures of the night, remember that you must contact Lisa Kiziuk first (lkr@wctrust.org) to make an owl appointment. Nights are getting frigid so layer up!

kyra & sawwhet BINNS IMG_1806 copy

Please note that this Friday (Nov 4th) is the PA Young Birder meeting at Rushton from 7-9pm, so owl banding will be closed to the public during that time, unless you have RSVPed your child for the event.  The night should be a wild one, with Saw-whet Owl banding and presentations, owl ‘Seek and Find’ in the farmshed, owl art with Adrian Binns,  s’mores and owl stories around the bonfire, and even short night hikes for those brave souls that really want to get a feel for the natural world at night!

There’s a lot going on in the woods,

~Blake

blake & sawwhet BINNS IMG_1879 copy
Me with Saw-whet (by Adrian Binns)

P.S. Our bird conservation program has really taken flight this past year, and we love being able to connect the public with our birds in such an intimate way.  The Willistown Conservation Trust’s main goal remains protecting the land we love, but we have found that birds (in addition to farm fresh food) are a great way to get people to appreciate the land on a deeper level.  Furthermore, our bird banding research contributes to global bird conservation efforts while guiding local habitat management for the benefit of birds and other wildlife.  We appreciate all the help we can get as we are a non-profit organization with big dreams!  If you  have benefitted in some way from any of our programs or if we have provided you with a life-changing moment with one of our wild birds, please consider giving back.  Anything helps!

sawwhet at  donation box $5 & $20 BINNS IMG_1947 copy
                                                “Hooo Hoo Hoo will help me?”                                                        Northern Saw-whet Owl perched on our donation box before release. Wood carving by Peter Hausmann. Photo by Adrian Binns.

Filed Under: Bird Banding, Bird Events, Owls Tagged With: Bird banding, bird migration, Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Northern Saw-whet Owl, PA Young Birders, Palm warbler, White-throated sparrow

Last Days of October Produced The Season's First Juncos, First Snowfall, and A Bunch of Halloween Owls

November 3, 2011 By wctbirds

2 sawwhets BINNS IMG_1910 copy
2 of our Saw-whet Owls of 2011 by Adrian Binns. Notice the one on the left has a more complete white ring around its face than the one on the right. The one on the left is older.

I haven’t brought you up to date on last week or this week yet because it has been pretty hectic for us sleep-deprived, cranky bird banders.  This is the time when we are working hard banding back to back: nights for Saw-whet Owls and mornings for the last fall songbird migrants.  This sounds crazy, I know;  why don’t we just quit the songbird banding and focus on the owls?  The reason is because it is very important to gather as much songbird data as we can up until the very end when the flight peeters out so as to flesh out the entire picture of the fall migration.  Quitting songbird banding too early could mean we miss the unexpected migrants on the periphery of the fall movement.  So we soldier on for the love of birds and the loyalty of scientific research.

lisa & cardinal BINNS IMG_2128 copy
Lisa Kiziuk soldiers on with songbird banding after a long night of owl banding and apple/ finger peeling that made her more vulnerable to the fury of blood thirsty Northern Cardinals. Photo by Adrian Binns.

We went for songbirds last Tuesday (10-25) and Wednesday (10-26) morning and were surprised by large numbers of migrants still moving through.   We banded 59 birds on Tuesday, including a feeding flock of snarly Chickadees and Tufted Titmouse.  Wednesday was the  notable fallout day, with migrant birds virtually dripping from the trees and carpeting the fields;  the hedgerows were alive!  A large flock of Cedar Waxwings eluded us all morning by staying high in the canopy, but we banded 70 birds that day, including a late Nashville Warbler, several Yellow-rumped Warblers, lots of White-throated Sparrows, a handful of lovely little pink-billed Field Sparrows,  a flock of young Hermit Thrush, and the first batch of Dark-eyed Juncos of this year!  It was good to see the Juncos again… to hear their familiar metallic chipping in the shrubs, and to watch the flash of white outer tail feathers as they jovially flit about the hedgerow….almost like welcoming old friends back for the holidays.  Of course, Juncos are the first sign of impending snow, and they indeed brought the snow with them.

Yellow-rumped warbler
Female Yellow-rumped Warbler Fall 2011. (Blake Goll)
Hermit thrush
Hermit Thrush Fall 2011. (Blake Goll)

Perhaps last Wednesday was so busy because all the birds knew  they had to get a move on before the rain of last Thursday and the snow of Saturday.   In the calm before the storm they can feel the pressure changing and thus sense what is to come.  In any case, Wednesday was a day to be remembered.

I went home briefly for lunch after morning banding and stepped out of my car in my driveway to a birder’s paradise.  There were birds EVERYWHERE.  I think I left the keys in the ignition with the car running and the door wide open as I grabbed my binoculars from the dashboard and excitedly scanned the yard.  A Brown Creeper was creeping 5 feet away from me in a magnolia tree, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet was flitting around hunting insects in an ornamental tree 2 feet in front of me.  Further into the yard was a Hermit Thrush distinctively bobbing its tail up and down under the blue spruce.  Suddenly a woodpecker whizzed past the spruce and into the arborvitae next to the house.   Could it be?  It was!  A beautiful male Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, only seen in my yard during migration!  I ventured further into the shallow woods behind my house, lured by the restless flurry of birds.  There I saw about 20 Robins, the Hermit Thrush (which followed me and was spying on me as I find they often do),  an abundance of Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Golden-crowned Kinglet, lots of White-throated Sparrows, and yet another Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (a juvenile) tap tap tapping on an oak.  What a day!

  yellow bellied sap male
Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (from Cornell All About Birds website)
Juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (from Cornell All About Birds website)

Speaking of Golden-crowned Kinglets, on that same Wednesday (10-26) we had an interesting catch, if you can fairly call it a catch.  Lisa, Lou, Doris and I were about to disperse for another net run when a little Golden-Crowned Kinglet came careening into the banding lodge and flew up into the skylight.  She didn’t have enough speed to injure herself fatally because in order to hit the skylight she had to dip down and then up.  However, she did bump her head unexpectedly and then sat on the railing totally stunned.  I saw the whole transaction and am still not sure who was more stunned: me or the bird.  As Lisa and I were standing there staring at the bird in disbelief, Doris quickly reacted and said, “Grab it and band it!”    Lisa and I looked at each other in shock and then looked at the bird.  She seemed okay, so I gently picked her up and banded her.  She perked up and flew away after we processed her, but she didn’t fly far.  We saw her perched in a tree 5 feet away looking at the banding shelter and then at her ankle as if thinking, “What on earth just happened to me?  One minute I was flying and the next I was stopped by an invisible wall and then picked up by a giant who stuck this shiny thing on my ankle!”  She got over it fast and soon went back to foraging.

Male Golden crowned Kinglet
Male Golden-crowned Kinglet (Blake Goll)

That day, we also got a recap White-throated Sparrow, which was exciting because the band looked like an old band.  Getting a recapture songbird from someplace else is very unusual; most all the recaps that we get are our own birds that we banded just a few days ago at Rushton  (they either haven’t moved on yet or are here to stay).  This White-throated Sparrow ended up being  our own as well.  However, looking back at the records, Doris discovered that it was first banded at Rushton as an After Hatching Year (AHY) bird in December of 2009.  This means the bird is over 3 years old and probably spends its winter in Rushton Woods Preserve every year!  Interesting example of winter site fidelity.

Older White-throated Sparrow recap
Older White-throated Sparrow recap of this year. (Blake Goll)

Yesterday (11/2) was pretty slow for songbird banding, with only 34 birds, which is probably how it will be from here on out as fall migration comes to a close.  Tuesday (11/1) yielded 58 birds including a gorgeous male Golden- crowned Kinglet, an exquisite Brown Creeper, the first handsome Fox Sparrow of the season, and a bizarre White-throated Sparrow with bright orange lores instead of the usual yellow  (referring to the area right in front of the eyes).   There are still Palm Warblers moving through the area in decent numbers as well; they were at Rushton yesterday, and I saw one at Okehocking on Sunday while walking in the snow with my pug.  Next week will most likely be the last week of songbird banding before we close for the season.  As always, you’re welcome to come out and observe Tuesday and Thursday.

Brown Creeper
Brown Creeper (Blake Goll)

As for the Northern Saw-whet Owl (NSWO) banding, the season is well underway.  We are going out every night this week to take advantage of the peak of the season and the relatively dark nights before the full moon thwarts our efforts next week.  (Moonlit nights are not good for catching NSWO because they can see the nets better and tend to move less because they know they are more visible to predators like Great Horned Owls, Screech Owls, and Barred Owls.)

lou blake lisa sawwhet BINNS IMG_1932 copy
Lou, Me (Blake), and Lisa observing the wing of a Saw-whet to age. (by Adrian Binns)

I believe our total for this season so far is 23  Saw-whets. The season started out a couple of weeks ago with a very slow trickle of none, 1, or 2 owls a night until All Hallow’s Eve when we got 7 ferocious Halloween NSWOs.  They were especially feisty that night with talons flailing and beaks clapping…maybe they knew it was the Devil’s night!  Tuesday night (11/1) we got 8 Saw-whet owls including a recapture banded a few nights ago by us.  Last night, we banded 4 new Saw-whets.  This week we also banded a gorgeous red-phase Eastern Screech Owl, which brings our screech total of this season to 4 (3 red and one gray).  Screech Owls can be predators to Northern Saw-whet Owls, but so far (knock on wood) our resident Screeches have been behaving themselves.   We enjoyed hearing them singing last night amidst the meowing contact calls of the Saw-whets in the hedgerows.

eastern-screech-owl-thermal-vision-BINNS-IMG_1855-copy
Eastern Screech Owl next to a thermal camera. The yellow areas represent the warmest temperatures of the body, which appear to be his giant eyeballs! (Photo by Adrian Binns)
Screech Owl wing
Screech Owl wing (by Blake Goll)

All of the other Saw-whet banding stations nearby are starting to get the owls in greater numbers as well, but no one is seeing the abundance of last year.  Even Scott Weidensaul’s 3 stations near Schuylkill Haven, PA (“the Big Boys”) have only about 31 owls as of November 1, which is slightly behind their worst season in 2006, when they had 33 for the date, and well below their 10-year average of 64 for the date.   This year is definitely not an irruption year for the little fuzzballs.  Perhaps there are too many rodents up north to warrant many of the owls to migrate south or perhaps the breeding owls were not as successful this summer.

In any case, this is shaping out to be the best week this year so far for migrant Saw-whets to reach Rushton and jump into our nets.  If you would like to observe the mistnetting and banding process of these wondrous little creatures of the night, remember that you must contact Lisa Kiziuk first (lkr@wctrust.org) to make an owl appointment. Nights are getting frigid so layer up!

kyra & sawwhet BINNS IMG_1806 copy

Please note that this Friday (Nov 4th) is the PA Young Birder meeting at Rushton from 7-9pm, so owl banding will be closed to the public during that time, unless you have RSVPed your child for the event.  The night should be a wild one, with Saw-whet Owl banding and presentations, owl ‘Seek and Find’ in the farmshed, owl art with Adrian Binns,  s’mores and owl stories around the bonfire, and even short night hikes for those brave souls that really want to get a feel for the natural world at night!

There’s a lot going on in the woods,

~Blake

blake & sawwhet BINNS IMG_1879 copy
Me with Saw-whet (by Adrian Binns)

P.S. Our bird conservation program has really taken flight this past year, and we love being able to connect the public with our birds in such an intimate way.  The Willistown Conservation Trust’s main goal remains protecting the land we love, but we have found that birds (in addition to farm fresh food) are a great way to get people to appreciate the land on a deeper level.  Furthermore, our bird banding research contributes to global bird conservation efforts while guiding local habitat management for the benefit of birds and other wildlife.  We appreciate all the help we can get as we are a non-profit organization with big dreams!  If you  have benefitted in some way from any of our programs or if we have provided you with a life-changing moment with one of our wild birds, please consider giving back.  Anything helps!

sawwhet at  donation box $5 & $20 BINNS IMG_1947 copy
                                                “Hooo Hoo Hoo will help me?”                                                        Northern Saw-whet Owl perched on our donation box before release. Wood carving by Peter Hausmann. Photo by Adrian Binns.

Filed Under: Bird Banding, Bird Events, Owls Tagged With: Bird banding, bird migration, Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Northern Saw-whet Owl, PA Young Birders, Palm warbler, White-throated sparrow

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.
Ruby crowned kinglet in net
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”.
Blackpoll warbler
Blackpoll warbler in fall plumage at Rushton by Blake Goll
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
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.
Lincoln's sparrow
Lincoln's sparrow at Rushton by Blake Goll
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.
Rushton Farm
Rushton Farm
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! 🙂
Field sparrow
Field sparrow at Rushton. Blake Goll
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
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

brown creeper
Brown Creeper (from Google Images)

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.

Winter wren
Winter wren. Blake Goll
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:
___________________________________________________________________
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl. Blake Goll

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

Filed Under: Bird Banding, Bird Events, Owls Tagged With: Bird banding, Blackpoll warbler, Brown Creeper, Field sparrow, kinglet, Lincoln's sparrow, Saw-whet owl, Tennessee warbler

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