Another Secret of Migration

This is the time of year we are all itchy to watch the migrants moving through wherever it is we live. How these little dynamos do it has been a question that still doesn't have a complete answer.


A report in New Scientist describes a paper that sheds a new piece of information on part of the answer. This is a very important paper and should lead to a whole new study of migration from a molecular level.

On a more personal level this may lead to me understanding why my spouse is so bad at understanding directions....

...just kidding dear!

House Finch

We had great hopes for the banding program on Saturday morning but apparently the birds had a different idea. We did hit double digits for individuals caught but had about 5 times that number of visitors so we talked a lot about just a few birds.


The final bird of the day was this second year House Finch. I can remember the first HOFI we caught years ago and we were very excited to see House Finches just getting to Minnesota from the east. Now they are pretty ubiquitous. Surprisingly we don't catch that many in our banding areas. We only catch them in sets near the nature center building.


One of the up close details we got to look at was the emargination on some of the primary feathers. Primaries are numbered from from nearest the body outward so the farthest wing feather out in House Finches is number 9. In the photo above you can see primaries number 8, 7, and 6 are emarginated on the leading edge. In other words, the feather shows an uneven leading edge. I don't know that this is important in identifying House Finches but in some species the shape of some of the primaries can actually be diagnostic for identification. In this case I think it just looks cool.

Totals for the day were 10 birds of 4 species, Black-capped Chickadee (6), Dark-eyed Junco (1), White-breasted Nuthatch (2), and House Finch (1).

I'm looking forward to things picking up!

March Bird Banding

Just a quick note to remind everyone that if you are in the Twin Cities area we will be having the March bird banding program at the Lowry Nature Center in Carver Park Reserve tomorrow, Saturday the 19th from 9:00 am until noon. The park is located just west of Victoria, MN.

With the warm weather and the early migrants moving in we might have a chance at catching some birds that are on their way north. On the other hand we might be aging and sexing a lot of Juncos.

Come visit if you're in the area!

Migration Tonight

A quick peek at radar tonight shows an increase in migration in the midwest. Radar returns in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and the rest of the Ohio River Valley show significant movement.


The forecast for the next 5 days in Minnesota is high temps in the 50s. The warm weather appears to be promoting the move north of early spring migrants. Waterfowl numbers in Minnesota continue to increase even though most lakes are still frozen. First of the year birds such as Killdeer, Sandhill Cranes and Red-winged Blackbirds are showing up in many places. With continued melting of snow cover in the upper midwest the excitement of migration is tempered by the threat of significant flooding in many locations.

The next week to ten days should be good for birding. Lucky for me it occurs just in time for our March banding program on Saturday and my week off for spring break. If the weather holds out I hope to log lots of field time.

If you would like to check out the radar a link is provided here.

"Oregon" Junco Visits Minnesota

I love when birding is as easy as looking out the window from my rocking chair (boy does that make me sound old). It's doubly fun when something unusual shows up like it did this morning.



This "Oregon" race individual of the Dark-eyed Junco has been visiting my feeders off and on most of the winter. I've been trying to get a good photo of it but hadn't any luck until this morning. Interestingly, my backyard hasn't been very busy all winter. With all the snow cover we have I thought I'd have more of a concentration of birds taking advantage of the free meals.



I have heard the Juncos starting to sing as they chase each other around the pine trees in my yard. The American Goldfinches are starting to show some yellow molting in and the Great Horned Owl nest I've been watching has young as of this week. On the other hand, all the reports I've been hearing from just south of us makes me expect to see some Red-winged Blackbirds, Grackles and maybe even a Killdeer any day now. I'm surprised they're not here yet.
A warm front is predicted for the middle of the week so it may be time to put on the boots and slosh through some trails and see what's around.

How Smart Are Crows?

Another really cool video from Science Friday shows tool use in the New Caledonian Crow. They even put a small camera on a crow for some video footage.



This makes me wonder what the crows in our woods are doing that has never been observed.

Banding Totals From 2010

Since today is officially "meteorological spring" and that means the 2011 bird banding season is right around the corner I thought I'd post the totals from my banding efforts of 2010. When I look at my numbers they sure don't reflect the amount of banding I actually did. When I'm working the programs at Carver Park in Victoria, MN or Ritter Farm Park in Lakeville, MN the bands are not mine so are not reflected on my records. The following list is just those birds I banded at my own locations.

Totals are 196 individuals of 42 species. I'm really hoping to bring those numbers up this year if the weather cooperates.

Top 5 species banded were:

Black-capped Chickadee
Purple Martin
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-breasted Nuthatch

The complete list in alphabetical order is as follows:

American Goldfinch
American Robin
Baltimore Oriole
Black and White Warbler
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Bobolink
Clay-colored Sparrow
Cedar Waxwing
Chipping Sparrow
Common Yellowthroat
Dark-eyed Junco
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Tufted Titmouse
Fox Sparrow
Gray Catbird
Hairy Woodpecker
Hermit Thrush
House Wren
Indigo Bunting
Nashville Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Ovenbird
Pine Warbler
Purple Martin
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Red-eyed Vireo
Savannah Sparrow
Sedge Wren
Song Sparrow
Swainson's Thrush
Traill's Flycatcher
White-breasted Nuthatch
Wilson's Warbler
White-throated Sparrow
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow Warbler

The common consensus around these parts is that last springs migration was one of the worst in recent memory. Hopefully it will improve this year and the nets will be busy. Keep checking back to see when we start to catch birds!