Saturday, August 11, 2012

Fall Season Under Way!

Our Fall season is officially under way at our Lucky Peak field site! (Driving directions here)

We started our fall songbird migration banding on July 16th and have had a good season so far. Seems like this year was good for many of Idaho's breeding birds (we are catching lots of youngsters!). Right now we have hit the August lull (some birds have already peaked in their migration, while others are still raising families and waiting to head south).

The season has already been an exciting one with some unusual species (see photos below), and Hawk Trapping, Hawkwatch, and Owls haven't even started yet!!

Daily Songbird banding will continue until October 15th (weather depending), Hawks and Owls will start on August 28th (peaking in September) and continue until the end of October.

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Here are some pictures from the songbird season so far:

Lazuli Bunting male (Photo by Liz Urban)

Northern Flicker (Photo by Liz Urban)

"Western" Flycatcher (Photo by Liz Urban)

Fledgling Western Tanager (Photo by Heidi Ware)

a net full of Red-breasted Nuthatches (Photo by Heidi Ware)

Canyon Wren! (Photo by Heidi Ware)

Lazuli Bunting family (male, female, and 2 fledglings) (Photo by Heidi Ware)

two young MacGillivray's Warblers both hatched this year, but at very different stages! (Photo by Heidi Ware)
Adult male Black-headed Grosbeak (Photo by Jake Shorty)

male Western Tanager (Photo by Jake Shorty)

male Rufous Hummingbird (Photo by Jake Shorty)

Mountain Chickadee party! (Photo by Jake Shorty)

young female Hairy Woodpecker (photo by Heidi Ware)

Willow Flycatcher (photo by Heidi Ware)

Yellow-breasted Chat! (photo by Heidi Ware)

very young Townsend's Solitaire (photo by Heidi Ware)

Least Flycatcher! (photo by Jay Carlisle)

Northern Pygmy-owl! (photo by Garrett MacDonald)

Releasing a Dusky Flycatcher (photo by Jay Carlisle)



Mission: to contribute to the conservation of western migratory landbirds through cooperative research and public education