This is Gonna be Bad

As more and more information becomes available about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the gravity of the situation is really becoming obvious. To compound the worries, this is the peak of cross gulf migration and the radar maps from this morning showed what appeared to be a pretty heavy landfall along the coast.


This is a NASA satellite photo of the spill as it sits off the coast.


This radar image from CONUS shows heavy returns along the coast this morning and and a look at the loop image indicates movement inland. Hopefully, most migrants will land far enough away from the coast as to be unaffected but right now lots of breeding coastal birds are in for a tough time.

The New York Times has a good article that discusses the potential (inevitable?) impact on wildlife along the coast.

I would be curious to hear from birders along the coast as to the arrival of migrants today along the Gulf Coast.

Bird Banding Bust

The weather really did us in yesterday. A constant rain and wind combined with cool temperatures resulted in no birds caught during our program!

None

Nada

Zilch

Bupkus

sigh......

However I have great hopes for the weather changing later this week and starting those migrants moving again. It is, after all, still April.

First Banding Session of the Year at Ritter Farm

We will be holding the first of 3 banding sessions at Ritter Farm Park in Lakeville this Sunday if the weather isn't terrible. Hopefully the predicted rain for Saturday will be over by the time we need to set nets. If it's just misty we will go ahead with the banding. The program is sponsored by the city of Lakeville and there is a $2 fee for adults, kids are free.

Anyone interested will find us down in the Gazebo by the lower parking lot. Directions to the park are a bit tricky. If you are coming to the session this should get you there:

From the Twin Cities -
South on Interstate 35 to 185th St exit.
After exiting turn left (under highway) and go to next stoplight.
Turn right at stoplight onto frontage road.
Follow road to 195th street (bridge)
Turn right (back across highway) and turn right on gravel road into park.
Where road splits, go to lower parking lot.

From South -
Take Interstate 35 north
Exit at highway 70 (the famous McStop)
Turn right and go to stopsign for the frontage road.
Turn left and go to 195th St
Turn left across the bridge and then right onto gravel road into park
Where road splits, go to lower parking lot.

Hope we see you there.

Happy 40th Earth Day

Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day by getting outside and leaving as much of the human world behind as possible. Yes, I am advocating blowing off work today!

A Quiet Sunday Morning

After having so much fun on Saturday, I decided to head over to my local banding site and see what might be around. Amber B. came out to lend a hand. It wasn't as "birdy" as I had hoped but there was enough to keep me interested. The catch of the day was 2 Hermit Thrushes, Catharus guttatus.


The contrast of the tail to the back is how most people identify this species but also notice the relatively plain face and not much of an eye ring. Both the thrushes I caught were second year birds. It's good to see they survived their journeys so far.



As I set up my banding table I had an American Robin just giving me the business for no apparent reason until Amber and I were sitting quietly and saw a female sneak onto a nest that was almost right above us. We would have never seen her if she hadn't moved. Can you see her in the photo above?


I've enlarged part of the photo to give a better look. This nest is right along a walking path but I'd bet money that if I took kids on a hike they would walk right past the bird and wouldn't have a clue what is right next to them. My goal is to teach the world to slow down and look up more often.

Saturday in the Park

What a beautiful day to be out banding at Carver Park. The anticipation was palpable while I drove into the park as I could see all sorts of birds jumping up from the roadside and I could hear even more birds in the trees. I wasn't disappointed. As the crew got set up, the birds started coming into the station. Above you can see itinerant bird researcher Ben at the banding table processing one of the 20 birds we caught during our morning program. A complete list of birds caught will be listed at the end of this entry.


One of my favorite spring migrants is the White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis. This breeding plumaged male really made an impression on the visitors to our program.


Some of our regular residents also showed up such as this Downy Woodpecker, Picoides pubescens. The one skill banders are always improving is their ability to get birds out of mist nets efficiently and without harming the bird. It doesn't help when the bird you're removing is trying to drill a hole in your fingers.


This fellow was pretty cooperative and both bird and bander were none the worse for wear after processing.


We had a 3 woodpecker day including this Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, which is quite a handful, especially when you're trying to get them to pose for pictures.



An unexpected catch was a female Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, a real "two hands" bird. Of all the birds we caught this one took the largest band (3A). Measuring a bird this size make all the other birds feel really small.

Totals for the day are below:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (3)
Dark-eyed Junco (1)
Black-capped Chickadee (1 retrap)
White-throated Sparrow (2)
Downy Woodpecker (2)
Song Sparrow (1)
White-breasted Nuthatch (2 retrap)
Hairy Woodpecker (1)
Brown-headed Cowbird (1)
Red-winged Blackbird (4)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (1)
Mourning Dove (1)

Total Species = 12
Total Individuals = 20
Pretty typical numbers for a spring session.

Bird Banding Program

With the warmer weather and the Nexrad radar pretty much lit up every night with migrants, I'm looking forward to this Saturday's bird banding program at the Lowry Nature Center in Carver Park, just west of Victoria, MN.

The program is free and open to the public. Hours for the program are 8am until noon. Stop out if you're in the area.

Birds Rock!

Here's a short video from the American Bird Conservancy that might appeal to the teenager in your life (or perhaps your own inner child).

Birds Rock

Early April Banding

Sunday afternoon was just too nice to pass up the chance to get out to the banding station and throw up some nets to see what was around. When I got to the site it was pretty quiet but I set 3 nets anyway and sat down to enjoy the warm temps and the scenery. I only had nets up for about 2 hours but I did get 2 of these nice Eastern Phoebes, Sayornis phoebe.


I was also able to net one of the smallest birds we handle all year, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula. This male sported a bright red patch of feathers on his head that isn't usually seen unless you get a good close-up look at the bird. Not an easy task with a bird that hardly sits still.

If the weather stays as warm as it is now I'm not sure how that will impact both migrating birds and those that will stay here to nest. It could be an interesting breeding season.

Lots of Migration Movement in the South

The low pressure systems moving through the mid-west are setting up favorable conditions for birds to move in the south and southeastern regions of the U.S. tonight. Behind the front that sits across places like Chicago and St. Louis the movement is noticeably weaker.

We did band this morning and had several migrants in our nets that have showed up in just the past few days. Fox Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Song Sparrow are all over the place.

Reports from southern Wisconsin included Yellow rumped Warblers, shorebirds and swallows. Spring is starting to really take off.