Songbird wrap-up at Lucky Peak

I just received an email from Caroline with the final season total for Lucky Peak: 7448! Way to go, songbird crew!!

Also, I think there is some interest out there about the dorky bird game the Lucky Peak crew played. So without delay....here's the final results (straight from Caroline's mouth):

The winner of "The Bird is Right" (you know, the game where we guess how many birds we're going to catch for the day) is John "the bot" Warzybok with 1157 points. Matt "Crazy" Gracey came in second with 1115 points. Caroline made a desperate bid in the end but still only got 969, and Corey had a strong showing (considering he wasn't around as often as our winner) with 817. Miguel totally lost with 551 points, 400 of which were donated to him by Patrick anyhow. The prize for our winner is...nothing...we gave the Boise Co-op gift certificates away to Miguel mid-season.

Dialogue for Kids-Public TV spot

Greg appeared on Dialogue for Kids, a Public TV show where experts in different areas answer calls and emails from children around Idaho. This week's topic was about bird migration and that is why Greg was part of the fun! Check it out at: http://www.idahoptv.org/dialogue4kids/season8/birdmigration/index.cfm
Read and see (watch the program on your computer!!) what kind of questions Greg and Rex (IDFG) answered!

Songbird monitoring season finishes

Hi Folks

We took the nets down after banding this morning and called it good for the fall 2006 songbird season at both the Camas NWR and Lucky Peak sites (raptors are still going at Lucky Peak) and it's been an amazing year.

I don't have exact totals but the Lucky Peak crew experienced what is by far the single-season record with well over 7,400 captures (possibly over 7,500 depending on how today went) when the previous season high (5,920) was set in 2004. Thus, 2006 broke the record by about 1,500 birds!! I'm hoping that this reflects positive trends for migrant populations breeding in and migrating through Idaho but it may just have been a banner reproductive year (... still a good thing).

Meanwhile, we finished with a very respectable 4,660 captures at Camas which is slightly higher than the 2005 total (~ 4,450). Interesting captures and sightings over the last few days included a late Nashville Warbler in the nets yesterday and a Western Tanager that I saw on a point count survey today; the tanager appeared to have a deformed bill which may help explain its tardiness.

Thus, between sites we captured over 12,000 migrants - quite a year. Thanks to all the visitors/helpers who came out to enjoy the great migration phenomenon with us and we'll hope to see you again next year.

Cheers,

Jay

Lucky Peak, 10/12/06

Songbirds:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 60
Pink-sided Junco= 1
Dark-eyed Junco= 1
Oregon Junco= 111
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 2
Pine Siskin= 8
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 10
Mountain Chickadee= 1

Total banded= 194

Owl banding= 6 Northern Saw-whet Owls (Wednesday night)

Lucky Peak-October 11, 2006

Songbirds:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 35
Oregon Junco= 83
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 9
Hermit Thrush= 1
Spotted Towhee= 1
Pine Siskin=2

Total banded= 131

**Over 7000 songbirds have been banded for the season. The season ends this upcoming Sunday**

Hawkwatch= 15

Owl banding= 3 Northern Saw-whets (Monday night)
3 Northern Saw-whets (Tuesday night)

08 & 09 October--Lucky Peak

Apologies for not posting the last week (been out of town)...it seems as though the migration has slowed a bit. Songbird banding ends this coming Sunday so hopefully with this high pressure system pushing through we will see a good finale to songbird banding. Hawkwatch, hawk trapping, and owl banding continues until the end of the month.

Songbirds (Sunday, Ocotber 8)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 52
Oregon Junco= 35
Spotted Towhee= 1
Northen Pygmy Owl= 1
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 9
Townsend's Solitaire= 1
Hermit Thrush= 1

Total banded= 100

Songbirds (Monday , Ocotber 9)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 33
Dark-eyed Junco= 1
Oregon Junco= 30
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 2

Total banded= 66

Hawkwatch (Sunday, October 8) = 29
Hawkwatch (Monday, October 9)= 7

Owl banding= 0 (for both nights), total banded for season= 38

Lucky Peak, 10/02

Songbirds:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 60
Townsend's Warbler =1
Oregon Junco= 25
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 1
Chipping Sparrow= 1
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 21
Hermit Thrush= 1
American Robin= 3
Townsend's Solitaire= 1
Cassin's Vireo= 1
Golden-crowned Sparrow= 1 (#15 of the season!!)

Total banded= 116
Over 6000 since 15 July have been banded.

Hawkwatch= 11

Hawk trapping= 1

Camas update - totals through Sept

Hi Folks

Just finished adding up the numbers through September for our operation here at Camas NWR. Through Sept 30 (since July 20), we have captured 4158 birds of 72 species. The top ten most commonly captured birds are: Wilson's Warbler (1813), MacGillivray's Warbler (314), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (213 - but add 71 over the last 2 days), Chipping Sparrow (212), Orange-crowned Warbler (191), Hermit Thrush (176), Yellow Warbler (128), Dark-eyed Junco (121), Brewer's Sparrow (100), and Warbling Vireo (90). Of these, I expect #s of RC Kinglets, the thrushes, and juncos to continue to build whereas the other species are either long-since done or else winding down.

Pales in comparison to the totals at Lucky Peak (over 6000 so far) but still some great numbers. We have just under 2 weeks to go before wrapping up our fall songbird work on Oct 15.

Cheers,

Jay

Lucky Peak, 9/30

Songbirds:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 81
Wilson's Warbler= 1
Hammond's Flyctcher= 1
Oregon Junco= 18
Chipping Sparrow= 2
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 48
Hermit Thrush= 2
Spotted Towhee= 2
American Robin= 4
Cassin's Vireo= 1
Cedar Waxwng= 3

Total banded= 160

Hawkwatch= 111

Hawk trapping= 8