Powdermill Nature Reserve
Pictorial Highlights
April 20 - 25, 2004
The banding week started off
seasonably warm and the favorable weather continued throughout the week
(maximum was 80 degrees). With the mild weather brought catches of
16 new species for the spring, 8 of which were wood warblers. We
thank Stevan
and Caryl Baron
(visiting banders from New York), Brian Jones,
Carroll
Labarthe,
Felicity
Newell, and Jim
Sheehan for their help this week with banding.
.
Ruby-crowned Kinglets (RCKI)
were the bird of the week with 47 new banded. In spring, the movement
of males of many migratory songbird species precedes females by a few to
several days, on average. RCKI may exhibit the highest degree
of differential migration among the birds banded at Powdermill in spring.
Our first RCKIs, two ASY males, were banded back on March 31, and all 50
RCKIs banded since, through the end of last week, were males. Not
until this week, on April 21, did we catch our first female. Although
males still were more numerous overall this week, we caught only females
on our last two banding days.
-
Tuesday, April 20, 2004: We
banded three of the 16 new species for the spring on the first day of the
week. House Wren, Hermit Thrush, and our first Red-breasted Nuthatch
since 2001 (a very fat ASY female).
-
Wednesday, April 21st....added
three more new species to the list including our first
warbler for the season. We often are aware of the arrivals of new
returning species at Powdermill by seeing them or hearing them sing early
in the morning while opening our nets. This ASY male Common Yellowthroat,
however, was the very first of its kind observed this spring--none was
seen or heard singing in the banding area prior to our netting this bird.
-
In addition to the Common Yellowthroat,
we also banded our first Northern Flicker and this SY Solitary Sandpiper.
We routinely catch a few sandpipers every year during, both spring and
fall, migratory stop overs to feed at our ponds.
-
Friday, April 23....Warblers
made their first appearance in numbers today with six species being captured,
helping to make it the most diverse day yet this spring. A Blue-winged
Warbler and this adult male Hooded Warbler (the first of the season was
actually caught Thursday) were welcome sights in our nets and were only
surpassed with excitement when we brought back our first Worm-eating Warbler,
an uncommon catch as we band barely a handful each year.
-
On Sunday,
April 25, storm force winds necessitated early
closing of our nets, but not without adding one more species to our weekly
list. Six Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers were banded, a mixture
of immature (SY) males and females.
-
We also welcomed seven new summer
residents to Powdermill on Sunday.
Our Canada Goose pair
had returned in early March to stake claim to the pond and begin nesting.
The male began closely tending to the female and the nest on Saturday,
most likely when the goslings hatched, and then accompanied the seven young
and the female to the pond Sunday morning.
-
If the returning bird migrants and
fledgling geese weren't signs enough that spring is alive and well along
at Powdermill, there was plenty more evidence (non-avian, of course!)
Below is of another pond-dwelling newcomer we welcomed to Powdermill this
week.
Painted Turtle (Hatch Year)
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Pictorial Highlights
Last Updated on 5/05/04
By Adrienne J. Leppold