Banders & Birders, This weekend provided a first opportunity for our newly permitted banders, Carl Pascoe and Bob Hall-Brooks, to work the station alone as I had to be out of town on Saturday. Our Master Bander, Phil Roberts, was also on hand on Saturday lending his expertise. Hopefully we will be able to post some photo highlights of the past two weekends on the HBMO website (www.hbmo.org) by the end of this week.
This was another slow weekend, with mostly resident birds captured, with a couple of Empidonax flycatchers and single Black-and-white and Tennessee Warblers the only migrants (though the two Warbling Vireos probably were migrants too). A total of 26 birds was banded, with 13 on each day. Saturday was dominated by American Goldfinches, and on Sunday we banded our first three Ruby-throated Hummingbirds of the season. A juvenile male Prothonotary Warbler was banded on Saturday and recaptured on Sunday. This is only the third year (of seven) that we've banded this species (5 in 1998, 3 in 2000). An additional highlight of Sunday, with the northerly winds, was a first trickle of migrant raptors over the station. The trees surrounding the banding area prevent views below about 45 degrees, but over our little patch of sky we saw no less than 8 species of raptor, including: Turkey Vulture (3+), Osprey (3, 2 migrants), Bald Eagle (2, probable residents), Northern Harrier (2), Sharp-shinned Hawk (1), Broad-winged Hawk (2), Red-tailed Hawk (1), American Kestrel (3). There were fewer butterflies and dragonflies this weekend. A short report of these is at the end of the banding results. 16 August 2003 Station was open for 7.50 hours from 05:00 - 12:30 E.S.T. for a total of 90.00 net hours. Temperature was 24-30 Celsius, sky was overcast to partly cloudy, wind was S @ 1-5 kph. Station was closed early due to high temperatures. Birds banded were: Blue Jay - 1 House Wren - 1 Tennessee Warbler - 1 Prothonotary Warbler - 1 American Goldfinch - 9 Plus 1 recapture from last weekend. Banders: Phil Roberts, Carl Pascoe, Bob Hall-Brooks. 17 August 2003 Station was open for 9.00 hours from 05:00 - 14:00 E.S.T. for a total of 112.50 net hours (hummingbird trap open today for the first time, consists of 1 6-meter net). Temperature was 17-27 Celsius, sky was clear, wind was NW @ 3-7 kph. Birds banded were: Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 3 "Traill's" Flycatcher - 2 Warbling Vireo - 2 Black-and-white Warbler - 1 Northern Cardinal - 1 American Goldfinch - 4 Plus 2 recaptures from 16 Aug 2003. Banders: Allen Chartier, Bob Hall-Brooks, Carl Pascoe. Assistants: Rachel Powless, Jason Sodergren. Butterflies and Dragonflies: Species diversity and numbers of butterflies were lower than last weekend. Butterflies seen included: Giant Swallowtail - 1 Tiger Swallowtail - 1 Black Swallowtail - 1 Monarch - 2 or 3 Viceroy - 1 Cabbage White - 4 or 5 Northern/Pearl Crescent - 2 or 3 Species diversity and numbers of dragonflies were also lower than last weekend. Dragonflies seen (I don't do damselflies, sorry!) included: Green Darner - many Swamp Darner - 1 Black Saddlebags - 1 Blue Dasher - 2 Holiday Beach Migration Observatory (HBMO) is an organization devoted to monitoring migration at the Holiday Beach Conservation Area, Essex Co., Ontario, which is administered by the Essex Region Conservation Authority. In addition to a hawk-watch/passerine count that has been in operation since 1974, HBMO operates three banding stations, two for raptors (since 1987) and one for passerines and hummingbirds (since 1997). The Holiday Beach Conservation Area was designated an Important Bird Area by Conservation International in 2000. Lat: 42-01'54.1" Long: 083-02'41.6" Allen Chartier [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1442 West River Park Drive Inkster, MI 48141 Website: http://www.amazilia.net Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet/index.htm "Allen Chartier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving and joining the list. As well as general information and content guidelines.
