The month of October was a hard act to follow, but November
was one for the record books as well. It was a very productive month
with a total of 1,506 birds banded; the second highest November total in
the history of the program. Dark-eyed Junco topped the list this
month with 444 banded, becoming the third highest November total for this
species ever, following behind 571 banded in 1997 and 496 banded in 1992.
This was also the highest November total for this species since 1997, when
the 571 DEJU's mentioned above contributed to over a third of the month's
1,541 record total.
Coming in a distant second this month behind Dark-eyed
Junco was American Goldfinch (248), followed by Golden-crowned Kinglet
(189), White-throated Sparrow (164), and Ruby-crowned Kinglet (120).
Thankfully for the participants of this year's beginner
bander development workshop, the dominant catch was juncos and not chickadees,
as was the case last year. We appreciate everyone's participation
in helping make it a successful, educational, and enjoyable week.
In the photo below, from left to right and back to front is: Dean
Thompson (PARC banding volunteer), Keith McKenrick and Bill Clark (workshop
participants), Robert Mulvihill (PARC field ornithology projects coordinator),
Robert Leberman (PARC senior bird bander emeritus), Emma Deleon (PARC seasonal
banding assistant), Mary Alice Koeneke and Janet Creamer (workshop participants),
Adrienne Leppold (PARC Bander-in-Charge), Felicity Newell (PARC seasonal
banding assistant), "Puppy" Mulvihill, and Lauren Schneider (PARC Volunteer).
Thanks also to Mary Shidel, Trish Miller, Pam Ferkett
(who took the above photo), and Carol Leppold for additional help with
banding this month.
There is not much difficulty in distinguishing between
juvenile and adult Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, the two common accipiters
banded at Powdermill. In both species, juveniles have vertical brown
breast streaks that remain through their first winter until they undergo
their second prebasic molt. This molt can begin as early as the onset
of the breeding season but will often not complete until late summer.
Adults, on the other hand, have wide horizontal rusty vermiculations on
their breast.
Two Sharp-shinned Hawks caught on November 2nd, however,
also provided a nice comparison of some easily overlooked, yet fundamental
differences. The photo below shows the spread wings of both birds.
HY birds can have a complete first prebasic molt but this does not usually
commence until their first spring. So, in November, the HY bird (top)
is still in juvenal plumage. Juvenal feathers, as seen below, are
more brown and those on the upperparts usually have buffy edges.
As is a general rule, juvenal feathers are also more loosely structured
and just don't have the sheen and quality that adult feathers do (bottom).
While we've highlighted the change in eye color that takes
place as hawks age on the website in the past, we couldn't resist one more
comparison shot with an adult and HY bird in hand at the same time.
We included the top photo from our archives of an after-third-year male
to show the complete range of eye color development. The adult female
in the middle is likely a TY bird, but some individuals (especially females)
may never attain the very dark red eye color seen in the top photo.
Based on the Sharp-shinned account in Palmer's Handbook of North American
Birds, Vol. 4, birds with irises "deep orange" or various reds can
definitely be assigned to Basic II and older. However, without any
confirming retained juvenal feathers, defining the eye color as "deep orange"
and not "light orange" would just be too subjective and potentially inaccurate.
Thus, we aged her conservatively as an AHY bird (i.e., she could be anything
from a precocious SY to an ATY). The bottom photo is, of course,
from the HY bird.
Note also the differences between the
male and females in the photos below. Again, the top bird was an
ATY male and the other two were females. The cheeks of the females,
the adult in particular, are much more widely streaked with rufous.
In addition to a cleaner cheek, and also somewhat visible in these photos,
is the more clean gray appearance of the head and back on the male.
That same day, we also caught our one and only Rusty Blackbird
for the season, the HY male pictured below. As a result of meetings
during the North American Ornithological Conference in Mexico this past
October, we were invited to join the International Rusty Blackbird Technical
Working Group (IRBTWG). Though one of the most dramatic of any North
American bird, little is understood about the population decline in Rusty
Blackbirds. Formed in 2005, and based out of the Migratory Bird Center
at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, the IRBTWG aims to develop
a comprehensive, cross-seasonal research program to gain the information
necessary for understanding the causes and significance of Rusty Blackbird
declines. One of the short term goals is to establish connectivity
between breeding and wintering ground populations through analysis of feather
isotopes. Because more than 80% of the global population of Rusty
Blackbirds depends on remote boreal forest during the breeding season,
effectively studying these birds in many places on their breeding grounds
is a significant challenge. For this reason, migration banding stations
likely are integral for sampling large numbers of birds and collecting
blood and feather samples for genetic and isotope analyses, contaminant
studies, disease screening and, ultimately, effective population
monitoring.
We have begun to collect additional morphometric measurements
and feather samples from birds banded at Powdermill following established
IRBTWG sampling protocols, but no real migration monitoring network for
RUBLs presently exists. We are hoping to identify stations that are
well-positioned for sampling large numbers of RUBLs during migration.
If you are a bander, or know of an established banding station where large
flocks of RUBL's (25 or more) are regularly observed during migration,
please contact us at leppold@pabirdatlas.org.
If you observe or catch smaller numbers of Rusty Blackbirds, the group
can still use your help. To learn more about the status of this species,
progress within the working group, and ways birders and banders can help,
please visit - http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScience/MigratoryBirds/Research/Rusty_Blackbird/
This HY Ovenbird was certainly an unexpected catch on
the late date of 7 November. We have just one other November banding
record of this species in our database, also an HY banded on 23 November
1985.
While a report of a Rufous Hummingbird in late November
is no longer unexpected in our region, we certainly didn't expect to discover
one that was already banded!! Yes, the second RUHU we caught this
year turned out to be our first foreign recovery!!
This adult female captured on 22 November in McDonald,
PA was originally banded in Diamondhead, MS on 25 January 2006 by Mark
Myers. It showed up at Ray and Edyie Posel's house around 20 October
and was the first record of this species for Washington County, Pennsylvania.
It is also one of just a few recoveries of a western hummingbird species
in the northeastern U.S. and the first foreign recovery of a Rufous Hummingbird
in PA. Many thanks to Bob and Martha Sargent of the Hummer/Bird
Study Group who first began efforts to band these "western" hummingbirds
in the east, and for enlisting other banders, such as Mark and ourselves,
to contribute to this now very widespread effort. N-71927 certainly
added an important piece of information to our understanding of the migratory
routes and timing for these eastern Selasphorus sp. While
the exact breeding grounds for this individual is still unknown, our recovery
strengthens speculation that birds caught in the Northeast are, in fact,
stopover migrants on their way to the southeastern U.S. for the winter.
In the photo below, Bob Mulvihill hands our special catch
of the day to homeowners Edyie and Ray Posel for the release.
Thank you Ray and Edyie for your hospitality, your invitation
for us to come and catch what turned out to be a very special bird, and,
last but not least, for your enthusiasm.
The last observed date for N-71927 was at the neighbor's
feeder on 19 December. It will certainly be interesting to see if
she turns up at the same house in Mississippi later this winter.
Our first American Tree Sparrow was banded on 11 November
and proved to be a very photogenic individual.
While we made efforts on a number of occasions to catch
a Northern Saw-whet Owl this fall, we only ever caught one Eastern Screech
Owl. This sleepy-looking fellow, a particularly brown individual,
was the third and final owl banded in 2006.
We banded our second Wilson's Snipe for the season early
this month and, we think, it was well posed for the upcoming Thanksgiving
holiday.
Without a doubt, though, we had an even bigger and better
Thanksgiving holiday treat......
After nearly a month's trapping effort, we were finally
successful in catching our first Golden Eagle for the year. Yes,
a Golden Eagle, and on Thanksgiving Day! In the photo below, Mike
Lanzone, PARC Assistant Field Ornithology Projects Coordinator, and Trish
Miller, PARC GIS Manager, hold the eagle for a spread wing back photo before
it is released.
The story behind this capture began more than a year ago
when Bob Mulvihill and Mike Lanzone approached Todd Katzner, Director of
Conservation and Field Research at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, about
collaborating on a research project to study the migration patterns of
Golden Eagles throughout the Appalachian Region of the eastern U.S.
After a successful pilot study last fall, we acquired three satellite transmitters
and spent the month of October building the blinds and bow traps necessary
to catch these large, very smart, powerful birds.
In addition to covering the blinds at the trapping sites
with live branches, trees and shrubs were painted on the outside of the
blinds as camouflage.
The view of the backdoor on the finished blinds...
Trapping stations were then set up on three sites--two
along the Allegheny Front and one on Bald Eagle Ridge. As mentioned
above, it was nearly a month before the first eagle was caught on Thanksgiving
Day. Just a few days later, a second eagle was caught and banded.
Both have been fitted with solar-powered satellite transmitters that will
take precise GPS fixes every hour during daylight hours. The photo
below shows a close up of the transmitter with solar powered battery that
is fitted onto the eagle using a backpack style harness.
The eastern population of Golden Eagles is distinct and
of conservation concern because observations from principal hawk watch
sites in PA suggest most of the eagles concentrate along a comparatively
narrow swath of western and central ridges in the Allegheny mountains during
migration. These same ridge tops are also under increasing pressure
for development by the wind energy industry, creating the potential for
conflict with migrating eagles and other birds. The satellite
tracking devices used in this study will not only continually give us the
locations of the birds, but also record information regarding the altitude
and speed at which the birds are flying and how this varies with weaher
conditions. With this information, we hope to be able to make solid,
science-based recommendations concerning wind energy development in the
region that will greatly reduce the possibility that eagles and other migrant
birds will collide with wind turbines. An additional conservation
benefit of this project concerns the knowledge we are gaining every day
about the wintering areas and movements of the telemetered eagles.
Powdermill GIS Coordinator, Trish Miller, has created and regularly updates
maps showing the locations and movements of the two eagles marked this
fall. To read more about this project and view the maps, please visit
the National Aviary
website.
We owe HUGE thanks to Tom Dick, Marsha and Bruce Bonta,
and the B. Dale Miller Family for allowing us to trap on their properties.
Incidentally, both eagles were caught in the Miller fields just below the
Allegheny Front Hawk Watch, and both were released from the overlook at
the hawk watch. We also greatly appreciate the cooperation and support
of the many hawk watchers at Allegheny Front.
Finally, we caught our 10,000th bird for the fall on 30
November, this HY female American Goldfinch. This is only the third
fall season where we have ever caught over 10,000 birds. Our final
fall 2006 season total was 10,022, the third highest in the history of
the program. 10,655 in 2001 and 10,129 in 1982 still hold first and
second place.
