short and sweet 2 new arrivals

Rain always causes us grief. As i mentioned  rain means extra sleep but it also means we are missing birds. This morning it was raining at 5 so we went back to bed but waking later revealed it has stopped raining. Chris convinced me to go to the marsh but the skies were heavy with the threat of rain but in the end I was thanking Chris for convincing me. We only had 2 hours of banding but it was worth it  Today's new species were as follows

grey catbird any birders reading this will note the incorrect spelling but I can't help but make a Canadian statement!

The other  returning migrant was our first American redstart which is yet another example of how bird names are way better in French this is the Paruline Flamboyant!!! The flamboyant warbler is way better but you will need to see for yourself to decide

The weather this weekend sounds really good so come out and watch the banding  there are migrants arriving every day ready to dazzle you.  I cannot think of anything more miraculous than the migration from Central and South America to connect us to nature and to one another. The community of the marsh continues to inspire me as much as the journey of these winged travelers. So please make the trip to the marsh this weekend to celebrate the new arrivals.

Another traveler to the marsh  this spring  is Nicole our banding intern with our first grey catbird  she has traveled from Brantford to help in our migration monitoring . Thanks so much Nichole she first discovered the marsh on an owl banding trip with Nipissing University and may very well go on to study boreal owls at the marsh. her last name is Richardson which in the past was the name of the boreal owl. Coincidence I think not !!!!!!!

The last we read on the weather channel was today was going to be wet. Tired banders always greet the dawn with a certain amount of ambivalence . Rain means more sleep and no birds which is sad but sleep is so appealing. The morning revealed clouds and the threat of rain but no rain!!! Off we went and before we knew it we had nets up and 70 birds for 7 hours of effort . It was raining all around the marsh but whilke we had a few sprinkles we made out alright and found 2 beautiful common yellow throats and a savannah sparrow in the net as well as 19 other species.

savannah sparrow note the yellow eyebrow is much longer than the short yellow on the lores of a white throat

a white throaat for comparison

 

 Before I feel the pull of a comfy bed I wanted to thank the two people that are making this all happen our bander in charge  Chris sukah and our banding intern Nicole richardson

Chris Sukah

Nicole Richardson

More bird tales to follow

warbler "ketchup" to may 10th

I had such excellent plans to put out a blog every night before  going to bed but we have been so busy with life  which means I had three marsh meetings last week and it never happened  however it is time to catch up on the excitement we have been seeing at the marsh .
Over the last week we have banded 40 species  and 623 individual birds . Our highest daily total was may 8th when we banded 137 birds helped out in a big way by 38  yellow rumped warblers and 24 red winged blackbirds.   I am going to catch up with a bunch of photo's and some totals for the week and hopefully i can keep up . The week was incredible and we had some arrivals that were actually freaking us out as they were so early.  Case in point was the early arrival of a mourning warbler on the may 8th pictured here with an american tree sparrow these birds are usually seen on the opposite ends of the month of May

yellow warblers showed up on the 8th

also on the 8th this black and white warbler

orange crowned  warbler and a close up of the mourning warbler round out the highlights for the 8th

Not to be out down here are the new arrivals for the may 9th

here is a cape may warbler 

a chestnut sided warbler

a beautiful magnolia warbler 

the nick name for a blackburnian warbler is fire throat

On Sunday the 10th dragging ourselves out of bed we were rewarded with the stations 8 northern parula one of my favourite birds we also caught a veery but in our excitement did not get a photo

The warbler parade has been amazing if you find these birds amazingly beautiful please come to the hilliardton marsh and see for yourself  banding begins daily at sunrise and continues for 7 hours of magical migrant moments. Hope to see you at the marsh.