Barr Banding Station Update, 9/22/15

[meredith]

We continue to catch a nice mix of birds at a moderate pace.  Today's coolest birds were 2 juvenile American Goldfinch on one of their first days out of the nest.  We banded the likely parents earlier in the season, so we've probably got an entire Goldfinch family with bands.  Neither of the young could have been much more than 2 weeks old, still growing lots of feathers and with tails about 10 mm long. But nice supplies of fat - apparently being well fed!  We also recaught a Black-capped Chickadee that we banded as an adult in 2010.  So today we could document local breeders between the age of 2 weeks and 6 years!

Here's the breakdown of the birds caught for the first time this season:

Black-capped Chickadee 1, banded 2010.

House Wren 2

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 7

Orange-crowned Warbler 2

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Audubon's 3

Wilson's Warbler 9

Green-tailed Towhee 1

Spotted Towhee 1

Chipping Sparrow 1

Song Sparrow 3

White-crowned Sparrow, Gambel's 5

Red-winged Blackbird 1

American Goldfinch 2

We are open 6 days per week, weather permitting, through Sunday, October 11. THIS WEEK WE ARE CLOSED TOMORROW, WEDNESDAY (9/23). We are opening nets at 6:30, and will run until noon or whenever it gets too hot or too windy or too whatever. School groups arrive about 9:30 a.m. most weekdays.
 
Meredith McBurney
Biologist/Bander
Barr Lake Banding Station

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies