Well, I am the first to admit that I am not that familiar with songbird migration in the West. This is my first year banding in the west. I have visited western states birding maybe a dozen times. Otherwise I have several decades of experience in the midwest and south conducting passerine migration research. I have still much to learn. The reason I speak of this, is because I had mentioned that we were getting no recaptures as of late and the birds most likely were moving along south. Then today, we caught a couple recaptures, it would figure. Two Yellow-breasted Chats and three Wilson's Warblers ventured back into our mist nets today. All of them gained weight since the first time we captured and banded them- which is always good! One of the chats was banded last week. Only someone with western chat migration/behavior knowledge than I, can speak to where they have been hanging out. There is always the fact that they could have avoided the nets for all those days. I am glad that they are still doing well; and at some point they will head south.
I am still hoping the cold front coming through will bring some new species to SE Colorado. It makes sense that the NW winds should carry the migrants south. That is all I can say from my Midwest migration experiences. Tomorrow and the weekend should be good days to get outside and bird or whatever. Back to the birds... Nineteen bird species were banded today with Least Flycatcher and Hermit Thrush were the first of the season. *54 New Birds* Wilson's Warbler -19 Orange-crowned Warbler -1 MacGillivray's Warbler -3 Ovenbird -1 Dusky Flycatcher -2 Least Flycatcher -1 Western Wood-Pewee -1 Chipping Sparrow -4 Brewer's Sparrow -1 Lincoln's Sparrow -4 House Wren -1 Swainson's Thrush -1 Hermit Thrush -2 Western Tanager -2 Yellow-breasted Chat -2 Gray Catbird-4 Green-tailed Towhee -3 American Robin -1 Northern Mockingbird -1 *5 Recaptures* Wilson's Warbler -3 Yellow-breasted Chat -2 The Banding station is open Monday - Saturday through September 30th. Mornings are a good time to visit the station to see the passerine bird activity. This weekend with the cold front coming through I would expect some interesting birds to possibly show up. Julie Shieldcastle, Bander Chico Basin Ranch Bird Conservancy of the Rockies -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/83b18e3d-d3ab-4966-afa7-06987c4d44c4n%40googlegroups.com.
