Camas migration update 5-23

For those of you who have been following IBLE (Idaho Birders Linked Electronically - a yahoo groups listserv), you've seen that the last week+ has been eventful to say the least. In a 4 day period starting last Thursday, we saw (but did not catch) a Brown Thrasher that was singing his heart out and then we caught a Magnolia Warbler (adult female) Friday, a Wood Thrush (first one photo'd in the state - maybe 2nd state state record) on Sat that stayed until Tues and gained 4.9 grams!!, and caught a female Black-and-White Warbler on Sunday. Then we had 2" of snow yesterday! Some pics below ....

Overall, migration has picked up considerably but a few species have not yet peaked, including Swainson's Thrush, Western Tanager, and Willow Flycatcher. In fact, though we have seen a few individuals of each species, we are still yet to band a Willow Flycatcher or a Western Wood-pewee. The next 2 weeks should be the peak for these species ...

Cheers,

Jay

The Wood Thrush (5-19-07); a second-year (i.e. 1 year old) bird that is one of 3 reports for the state and may represent the first photo evidence of this species in Idaho.

Magnolia Warber; after-second-year female (5-18-07)

Black-and-White Warbler (2nd-year - notice the paler primary coverts and flight feathers); caught on 5-20-07

Carlos banding a Red-shafted Flicker (his favorite capture of the season so far) and Jereme looking on.

Camas update May 10, 2007

Hi Folks

Only in the last 2 days (May 9-10) have we seen the first true wave of migrating songbirds. On May 7 and 8, we banded 5 and 6 birds, respectively, but we've banded 81 the last 2 days - including 52 Hermit Thrushes. A couple of the best-looking birds captured today are shown below - including a hybrid male 'Myrtle' x 'Audubon's' (Yellow-rumped) Warbler; this is shown in the first 2 pictures below (mostly Myrtle features but a yellow wash to the throat) and is evidence as to why these are not considered distinct species .... Below the Yellow-rumped is a studly male MacGillivray's Warbler - one of three captured today.

Also, Carlos (our Venezuelan field assistant) and I took a trip yesterday afternoon to see the headwaters of Camas Creek (which runs through the refuge) in the mountains N of Dubois and E/NE of Spencer. Below, Carlos in front of some coniferous forest and West Camas Creek above the town of Kilgore ....

Happy birding,

Jay

Camas NWR spring update (Harris's Sparrow)

Hi Folks

We started our spring migration study on Monday, April 16 and we will go until June 15. As expected (based on info from local birders and our experience last year), it's been quite slow so far but highlights have included a singing Winter Wren (yesterday) and Lincoln's Sparrows have been present since day 1 whereas we didn't see any until April 23 last year. Migrants so far mostly include RC Kinglets, DE Juncos, and WC Sparrows and we banded our first Hermit Thrush yesterday. Diversity should pick up over the next couple weeks and May 10 thru June 5 should be great!

This morning, while conducting a standardized point count survey, I heard and then saw a singing Harris's Sparrow at the very N end of the 'Dogleg' (N of headquarters) at Camas NWR. It was perched up in a group of shrubs across the creek from the last trees in this stretch. Only my 2nd for the state & the first I've seen here since I began working out here.

Today Bob Davis (a local Idaho Falls birder) saw a Marbled Godwit among other shorebirds along the refuge loop ....

Happy birding!

Jay

Spring and International Migratory Bird Day

Spring songbird banding will begin April 15th at Camas National Wildlife Refuge. This is the 2nd year IBO is conducting migratory songbird banding at Camas. Please feel free to visit Jay and the crew--the banding station will be open daily (weather depending) from sunrise to 5 hours past sunrise. Monitoring will take place April 15th-June 15th.

On Saturday, May 12th, at the MK Nature Center in Boise, IBO will be participating in International Migratory Bird Day with conducting bird banding demonstrations. Join the international celebration of migratory birds with a day full of bird-related activities. This family-oriented event features bird walks, spotting scopes, banding demonstrations, live bird presentations, and kids' activities. Biologists from Idaho Fish and Game, Idaho Bird Observatory, Forest Service, and Golden Eagle Audubon Society will be on hand to answer questions and provide bird watching opportunities. This year's theme is "Birds in a Changing Climate." Find out about the effects of warming on birds and learn what we can do to reduce our impact. FREE! 10am-4pm.

Happy spring!

IBO in the newspaper again!

http://www.idahostatesman.com/273/story/61950.html

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

Lucky Peak update, 9/29

Songbirds

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 119
Golden-crowned Kinglet= 3
Orange-crowned Warbler= 1
Wilson's Warbler= 1
Townsend's Warbler= 1
Oregon Junco= 31
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 3
Audubon's Warbler= 1
Mountain Chickadee= 3
Chipping Sparrow= 3
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 42
Hermit Thrush= 1
Spotted Towhee= 1
American Robin= 4
Townsend's Solitaire= 7

Total new banded= 221

Hawkwatch= 50

Hawk trapping= 5 (3 Cooper's Hawks and 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks)

Lucky Peak 9/28

Greetings,

Below are the numbers from today. Songbirds had a rockin' day!!

Songbirds

Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 145
Golden-crowned Kinglet= 2
Orange-crowned Warbler= 1
Oregon Junco= 26
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 3
Audubon's Warbler= 14
Chipping Sparrow= 8
Cassin's Vireo= 1
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 83
Golden-crowned Sparrow= 1
Hermit Thrush= 1
Spotted Towhee= 6
American Robin= 1
Townsend's Solitaire= 4
Cassin's Finch= 2

Total new banded=277

Hawkwatch= 156 (including 14 Northern Harriers and 31 Turkey Vultures)
Hawk trapping= 5 (4 Cooper's Hawks and 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk)

New Photos from Camas NWR songbirds

Hi Folks

Below are photos of the recent Black-and-White Warbler (9-26) and one of 2 White-throated Sparrows we've banded recently (9-25 & 9-27).

While our overall capture numbers at Camas (89 new captures today, including 37 RC Kinglets) pale in comparison to the HUGE numbers passing through at Lucky Peak (they've banded over 550 birds, including ~ 280 RC Kinglets, in the last 2 days!!), we're still seeing many birds and good diversity.

Cheers,

Jay

IBO in the news!

There is a great feature on IBO in the Idaho Statesman Outdoor section.
You can also access the article at:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060928/IDOUT/609280305

(yes, that one caption is wrong. It is not a Golden-crowned Sparrow being banded but a Sharp-shinned hawk)

Lucky Peak, 9/26 & 9/27

Greetings,

Below are the numbers from yesterday and today at Lucky Peak. Included are hawkbanding, hawkwatch, and owl banding totals. Songbirds had a rockin' day today with 289 birds banded. It seems that the Ruby-crowned Kinglets and the White-throated Sparrows are really moving through. This is a great week to come on up to Lucky Peak--we hope to see you up there!

Songbirds-Tuesday, 9/26
Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 50
Orange-crowned Warbler= 2
Oregon Junco= 2
Audubon's Warbler= 23
Chipping Sparrow= 10
Cassin's Vireo=2
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 31
Mountain White-crowned Sparrow= 1
Hermit Thrush= 2
Fox Sparrow= 1
Total new banded= 146

Songbirds-Wednesday, 9/27
Ruby-crowned Kinglet= 146
Golden-crowned Kinglet= 2
Townsend’s Warbler = 1
Orange-crowned Warbler= 7
Oregon Junco= 35
Audubon's Warbler= 27
Pine Siskin= 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch= 5
Chipping Sparrow= 5
Cassin's Vireo= 1
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow= 61
Hermit Thrush= 2
Spotted Towhee= 1
American Robin= 1
Total new banded= 289

Owls- Tuesday night, 9/26= 7 Northern Saw-whet Owl
Total for season (since 9/22):
Northern Saw-whet Owl= 8
Flammulated Owl= 1
Northern Pygmy Owl= 1

Hawkwatch- Tuesday, 9/26 = 232
Hawkwatch- Wednesday, 9/27= 172 (including 81 Turkey Vultures)

Hawk Banding- Tuesday, 9/26= 14 (including 1 Northern Goshawk, 1 Merlin)
Hawk Banding- Wednesday, 9/27= 14 (including 1 hatchyear Golden Eagle and 1 Northern Harrier)

Camas update: B&W Warbler, etc.

Here's a copy of what I recently posted to IBLE (Idaho Birders Linked Electronically). I don't have photos ready to post for the recent catches (mentioned in today's post) but I will post 2 photos of fun catches from recent weeks ..... Jay

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Folks

Late this morning we captured and banded a studly adult male Black-and-White Warbler - our first this season. If I remember correctly, this date seems quite similar to when we banded an adult male last fall.

Also, we banded an immature White-throated Sparrow yesterday and over the last 2 days we've seen/heard/captured our first 'Myrtle' (Yellow-rumped) Warblers of the season. No sign of the BrownThrasher that was seen Sunday.

Lastly, with this nice fall/high pressure weather, we're experiencing a great push of migrants as the Neotropical migrants dwindle and the temperate zone migrants (especially kinglets & juncos) are building in numbers - providing impressive diversity on a daily basis. We're still catching/seeing big numbers of Wilson's Warblers (40 today, over 1650 banded for the season!!) but I expect their #s will start to decrease pretty soon here.

Cheers,

Jay

Wilson's Warblers of 2 different subspecies - 'pileolata' (Rocky Mountain race) on the left and 'pusilla' (Boreal/eastern race) on the right. Notice the paler coloration of 'pusilla'.

A young female Black-throated Blue Warbler that we banded on 9-11-06.