Chico Basin Ranch Banding Station Report- Bird Conservancy of the Rockies-5/9/2025

[Chicobander]

It was a more beautiful day than yesterday and still no more birds. Makes me wonder if they went up the Central Plains as last week the Birdcast view was lit up from TX to North Dakota with the bird migration forecast. Seems like we should have an overabundance of Orioles and tanagers. Yes, A couple Summer Tanagers were spotted at the Banding station olive grove and at least one at HQ pond. Hoping for improvement in the bird numbers tomorrow. 

We captured two new species for the season: Yellow Warbler and Chipping Sparrow. There was 2 Yellow Warblers captured. One was already banded when we extracted it out of the net. The other we banded today. The banded bird was a second-year male we banded in May of 2023. This bird is four years and counting! Can you imagine a bird that weighs the equivalent of 2 nickels flying to Central America or northern South America for the winter?! This Yellow Warbler has made the round trip twice. So many obstacles these birds can possibly encounter in the skies or while on the ground during migration. This is one of the values of mark from bird banding to learn what these birds are capable of and how long they can live.  When I worked at a bird migration station in NW Ohio. We captured several Yellow Warblers over the years that bred in the vicinity. The oldest individual was an 11 year old female and she was still flying. Other Yellow Warblers returning to NW Ohio were 6 and 7 years old or more. Quite a feat if you ask me for a small bird to travel several thousand miles round trip.

An American Robin we banded at Chico in September 2022 was recovered in Wyola, Montana as reported by the Bird Banding Lab a few weeks ago. Another interesting piece of information, I would not have thought an American Robin would take to the skies for WY. So much to learn about these birds! 

The White-eyed Vireo is still singing around the banding station. We banded in on April 30th. It has not been recaptured since it was banded.

8 New Birds Banded

Yellow Warbler-1

Audubon's (Yellow-rumped) Warbler- 1

Chipping Sparrow-1

Northern House Wren-2

Swainson's Thrush-1

Hermit Thrush-1

Gray Catbird-1

Recapture- Northern House Wren

Return- Yellow Warbler

The banding station will be open tomorrow from Sunrise until @11 AM. The station will be closed on Sunday and reopen on Monday. Remember to sign up on the Aiken Audubon Website (https://www.aikenaudubon.com) if you are planning to visit Chico Basin Ranch.

Have a good day,

Julie Shieldcastle

Chico Basin Ranch Bird Bander

Bird conservancy of the Rockies

[David Suddjian]

What I wonder is that with various long term reports of many species showing declining trends across many species/habitat groups, and major losses of bird numbers since the 1970s etc., why are we surprised that there are often poor migratory showings? Shouldn't we expect fewer and fewer migrants, even now at what ought to be the peak of a typical migration season? If the reported population declines are as great as those reported, surely we will have fewer birds.  I wonder, as often it seems we think maybe they took another route, or maybe they are just late, or? Are the long term trends that are highlighted in reports of the state of birds wrong? 

Just wondering,

David suddjian

Littleton, CO

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[Chicobander]

That is a good question. But what needs to be considered also is that weather depicts where these songbirds migrate. Last week there was storms in the eastern Midwest and here in the Western Plains/Colorado area. As I said when you look at Birdcast last week the whole central plains was lit up. The birds that particular night migrated from Texas boot to North Dakota and onto Canada. The best way to assess bird numbers is to have a network of research stations in the different regions of the U.S. and compare what is being observed. I am not going to deny that bird populations are declining. However, we must realize that these birds are fluid and go where the wind takes them. Unless they are breeding species, they may not stop over where they normally do in a certain year/season if weather is pushing them elsewhere. 

An Example is that at another banding station I have worked for many decades, we would get hundreds of Swainson's Thrushes each spring. One spring we did not capture/band maybe 50 % of our average Swainson's Thrushes. But after reaching out to other research/banding stations, we found out that the birds had just migrated a little farther east that year. That was a crazy spring weather season. This shows the value and importance of having multiple research stations and collaboration between them. One station cannot predict bird populations especially in one year's worth of data because weather which is a major factor with where these birds migrate. This could give the wrong impression if only using one season or one year's worth of data. A decade's worth of migratory bird data or more would even/average out the strange weather or other factors during any individual season or year for a better evaluation of bird numbers and behaviors.

Another Example was sometime in the late 1990's (I believe it was 1998), there were tremendous number of fires in southern Mexico/ Central America that year prior to spring migration. The trans-Gulf migrants were extremely late in arriving in northern Ohio that spring. Some were 2 weeks later than normal. Just think about it, these birds had to fly hundreds of miles either over burnt habitats that provided little to no food for them to prepare for the long distance flight across the Gulf or they had to fly around the fires expending lots of energy that they would need to fly the 18-24 hours nonstop across the Gulf. Who knows how many birds never made it back that spring? The migratory songbirds that do not cross the Gulf/migrate up western and Central side of Mexico as well as those species that winter in the Caribbean were not affected as much and pretty much arrived on schedule. 

Also sometime around 2006 or so there was the Horizon oil fires in the Gulf. That also affected those migrants crossing the Gulf that year as well. The wind drift toward the East also curtailed some of the Caribbean wintering species like the Black-throated Blue Warbler.  So, there are usually multiple factors involved with understanding what is happening with our migratory bird populations. 

Hope this addressed some of your questions.

Thanks for the questions and thoughts,

Julie Shieldcastle

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

[David Suddjian]

Thanks very much, Julie.  Those are interesting examples of vagaries of migration and some things that impact migration. For me they still beg the question about the multiple summary reports of long term declines in bird populations of many species, and how this plays out in what we encounter in the field -- all things considered -- if the conclusions of these reports are to be believed. And it is not only the consideration of migrants passing through to elsewhere, but those that migrate to and breed here in Colorado. It seems that on the whole we birders expect lots of migrants in a general region, and are surprised when it doesn't happen. Or we expect things to be as they were, but clearly they are not. 

David Suddjian

Littleton, CO

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[Kevin Schutz]

Thanks Julie and David,

It would seem to me that one needs not only to consider the spring migration (and events occurring along those corridors), but also the fall migration (and associated events).  A few years ago, Arvind Panjabi from the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies presented a review of the September 2020 mass migration die-off in the SW USA (including Colorado).  His presentation is available on Youtube.  Any loss in the fall migration directly equates to a reduction in the spring migration as well.  As Julie stated, it's complicated and it is difficult to extrapolate from any singe year.  Regardless, trends do not look favorable for our avian friends.

Kevin Schutz

Monument, CO