Bird Conservancy Banding Report - Chico Basin Ranch, 9/12/19

[Robert Snowden]

Last night's cold front brought some pleasantly cooler weather this morning, and at first it seemed to bring plenty of birds. But after a busy opening net check, things quickly slowed down, and when the wind started picking up soon after, we had to shut down a little early. In the end, we only banded 16 birds and had 1 recapture, of 11 total species.

But for the second day in the row, we had another superlative capture: a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker, the first banding record of this species at Chico Basin! I suppose lightning does strike twice. Along with that woodpecker we also had the first White-crowned Sparrow of the fall, as well as a first-of-season Blue Jay adult in heavy molt.

A summary of the morning's birds:

Wilson's Warbler 4 + 1 recapture

Dusky Flycatcher 1

Orange-crowned Warbler 1

Western Tanager 3

Swainson's Thrush 1

Hermit Thrush 1

White-crowned Sparrow 1 (Gambel's subspecies, FOS)

Yellow-breasted Chat 1

Red-headed Woodpecker 1 (1st Chico Basin record)

American Robin 1

Blue Jay 1 (FOS)

We are open 6 days a week, closed on Sundays. This week we'll be opening nets at 6:40 AM and closing at 11:40 AM, weather permitting. Hopefully the wind will be a little calmer the next couple days. Visitors are welcome!

Robert Snowden

Bander, Chico Basin Ranch

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies