Kerns public winter finch banding

My very first memory of feedback from an assignment from University was my  wrongful use of the word irregardless . Apparently it is regardless.  I have had the fortune since my retirement to spend lots of time  banding  snow buntings and colour banding redpolls with the kerns public grade 5 and 6 students. The kerns kids have inspired me and they have embraced   our efforts to band . Clearly kids would rather help band birds then be in their classroom but the kids at kerns  can do both and be part of citizen science. We have been part of a  colour banding project from the Canadian wildlife service in Ottawa to put colour bands on redpolls and  grosbeaks to see they movements of winter finches. Birds seen at the feeders at kerns public and at feeders in the area will help researchers learn more about the movements of winter finches. The fact that this can be happening at the grade 5 and 6  level fills me with optimism and hope for the future.  Not to mention there is something special about these kids from kerns  who have been part of snow bunting  banding for the last  four years.  now that we are banding redpolls and the  grade 5 and 6 kids are starting to take birds out of nets makes this a very special place indeed .  The best part for me is that  the research that grade 5 and 6 kids can help out with is  referred to as citizen science  and they realize that  they are part of real science  something that is being used by scientists across north America.  Not too shabby for kids in grade 5 and 6.  I would challenge the real science happening at kerns with what is happening at the high school and with any other  public school in the province . Bird is the word!

all the reasons why this blog will not work

First of all I have  three confessions  to make. Number 1 is that I really think this blog will work if I wasn't  so lazy and  was so technologically challenged.
#2 If rick ludkin can do it I can do it . Rick is the  inspiration behind  the  Canadian snow bunting  research project so if he can handle the tech I should be able to but I  apparently cannot.
#3 If  Joanne was not here beside me to figure  it all out it will not happen... so  she is not so far away so it just might happen.
Reason number 4  we only have 1 follower  so thanks john Carhart but maybe we will have 2 in a  short spell.

 So here  is the rub I just happened to be heading to the marsh to put seed out for  our family day  event and I heard something about a blog that the executive director  for the Ottawa  humane society  put out and he had an amazing reaction. inspired by his time on the radio and  the positive discussion that came worth his blog made me   think just maybe  someone beside john might  be interested in what we have to say. So it is with optimism that I forge ahead and say whatever  bounces between my ears . please let me know if I should stop and please keep in mind   the perfect title for all of this should be the lazy blogger  as there is so much  to comment about banding at the marsh  and kerns public but I just cannot seem to keep up. Hopefully there will be another blog top foillow.

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.

How do you spell migration? I spell it Chris Sukha!!!

The marsh welcomes hired bander Chris Sukha. he started the migration season April 28th and will be the bander in charge at the marsh this migration season. The Banding season officially begins May 6th but Chris is out getting his feet wet literally! He has had a chance to get some of the nets up and is off to a great start.


His totals for the first two days are as follows

Tuesday April 28th

62 juno's
48 american tree sparrows


Wednesday April 29th

24 American tree sparrows
7 junco's
4 red winged blackbirds
3 ruby crowned kinglets
1 white throated sparrow
1 song sparrow
1 sharp shinned hawk



These  birds have a special significance for me  because they were all banded while i was teaching in the hallowed halls of Timiskaming District Secondary School. These birds were banded because Chris has his banding license and hiring him allows us to operate as a migration monitoring site independent of me being there. The true significance of this is that as an organization  HMREC with the support of its members  and  donations and fund raising  and funding applications we have been able to make this important step. So thanks everyone for the support  in our important song bird research. Chris comes to us with experience from several migration monitoring sites he has volunteered and worked at places such as Mackenzie Nature Observatory, Thunder Cape in Thunder Bay and Long Point Bird Observatory on the shore of Lake Erie near Port Rowan Ontario. We are lucky to have Chris  with us and we are looking forward to a great banding season. The marsh will soon be filled with birds and the happy voices of school kids coming to learn about the marsh and the research we are doing and to see a bird or a frog up close. I can hardly wait. If you are not a school aged child and want to come out and meet Chris and the birds we are open to the public every weekend starting May 9th. Hope to see you there and thanks Chris!!

An exciting catch for the marsh

One of the things I have discovered over the years about banding is that I am so envious of new banders and birders  because their birding adventure is just beginning and the first spring everything is new and everyday the migration brings something new to the area on the wind. As a bander of many years it is a challenge to catch a new species but very now and then something very special happens

Last weekend i managed to catch and band a Merlin it was our first station record for a Merlin and this  male was after a flock of snow buntings i was trying to catch. needless to say the buntings were spooked and  my heartbeat was racing just as fast as the wing beats of the Merlin. I have never seen a faster predator in the quickness of its movements and it intent on the buntings. Fortunately I was at the right place at the right time. many people are talking about how many Merlins seem to be around this spring so perhaps I will not have to wait too long for another encounter with the next Merlin 

So lucky to have volunteers

One of the most exciting parts for me about the marsh and the community of folk that flock to the marsh is that people just seem to want to help out.  I was fortunate to do a talk recently for the Newliskeard Lions club. There is nothing I like more then to have a captive audience for half an hour to hear me blab about the marsh. Every now and then something I say triggers a reaction and someone steps up and wants to help out. Two weekends ago Eric Campsall and family came out to the marsh with 12 beautiful boxes he made . Thanks so much Eric!!

. Knowing the tree swallow population has dropped by over a third in northeastern Ontario in the past 20 years prompts many folks to want to help out. The easiest thing we can do to help is to be up bird houses. Bird boxes need to be cleaned out and monitored every year and we now have almost 300 boxes up around the area in suitable habitat. If you would like to learn more about how you can help tree swallows and bluebirds come to the marsh this Saturday at 10 and you can help with the clean out and installation of boxes. make sure to wear rubber boots and bring a pair of extra socks because there is a lot of water in the ditches . For more information and plans  check out the website. Hope to see you at the marsh Saturday April 18th.

happy world wetland day

I don't know how I never noticed that world wetland day was the same day as groundhog day the only thing that would make that better was if in Canada we had a wetland over grown rodent rather ground hog we would have our wetland dependent water hog the lovable beaver.
 So happy world wetland  and water hog day.



         While checking out the website that wetland link international has I was inspired by a section on their website where people could make a pledge to help wetlands . Not only where they trying to get people to commit to helping in whatever way they could they framed the pledge by asking folks what category they saw themselves helping in. The neatest part of the site was the international character of the pledge. people from around the world were signing up because disappearing wetlands are indeed an international problem and solutions are taking place from wetland to wetland. In my own pledge I realized that I actually do a pretty poor job of explaining wetlands to kids and why they are so valuable. My focus is so much on the birds that I forget that without the marsh itself  we would not have the bonanza of biodiversity that I want so many to experience. It's not that i don't think of how wonderful the marsh is itself. i truly do I would have to say that I have a love affair with the marsh. Whenever I am away I miss her and when I am at the marsh I feel whole . It is the perfect relationship. I am not going to carry on with this metaphor  as I think I am making my point and am not sure that I know enough about relationships to hold my own under scrutiny.  The real point I am trying to make is that I want to pledge to do more to help people understand the significance and beauty of the marsh and what better day to take this pledge then on world wetland day.
     If you are interested in taking the pledge here is the link


 http://www.worldwetlandsday.org/make-a-pledge

snow bunting bingo!!

The greatest thrill for any bird bander is capturing a bird that someone else has banded.  It is so exciting that extra care has to be taken to absolutely make sure that the number has been written down properly. We often will get a second observer  to  read and record the number, we also read the number backwards to make sure we have it right. In the olden days we would have to wait and call the number in and wait for the report to come to us. Now with high tech gizmo's and  government websites we can find out almost instantly where a bird was originally banded. When it was banded. Who it was banded by and how old the bird was at the time of banding. Catching a bird banded by another bander allows us to draw a line between two points, the original capture and the retrap sites. For me though it is the adventure between these points and the passion of the banders that is the real story. Of course the other important dialogue here is the biologists that are trying to make sense of it all.   Aldo Leopold said it so well when he wrote  "putting a band on a bird is to hold a ticket in a great lottery" Whenever we catch someone else's bird I always think bingo we just won the lottery!  It is hard to imagine all of the choices and challenges in the life of a banded bird  that  can lead this bird into one of our traps so many miles away from where the bird was originally banded.

       This past Saturday we recaptured our 6th bird banded just outside of Arthur Ontario by David
Lamble. David Lamble has banded more snow buntings then anyone else in Ontario and we have now established that we have a migration corridor between our two sites. This defied the original theory that southern flocks  breed and have different migration routes then their Northern cousins. These recaptures are showing that there is absolutely a migration corridor between Arthur and Timiskaming. We have also caught birds banded by David Lamble now in three different years of banding which shows even though it is still huge to catch what we refer to as a "foreign" bird  we are not surprised when his name pops up on a computer screen .Especially when we know how many birds he has put bands on.
     The other aspect of the snow bunting sojourn that defies my imagination is where these birds wander  and the possibility that one day one of our birds may end up in Greenland.  Birds banded in southern Ontario have been discovered in Greenland. To be more accurate some of the flocks in Timiskaming may be breeding in Greenland already but we just do not know it yet. As some of you saw during the marsh social  snow buntings were being banded in the arctic near Iqaluit which is a mere jump to Greenland for a bunting.  The work the kids are doing at Kerns Public is huge in helping paint a picture of the bunting migration. Thank goodness for those young banders at Kerns Public!! Not only have they caught some Lamble birds but three of their birds have been retrapped in Quebec. Two of them were caught not far from the Gaspe Bay which may have been a stop on their way to... you guessed it Greenland. Oh what it would be like to migrate to Greenland . Maybe one day I will just have to find out for myself. For now I will keep holding tickets to the most amazing lottery on the planet and keep banding buntings.

       

southern banders help band a couple of hawks

After the social we had the chance to take a couple of banders from the south out to see if we could catch a hawk. Recently the area seems to be hosting a number of roughlegged hawks and redtailed hawks. Catching hawks is very difficult and is often does not reward the effort it takes  but we had lots to catch up on so we headed out with high hopes and managed to catch a rough legged hawk and a young redtail.  The recent snow may ben the end of hawk season but we will soon be banding buntings. Hopefully we will have news about buntings soon. This photo is  of Theresa Mackenzie who made the trek up to take in the social and lucked out with a couple of hawks.

chris sukha returns in fine form to the marsh

Sometimes at the end of the banding season it takes a nudge to make a discovery. Chris Sukha returned to the marsh after being away banding in h B.C at Mackenzie bird observatory. So he made it back at the very end of owls and talked me into trying a few more nights. We managed to catch a boreal owls while he was out and an incredible 4 long eared owls. After  exchanging information and emails with other owl banders it turns out that we may be in area where we might actually be able to try for long eared owls by using a long eared call. one bander in northern Saskatchewan typically bands around 30 a season .  it is a pretty exciting prospect so we will give it a try. We ended up catching 7 for the season which is the best we have ever done our previous high was 5  long eared which we caught back in 2003 and we have caught a total of 24 over all of years. This year all of our long eared owls were caught while we were playing a boreal owl call.  Chris will be banding once again this spring at the marsh so hopefully if you have not met Chris yet you will this spring .  nice to have you back at the marsh Chris!!!

Rick ludkin a big hit at marsh social

I wanted to take a moment to thank Rick Ludkin and indeed all of the people who came out and joined us in a celebration of the marsh. Rick spoke to us about how the efforts of the banding station at kerns public fits into the Canadian Snow bunting network. I feel very privileged to have had rick come all the way from Ruthven Park where he bands. i also feel privileged to see so many friends come out to the marsh. Next year Maggie Macphearson has promised to come back and be our speaker as she will have finished her PhD and will have lots of news to pass along to us . Congratulations goes to Jacob Lachapelle our junior ebird winner and to Mike Werner who won the Sr. division. Well done!! Hope to see  many of the new faces we met at the marsh this winter . Thanks again to all who came and enjoyed the night and to all who had a hand in making the evening possible

marsh social November 7th join us

By bruce murphy

What I love about the marsh social is that is a chance to fill one room with people that love the marsh and want to learn more about it . For Joanne and I it is always a chance to be inspired and awed by the community of people who have come to love the marsh. The common thread to the gathering is that it gives us a chance to connect and to learn more about what people would like to see at the marsh. The other aspect of the marsh social is that we get a chance to catch up on the year we had at the marsh and let folks know how our banding projects are coming along. We have been fortunate to have some great speakers and this year we have Rick Ludkin as our guest speaker.

 Rick Ludkin is the coordinator of the Canadian Snow bunting network and he is going to talk about the marsh fits into the information that this network is learning. It will also be a chance to learn more about the great findings that the kerns public banding station has been accomplishing. Rick is a fantastic speaker and I am really looking forward to hearing what Rick has to say about the network and how our efforts are helping to piece together the mystery of the decline of the snow bunting population.

Rick started the Ruthven Park banding station and we have a special relationship with this station as we have helped train one of their banders Nancy Furber. 

Nancy journeyed here to learn how to band owls and hummingbirds. Nancy has helped us in many ways and Rick and Nancy continue to be an inspiration and valued colleagues in the banding fraternity. Joanne and I had a chance to visit their station and will no doubt be heading back to learn more.

Please join us November 7^th for a night of birds and community. If you need a ticket please get in touch. If you have never come to a marsh social I am sure you will enjoy it. Hope to see you there.

Owl banding season wrap up

By bruce murphy

Another owl banding season has pretty much come to a close and we were fortunate to get a glimpse into the lives of these mysterious owls. We managed to band 320 Northern sawwhet owls and 7 boreal owls and 2 long eared owls . Our last public night for owls was thanksgiving weekend and we had over 500 visitors over the length of the banding season come out to see the owls. Our research currently is how many boreals may be around this year.

 Boreal owls are usually caught in low numbers when it is not the peak of their migration which will happen next in 2016. The boreals peak every four years and in 2012 we banded 202 so you can imagine we look forward to this 4 ear event.

I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who supported our research by buying a membership or making a donation during the banding. Your support makes a huge difference and allows us to carry on this important research as we are trying to learn more about these wonderful creatures of the night.  It was also great to meet so many new friends young and not so young. I also wanted to take a moment to thank every single adult you came with a youngling.

  Bringing young folks to the marsh is so huge in their development. Research on nature deficit disorder is compelling and kids need a chance to see and interact with the non- human world. Taking the time to bring kids to the marsh is huge and the look on kids’ faces when we take an owl out of a bag is not only priceless but reaffirms the need to foster this important link between kids and nature. I admire and thank you for taking the time to do this. Hopefully we will see you and your kids out at the marsh again. I know I have said this too many times, but thanks again it was a hoot!!!

Mrs P's grade 12 bio class comes to the marsh

Today I

had the chance to see future biologists at work and to have a chance to explain to a very attentive group about the science of  bird banding  and the potential for more projects at the marsh.

I think the marsh may have scored a bunch  of future volunteers as these students see the need to get their volunteer hours and to see the marsh as a way to gain some skills in bird identification to help them in their futures. Well perhaps this is all wishful thinking on my part. What i do know is that they were an amazing class and I am hoping to see them helping out at the marsh in the future. The wave of sparrows continues today we had way more recaptures of birds then banded birds. I was delighted when reed brought over an orange crowned warbler that we were able to catch at the feeder nets. As usual we only had the back net up for a very brief moment as it is so effective at catching songbirds.

Thanks for a great visit and hope to see you folks again soon


todays totals are as follows


white crowned sparrow 9
white throated sparrow 3
song sparrow  1
lincoln sparrow 1
junco  1
orange crowned warbler 1
retraps 35 plus white crowned
5 plus white throats
1 black capped chickadee

Mrs Macdonald the grade 8 teacher formerly known as miss sparrow brings her class to the marsh

white throated sparrow

It is great when someone with the name sparrow comes to the marsh especially when a wave of white crowned sparrows is still moving through the area.

Immature white crowned sparrow on left  adult white crowned on right

      Yesterday
I had the chance to enjoy a grade 8 class form Newliskeard public at the marsh and they indeed had a chance see us band 34 sparrows. We re-trapped over 50 so it was an amazing sparrow day at the marsh. We had one net we only opened for 5 minutes as it proves to be too successful at capturing birds . here is a picture of the net in question. it is rolled up here so it cannot capture birds. This pile of sticks is a structure i first saw used at tiny marsh. We throw mixed seed and cracked corn under the brush. the brush is supported by a simple frame to allow a frame of safety for the birds to feed protected from predators above. This structure allows us to bring in birds allowing us to get bands on a couple of hundred sparrows a year.
     Thanks to the kids for a great day. many student left with a promise to return and join the ranks of volunteers at the marsh. perhaps we have many future hall of fame extractors and maybe a few future marsh crew personnel to be hired by the marsh when they turn 17.

       The thrill of the day for the class was when NLPS student and marsh volunteer Cody Goddard located a blue jay in one of the nets. Well done Cody! It's nice when Cody can come to the marsh with his class as his classmates get to see his patiently acquired skills at the net and the marsh gains a volunteer that day.  If you are a parent of relative of a grade student that are thinking I know someone who would love to do that then we want to here from you!!!  Check out the contact button on the website to get us volunteer information.

Today's totals

26 white crowned sparrows
8 white throated sparrows
2 blue jays
2 ruby crowned kinglet
1 slate colured junco

please note that you will not find a photo of a student holding a ruby crowned certain species we do not allow inexperienced handlers to hold  and ruby crowns with their tiny legs top that list.

Bird is the word! Murph

Owls in the marsh family...last weekend for public owl banding

This  owl season has been an interesting one and while we are closing in on 200 birds banded it has not been a typical season for us  and it all has to do with the weather. In the back of my mind with climate change looming this may become the new normal. First of all sawwhets migrate! While some of them linger through the winter catching mice( how I do not know) and perhaps a few birds . The majority of them migrate as far south as Alabama but the state only catches a few birds each banding season I believe hy have a high of 14 birds in a banding season. Before bob Sargeant starting trying they did not even know they had them that far south. The bulk of “our “birds that we band end up in Pennsylvania and west Virginia .

            The gas for the migration is a cold front. Cool nights make the little owls get going.^rd just the other night.

The only issue this year is that most days and nights for that matter we have been experiencing strong winds out of the south. The winds were blowing so strong on Saturday night that we were only able to catch one owl and Friday night was lost to rain. Weather conditions have certainly had an impact on the migration which is a shame because when we get good conditions we are catching a good number of owls and most of the owls that we are catching are birds that hatched this spring. Usually when there is a good hatch our numbers are very strong. Banders in the south have been paying attention to our numbers to see when it is worthwhile ot get their nets up. The migration seems to be possibly as late as three weeks. The other sign that the migration has stalled is that we are catching a large number of birds that we have banded this year a second time. We even caught a bird that we originally banded on September 23

            On a positive note we have been having record numbers of people coming out to see the owls that are proving so hard to catch. This weekend we can anticipate a packed “birdhouse” as families want to bring relatives out to see owls. The other factor that influences catching success is the moon phase. We always do best when there is no moon. The full moon seems to stop the owls moving and there is a lot of debate around this topic which I will save for another time. This weekend is the full moon so I am hoping for lots of cloud cover.  This weekend is also our last public owl banding nights.

The gate opens at 8:30 and our first net check is close to 9 30 so if you are hoping to see an owl Saturday night is your last chance. The other thing if you want to see an owl perhaps get your kids to do an owl dance before they come out to help us catch one  especially if it is a cloudless windy warm night.  Please don’t be upset with me but I am hoping for a cloudy chilly night you will to if you give a hoot!!

Here are our numbers and dates for the year

September 15                  1

18     2

21     2

22     0

23     28 plus 1 foreign retrap

24     17 plus 1 foreign retrap

25     30

26     26 plus 1 foreign retrap

27     18 plus  1 foreign retrap

30     36

October

1         13 plus 1 foreign retrap

2         5

4             4      3

5          5     7     

7             7       1     long eared owl

**** note a foreign retrap really means  the capture of a bird banded  at another location and not by us . This is the essence of what banding is all about and is super exciting to catch a bird  from another location. We know the bird caught on the night of September 23^rd was originally

banded in the spring of 2011 in northern Michigan. Saty tuned for more news about the other owls as I get the information.

Bird is the word! murph