Watching the Parade Headed South

Every once in a while I'll be out at a banding site or working with kids in the woods or just sitting in the screen porch at home and the thought will occur to me that I am incredibly lucky to have a life that lets me spend time outside doing things I love.

Today was one of those days.

I spent both days this weekend banding at a site nearby my home and was privileged to watch as the phenomenon of southward migration appeared all around me.

Of course, the reason I was out there was because it is migration season but the landscape was just in constant motion as birds flew above me, to the side of me and near me at ground level. The sights and sounds made me feel joyful.

The banding was good too. Saturday brought what may be the tail end of migration for some of the bird species we handled. I banded 5 species of warblers and the first of the White-throated Sparrows for the fall have arrived. I watched as numerous raptors both sailed overhead and skirted the shrub tops as they hunted for their next meal. The most common hawk of the weekend was the Sharp-shinned Hawk. I had only banded one previously but this weekend I had 2 in the nets.

Both birds banded were juvenile males. Easier to get out of the nets than I imagined but also commanding a lot of respect with those needle like talons. The good news is that neither the hawk nor the bander were harmed in this process.

Besides the sharpie I had 10 species for the 2 days. In between nets runs I also watched Sandhill Cranes, American White Pelicans and a huge number of Franklin's Gulls go past my site. The gulls traveled in a long winding flock that almost went horizon to horizon. Turkey Vultures, blackbirds and Cedar Waxwings followed the same path.

The other thing I noticed was the presence of Red Breasted Nuthatches almost everywhere I went. The annual finch migration forecast out of Ontario, Canada is predicting big movements of several species south into the eastern U.S. due to a poor cone crop this summer. The movement of nuthatches this far south seems to bear this out.

Next weekend I'll be out again and I'm sure that in just those few days the changes in what we see and what we catch will be obvious. With the fall equinox just occuring, the march to winter has begun.