Bird Conservancy of the Rockies - Chico Basin Ranch Banding Report, 9/1/2021

[Colin Woolley]

We started setting up nets here at Chico Basin Ranch yesterday, and were amazed at the amount of vegetation we had to clear out. Net lanes that are usually shin-high with vegetation instead had seasonal growth that towered over my head! I'm hearing it was the wettest spring and summer out here in perhaps a century and I can certainly see the effects! It took us quite a while to clean up the net lanes, so we banded birds just briefly yesterday, then ran the station in full today. We had some nice flycatcher diversity and are still seeing a decent number of Chipping Sparrows moving through. Here are our totals from yesterday and today:

8/31/2021 - 16 birds of 12 species

Orange-crowned Warbler - 2

Wilson's Warbler - 1

Western Wood-pewee - 2

Chipping Sparrow - 3

House Wren - 1

Red-eyed Vireo - 1

Lincoln's Sparrow - 1

Yellow-breasted Chat - 1

Gray Catbird - 1

American Robin - 1

Brown Thrasher - 1

Common Grackle - 1

And today (9/1/2021) - 41 birds of 16 species

Orange-crowned Warbler - 5

Wilson's Warbler - 6

American Redstart - 1

MacGillivray's Warbler - 2

Hammond's Flycatcher - 1

Dusky Flycatcher - 1

Willow Flycatcher - 1

Western Wood-pewee - 2

Chipping Sparrow - 9

Warbling Vireo - 2

Red-eyed Vireo - 1 recap from yesterday

Swainson's Thrush - 2

Yellow-breasted Chat - 1

Blue Grosbeak - 3

American Robin - 1

Blue Jay - 1

Brown Thrasher - 3

We are open 6 days a week at Chico Basin Ranch (closed Sunday), usually returning from the first net run around 7am and staying open until about 11:30am, weather permitting. Our bander for the season is Nancy, she'll be doing the daily updates from here on out!

Please come visit!

Colin Woolley

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies