Bird Conservancy of the Rockies - Barr Banding Report, 9/4/22

[Meredith McBurney]

We were happy to spend our Labor Day Weekend Sunday with some of our favorite annual human visitors to the banding station!  We also had some nice birds.  

Of special interest was a Black-throated Blue Warbler. This species is less of a rarity than it used to be - we've caught one each of the past three seasons. But it is one of the warbler species where the young female presents an interesting ID challenge, being neither black-throated nor blue!

Then, we caught our first of season Warbling Vireo, a bird we had banded last year on September 9.  We noticed that it had a bill deformity - the lower mandible was slightly too long, so the upper and lower parts of the bill did not fit together quite right.  It apparently had overcome any obstacle that might have caused to its ability to get food!

A good day, and a nice way to end our second week.  Here's the breakdown of the 33 new birds:

Mourning Dove 1

Western Wood-pewee 4

Warbling Vireo 1 return, banded 2021 (FOS)

Black-capped Chickadee 1

House Wren 2

Orange-crowned Warbler 1

Yellow Warbler 4

Black-throated Blue Warbler 1

MacGillivray's Warbler 1

Wilson's Warbler 13

Clay-colored Sparrow 2

Song Sparrow 1

Black-headed Grosbeak 1 (FOS)

If you'd like to enjoy fall birds up close and personal, please come visit!  Click here to make a reservation - we are offering one-hour slots (up to 15 visitors at a time) from 7:30-8:30 most weekdays (closed Mondays), and 8-9, 9-10, and 10-11 on weekends.  We look forward to seeing many of you during the season!

Meredith McBurney
Bander, Barr Lake Station
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies