Fall 2005 Notes and Highlights for November 14-December 04

• The Fall 2005 season ended with this period and with a final total of 9,914 birds banded since August 1st.  This is the third highest fall total in the history of the program (highest ever was 10,637 in 2001 and second highest was 10,129 in 1982).  On the whole, migration for northern finch and sparrow species, in particular, peaked later this season than in most recent years.  Given a full time effort, November banding could have certainly put this season into contention for the highest fall in the history of the program.  Unfortunately, very windy weather negatively influenced effort on many days this month and frequent observations of predators in the banding area throughout the month precluded opening any nets on a number of days (on the plus side, two stray kitties now have comfortable new homes as "inside only" pets with Powdermill staff!).

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• Still, 464 birds were added to the season total during the last half of November, with five species comprising 83% of the catch: American Goldfinch (166), Dark-eyed Junco (139), White-throated Sparrow (32), Fox Sparrow (29) and Black-capped Chickadee (20).  Two new species were banded in the last two weeks of the season, bringing our final fall species count to 111, which is well above average.  The highest species total for any fall season was 118 in 1995 (species counts can include up to four recognizable subspecies or hybrids).  A full summary report of our fall 2005 banding season will be posted after the holidays.

 

 

Postscript - On Wednesday, December 7, we banded 63 new birds including, four new Fox Sparrows, three White-throated Sparrows, and a small flock (~20) each of American Goldfinch and Dark-eyed Junco.  While categorized as part of the winter banding season at Powdermill (beginning with the first full week in December), this total probably better fits within the fall season.  Fox and White-throated Sparrow are species that are uncommon winter residents in the nearby areas and the flocks of juncos and mixed finch species still being observed further attests that the migration for many of these boreal zone nesting species is still underway.

We thank Emma Deleon, Pam Ferkett, Cokie and Annie Lindsay, Dan Hinnebusch, Matt Shumar, Molly McDermott, Chris Meny, and Powdermill's Director, Dave Smith for their help with banding and banding related activities this period.

• Our final two new species banded for the season were Mourning Dove (quite a stretch for the full frame photo below), banded on 20 November,

• and a female Red-winged Blackbird.  With such brightly colored plumage, it is likely this bird was an AHY, but because some HY Icterids can have a complete molt their first fall and there was no sign of any retained feathers on the body or wing, we conservatively aged her "U," or undetermined.

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• While not banded at Powdermill, the following bird easiily qualifies as the top highlight for the second half of November, and certainly gave us all something to be thankful for at the end of Thanksgiving week.  On Sunday, November 27, we traveled to the home of Rich and Elizabeth Hoge in Hopewell, PA (Beaver County) to trap and band a probable Rufous Hummingbird.  Upon arrival, we were greeted by a pair of very welcoming, bird-loving homeowners who quickly pointed out the hummingbird, sitting at the tip-top of a nearby tree, eyeing us and the feeder.  We patiently waited, and about 25 minutes after hanging the feeder inside our trap...SUCCESS!  The hummingbird finally flew in the trap to feed, and we had caught our second Rufous Hummingbird for the year.

• It proved to be an adult female that had actually been visiting this feeder since about October 15th.

• It is worth mentioning that aside from the adult male attempting to winter near Erie, PA that we caught and banded last fall, most of the other late fall hummers that we have banded or received reports about have been hatching year birds (i.e. young of the year) or adult females.  A possible reason for this bias might be there is a differential migration between sexes in this species.  As Scott Weidensaul, an acclaimed author, ornithologist, and hummingbird bander for the eastern part of the state, mentioned recently on the Pennsylvania Birds listserv, adult male Rufous Hummingbirds may very well be migrating up to a month or more earlier than females and young of the year.  This has some support from some unconfirmed (positive identification of this species can only be done with the bird in the hand) reports of probable RUHU at feeders in the eastern U.S. as early as August.  If this is the case, adult males are overlapping their migration with the time many hummingbird feeders are also swarming with flocks of migrating Ruby-throats (the common eastern breeding resident hummingbird species) and may simply be being easily overlooked.  These earlier migrants also may not linger as long at feeders.  For this reason, we encourage readers in the eastern U.S. to remember to watch their feeders in coming seasons as early as August for truly "different looking" hummingbirds.  Rufous Hummingbirds of any age and sex have a noticeable amount of rufous at the base of the tail (see photo below).  If you should see such a bird, please contact us right away (if you are in western PA and surrounding areas) or visit the Hummer/Bird Study Group website for more information about this study and for hummingbird bander contacts outside of western PA.

 

 
 











• Thank you to Elizabeth Hoge for contacting us about her tiny, late fall visitor, and thanks to both her and her husband, Rich, for inviting us to come to their home, catch and band the bird, and add one more piece to the complex and fascinating puzzle of "western" hummingbirds migrating and wintering in the East.  When we band hummingbirds away from Powdermill, the honor of the release always goes to the homeowner, in this case Rich (but not before a quick "Thanksgiving family photo").

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• While a Rufous Hummingbird is hard to follow, a couple more birds proved noteworthy this period because of some unusual/unexpected plumage colorations and patterns.  Goldfinches are one of the most variable species when it comes to their plumage, but as a rule, and as birdwatchers and most bird feeders know, they lose their bright lemon yellow breeding color and black cap in late fall following their prebasic molt.  While the occassional bird will still show scattered bright feathers in winter plumage, the 'winter-plumaged' adult male pictured below, with a nearly full black cap was one in 1300 (i.e. the only goldfinch this fall sporting an alternate basic plumage!).

• A bander really does never know what they just might see next.  Another case in point--perhaps even more uncommon than the AMGO above was this adult female Golden-crowned Kinglet with scattered dull orange feathers amongst the usual all yellow female crown.  We see a handful of female Ruby-crowned Kinglets each year that have a few red or orange crown feathers (click here for past photos and discussion of this occurrence), but this is only the second or third time we have ever documented this advanced color development in female GCKIs.  We have only seen this occurence of male secondary sexual plumage traits in adult females, so it stands to reason they might simply result from hormone changes that are occurring as the bird ages.  The photo on the right is of a male Golden-crowned Kinglet for comparison.  The amount of orange in the crown has not been shown to be age dependent in males.

• Postscript - Following the initial posting of this update, David Norman, our British ringing colleague and friend, made mention to us of the Firecrest, Regulus ignicapillus, account in Lars Svensson's Identification Guide to European Passerines, 1992.  The sex description for females is given as..."the crown patch yellow, in adults sometimes (often?) with a tinge of pale orange at the centre of the crown...."  The Firecrest (and Goldcrests) are closely related old world cousins to our North American kinglets (click here to visit David's ringing site and read more about and see photos of these birds).

• We end this update with a recapture highlight of a three year old adult male Dark-eyed Junco, #1831-66804.  He was originally banded as a second year (SY) bird on January 2, 2003 and recaptured once 3 days later, only to turn up again two years later on December 3, 2005.  Given the mid-winter date of his original capture, presumably he wintered "in the neighborhood" in 2003-04 and 2004-05, but not again in the banding area until now.

Last Updated on 12/09/05
By Adrienne Leppold and Robert S. Mulvihill