Third Session at KAIS MAPS

Third session at 2012 KAIS MAPS station.   The first batch of fledglings are beginning to show up at the MAPS station. We banded a juvenile Black-capped Chickadee and juvenile Northern Cardinal that were easy to age by their fluffy appearance. Cedar Waxwings surrounding the honeysuckle bushes looked like a cloud of large mosquitoes, and four ended up in the nets.  Even though we had 15-20 mph winds, there were 13 new birds and 8 recaptures on Monday, June 25. Our happy group photo shows left to right, Jennifer Holzschuh, Pat Lovallo, Marian Klik, Chita McKinney, Ann Nash, Emily Patterson, Greg Lawrence and Andrea Patterson. Our next sesssion, weather permitting will be Thursday, July 5.  Marian Klik

Brood Patch on an Indigo Bunting
Photo by Kathy Habgood

MAPS Crew at KAIS MAPS Station
Jenna, Pat, Marian, Chita, Ann, Emily, Greg and Andrea
Photo by Kathy Habgood

KUCK Maps Period 6

Again as in period 5, period 6 MAPS banding was a two day event, this time due to issues with mist nets. Missed effort was made up on Sunday, June 24.

For Saturday, June 23, there were 9 new birds banded and 5 recaps.  A Wood Thrush was heard in the woods early in the morning and about 2 hours through the session, a male and female Wood Thrush were netted. A Wood Thrush was singing later Saturday evening and also heard on Sunday perhaps indicating that this pair may be staying for a bit.

A juvenile Eastern Bluebird (which was banded at the house on May 23) was netted in a meadow net. This and another Bluebird were using the mist net pole as a hunting perch. After banding, these two birds continued to use the poles to perch.

Also encountered and banded was a juvenile Song Sparrow taken from one of the woodland mist nets. This bird had a definite yellow tint to the face. Juvenile Song Sparrows do have heavy streaking on the chest making wing morphology a good diagnostic for species identification.

A large male American Robin was netted. This Robin had a dark black head and deep red breast, with a wing chord of 131mm confirmed this was a big Robin!

Bobolinks and Eastern Meadowlarks were still heard in the area, with the former staying in unmowed areas of the North and South meadows and the latter moving around to any place which has taller grass.

On Sunday,  June 24, MAPS was again run to make up for missed effort on Saturday using two nets. There were five new birds banded and one recap. Calm winds early in the session changed to 5-8mph winds later in the day. A pair of American Robins were banded, as well as a female Red-winged Blackbird. Additionally, the return of a female American Goldfinch banded on July 14 ,2011 was recorded. Two Eastern Meadowlarks were in close proximity to one of the nets early on but moved off as the day progressed.

Thank you to Pat for her help on Saturday and helping to get nets bagged the correct way, and to Shelby for helping to setup mist nets on Friday evening and for also helping to bag nets on Saturday.

The next scheduled MAPS data is Sunday, July 1, 2012.

Adult Wood Thrush
Photo by Tom Klotzbach

Young Song Sparrow
Photo by Tom Klotzbach

Eastern Bluebird Fledgling Banded at Backyard Nestbox
Photo by Tom Klotzbach

Second MAPS Banding Session at RITBO

June 23, 2012.

RITBO: 31 adult birds of 10 species banded, no hatch-years, 8 recaps.  31 species observed in the study area, that number boosted in large part to Emily and Andrea Patterson. Five volunteers banded and observed on a lovely, windy day.  The other additional volunteer was a recently graduated biology student, Katie, who is still in the area for the summer.  She has been banding for a season now and is just getting accustomed to the MAPS style.  We expanded our season species list a bit this session and I found it mildly amusing that once Andrea and Emily had to leave for the day, the birds started getting very interesting:

A major highlight includes an SY American Woodcock (!!) that had been observed in the area before but never captured.  I pulled it out of the net myself; I went down towards the front net lanes and saw it almost waddling right beside net 9.  I was happy enough to have observed it so I could put it on my list, but when it flew off it went directly into net 9.  I could see that it was barely tangled in the bottom trammel so I ran towards it, extracted it, and then brought it back in my hands.  Aging it and sexing it turned out to be quite easy with Pyle II, it was a to-the-tee definition bird as far as feather patterning and identification.

Other highlights included a female Red-bellied Woodpecker (my very first) and a male Downy Woodpecker (Katie’s very first), both older birds caught on the swamp trail.  

Still no sign of any breeding Blue-winged Warblers in the area, but hopes aren’t dwindling.  Samantha Gonzales and Katie Sessions

Katie Sessions Pondering a Downy Woodpecker
Photo by Samantha Gonzales

Dead Creek Bird Observatory Maps Session Period 6

June 23, 2012

Another perfect day with partly sunny skies with light winds to start the day.

We managed to band a SY male Orchard Oriole and SY male American Redstart which are both nice treats. The hatch-year birds started to pick up with 2 Swamp Sparrows, 1 Downy Woodpecker, and 10 Song Sparrows which was the bird of the day.  We had new 33 birds and 18 retraps.

Henry does most of our bird watching here at Dead Creek, while Rodney and Warren try to play catch up with Ryan.  Becky is our scribe and brings her very good chocolate chip cookies. Ryan feels good that he has a good lead in top banders MAPS 2012. Warren started working on a Habitat Structure Assessment. We are still missing some key banders and helpers in our crew. Claire is still unable to make it with her job at Rocky Dale Gardens. Brendan is on top of Mt Mansfield banding Bicknell’s Thrushes. Lisa and Ethan were missing again after being there the previous period. We closed right before it was thundering but lighting was in the sky, but it was off a good distance from us.

Hopefully  we will have the whole crew at Dead Creek on the next banding date.                                                               Ryan Kayhart 

Henry and Rodney banding
Photo by Ryan Kayhart

Second-year Male Orchard Oriole
Photo by Ryan Kayhart

Warren King banding A Song Sparrow.  Photo by Ryan Kayhart

Garage drywall is up

The drywall in installed in the garage.  Note the flat section of ceiling that was created – this will leave an air space for ventilation.  Two turbine fans on top will draw hot air up through soffit vents to help keep the garage cooler.

The rotted portion of the exterior wall has been replaced.  There is still a space between the wall and the floor that will be filled with concrete.

Photos and text by David Mathiason

Canada Goose Banding along the Chemung River!

June 21, 2012. Today Monika Wood got to help the DEC with Canada Geese banding in Corning and Painted Post! She says she “got bit, scratched and pooped on, but it was very fun and interesting!  She writes:

We rounded the geese up with people on the shore and in canoes and herded them into holding pens using a “funnel” made out of plastic fencing. Then we processed the birds assembly line fashion. The person in the pen would hand me a bird, I would move to the person putting the band on, then move further down the line with my bird to get it sexed and aged, and then I would release it. Interesting operation! Monika Wood

Rounding up Canada Geese on the Chemung River
Photo by Monika Wood

Herding them to the banding area
Photo by Monika Wood

Assembly line banding and processing
Photo by Monika Wood

Geese waiting in the pens
Photo by Monika Wood

Getting bitten by a goose!
Photo by Monika Wood

Garage Renovations!!!!!

The construction crew is now working on the garage renovations.  They cut away the bottom of the outside wall today, because it had rotted out!

Inside of the Garage
Photo by Dave Mathiason

Bottom of the Outside Wall Cut Away!
Photo by Dave Mathiason