Banding - Townsend's, Virginia's Warblers, CSR, El Paso Co, Tues.

[Steven Brown]

Hey COBirders,

Ok, so I admit I have no idea how migration works. I’ve been reading Meredith’s posts from Barr Lake, and watching Birdcast maps and Dashboard to get an idea about when migrants might show up down here at Clear Spring Ranch. Birdcast shows HIGH numbers of birds passing over COS, but it looks like mostly at high elevation right before sunrise, and … I haven’t been getting more than a handful of migrants, especially warblers, with only a handful each day. Like Meredith, I’ve seen Wilson’s Warblers numbers replacing Yellow Warblers. (I got my first Wilson’s Warbler the day after she did), but only 2-3 each day, not the 30’s and 40’s she is seeing.

Today looked like it would be the same - clear, warm, almost no breeze, and again, hardly any birds moving pre-dawn.

It got better.

There were small arriving waves of mixed species at dawn, and again about 9:00, but the biggest diversity arrived about 10:15, when usually everything is stopping because of the heat. Some birds were still finding the nets at 11:15, but by then it was 85o, and I closed down for the day.

Highlights banding today: 76 birds banded, now 950 for the month.

Wilson’s Warbler - 16 Mostly Hatch-year F, a few HYM, 2 ADM
Com Yellowthroat - 2, ADM, HYM
Yellow Warbler - 2, ADM, HYF
MacGillivray’s Warbler - 1 HYF
Virginia’s Warbler - 1 HYM
FOS Townsend’s Warbler - 1 HYF (chased into a net by a male Wilson’s!)
FOS Warbling Vireo (my latest first vireo by two weeks)
FOS Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow - 1
Chipping Sparrow - 37 (450 for the season)
Brewer’s Sparrow - 2
Western Tanager - 1 HYF
Lazuli Bunting - 4, (now 120 for the season! Still mostly males)

Happy Migration,
Steve Brown
Colo Spgs