[cobirds] RMBO Chico Basin Ranch banding 23 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders Wilson's Warblers are still the most numerous bird we are banding here. We had a good day but we closed early as the winds were really howling. 41 birds banded, 13 species. Also around yesterday was a Pygmy Nuthatch at the Casita. This morning Bill Maynard found the continuing

[cobirds] RMBO Chico Basin Ranch banding 22 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders We had another good day at Chico Basin Ranch. While most of the warblers left we caught a good variety of birds today, 22 species. We banded 61 birds total. Best bird was a hatch year Magnolia Warbler, rare in fall. Birds Banded: Hammond's Flycatcher 1 Rock Wren 2 House Wren 3

[cobirds] RMBO Chico Basin Ranch banding 21 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders Stepping out the front door of the Casita I knew it would be a good day. Immediately I heard Wilson's Warblers and sparrows chipping all over the place. Our first net run would bear this out, 57 birds in the bag (one over-achieving net had 22 birds)! We ended the day with 146

[cobirds] RMBO Chico Basin Ranch banding 20 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders Another 35 birds (12 species) passed through the Chico Basin Ranch banding station today including our FOS White-crowned Sparrow. Wilson's Warblers again were the most common birds banded but that will be changing within the week. Birds Banded: Hammond's Flycatcher 1 Cassin's

[cobirds] RMBO Chico Basin Ranch 18 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders A big slowdown today, still birds around but many had left without a big arrival. 37 birds banded, 17 species, 2 FOS Vesper Sparrow and Spotted Towhee. Birds Banded: Northern Flicker 1 (orange-shafted) Least Flycatcher 1 Dusky Flycatcher 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 House Wren 2

[cobirds] RMBO Chico Basin Ranch banding 17 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders Another good day here at Chico, a bit slower than yesterday but we still banded 68 birds of 14 species. FOS Common Yellowthroat banded. Barn Owls are still around but are skittish. Again, Wilson's Warblers led the way with 44 banded. Birds Banded: Cordilleran Flycatcher 1

[cobirds] RMBO Chico Basin Ranch banding 16 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders Birds are still passing through Chico Basin Ranch in large numbers. Today we had our best variety (28 species) and our second best numbers day (131) birds banded. Topping the list were two Clay-colored Sparrows, two American Redstarts (1 ad male), Sharp-shinned Hawk, Ovenbird

[cobirds] RMBO Chico Bassin Ranch banding 15 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders Wilson's Warblers (67 banded) filled the nets today with a good variety of other birds, 125 individuals of 23 species. So far this fall we have rarely recaptured a bird on a following day, today we caught a few that were still hanging around here. Cordilleran Flycatcher banded

[cobirds] RMBO Chico Basin Ranch banding 14 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders We had a good day despite the slow start. Early on the woods were quiet and not much was in the nets but mid-morning things were moving in and we ended with 61 birds banded of 16 species. Again most of yesterday's birds were gone, we had a couple recaps and another Brown

[cobirds] RMBO Chico Basin Ranch Banding 13 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders Well we had another great day at Chico Basin Ranch. Our third 100+ bird day in a row. Highlight was a fat Hatch Year male Cape May Warbler, my first banded in Colorado and always a rarity. Shorebirds at HQ pond are numerous with best being Short-billed Dowitcher juv and

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO banding 11 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders Despite my dire predictions we had a great day here at Chico. There was a massive exodus (just one recapped bird from yesterday, a Wilson's Warbler) and a large arrival last night. We banded a couple Swainson's Thrushes (rare in fall). There were at least a couple Barn Owls

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO banding 10 Sep 2010

Hi Cobirders We had a big arrival of numerous species last night. As is typical for this area, Wilson's Warblers predominated. Again the Barn Owls were about. We also had 2 Olive-sided Flycatchers right next to each other. The number of warblers flitting around in the trees was impressive.

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch 24 May 2010

Hi Cobirders Bill Maynard and I looked around the Chico this am. Pretty Quiet. Singing Willow Flycatchers were around headquarters as was a singing sy male American Redstart. Sadly migration seems to be tailing off, but there should be a few goodies turning up now that I am departing the

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 22 May 2010

Hi Cobirders, Well the final day banding at the Chico Basin Ranch was kinda slow. But we had a new bird for the spring, a nice Alder Flycatcher. Thanks to Steve and Todd Brown and Ellen Armstrong for helping me take down the station. Our final tally was 1327 birds banded of 62 species. We

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO banding 21 May 2010

Hi Cobirders Birds continue to pour through Chico. We banded 84 birds of 21 species today and were done before noon. Around the station a singing male Tennessee Warbler was a nice find. Warblers were quite sparse otherwise. The big arrival today was Swainson's Thrush, 49 banded. This was

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 19 May 2010

Hi Cobirders Another interesting day here on the ranch. 86 birds banded of 22 species. Another pulse of Swainson's Thrushes and Lincoln's Sparrows made up the bulk of arriving birds today. Warblers were quite sparse. Most interesting was a Mourning Warbler-like bird. It looked and sounded

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO banding 18 May 2010

Hi Cobirders Migration is still in full swing here, lots of stuff left and a good arrival too. No Connecticut sightings today, sorry. Still very few empids around. I was surprised to see fledged Am Robins today, most nests are just hatching or are on eggs. 90 Birds of 21 species banded

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO banding 12 May 2010

Hi Folks Well it was a cold one here in the early morning, then the north wind abated the sun came out and it was beautiful for a couple hours. This evening the clouds are back with a cold north wind. Birds were abundant today, I saw about 100 species without trying. On the headquarters

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO banding 11 May 2010

Hi Cobirders A great, chilly, day here at the Chico. This afternoon I found a few birds that weren't reported earlier in the day. I had a couple of Cooper's Hawks, an imm Broad-winged Hawk and a Peregrine Falcon, all near the Holmes grove. Also in this area 3 species of kingbirds and a Rock

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO banding 10 May 2010

Hi Cobirders Well the day started out beautiful and calm, got all the nets open and the wind gods let loose again! A Porcupine greeted me from the willows on the opening round. We did managed to catch 15 birds of 13 species before closing nets at 10. Hosted a group of sight-impaired kids

[cobirds] Comanche Grasslands and Cottonwood Canyon

Hi Cobirders Well it was a windy one out here today but we managed some good birds. Most exciting for me was a BLACK-THROATED SPARROW on M rd WNW of Campo. The bird was 2.4 miles E of the M rd 13 rd junction on M rd. Cottonwood Canyon had several Lewis's Woodpeckers near the picnic area.

[cobirds] Pueblo to Lamar

Hi Cobirders I am leading a grouse tour and on day two we headed east from Pueblo and are currently in Lamar. Northern Parula male singing occasionally, Hasty campground Snowy Plovers 20+ Lake Cheraw west side Lake Meredith had decent numbers of birds but they were mostly on the south side.

[cobirds] Banded Wilson's Warbler encountered at Chico Basin Ranch

Hi Cobirders On 16 May 2009 we recaptured a banded male Wilson's Warbler that was not from Chico Basin Ranch or any of RMBO's other banding projects. We waited very patiently for months for the other bander's data to be submitted to the Bird Banding Lab. The report has finally come. It was

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 3 Oct 2009

Hi Cobirders Well we have caught our last bird of the season at Chico Basin Ranch. The third was quite slow for banding but we did have one birding highlight. An Eastern Phoebe was around the Banding Station area briefly in the morning, all efforts to relocate this bird failed. We banded

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch Newspaper coverage

Hi Cobirders I had forgotten, thanks for reminding us Virginia. Both the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Pueblo Chieftain have print and online articles today about Chico Basin Ranch and Bird Banding. http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2009/10/04/news/local/doc4ac828b00a943625813004.txt

[cobirds] Sabine's Gull at Barr Lake

Hi Cobirders Last message from me today I promise, unless... I was dropping off banding equipment at the Old Stone House RMBO headquarters today at noon. I walked up to peer over at the lake and amongst the many Franklin's Gulls was a juvenile Sabine's Gull flying around the middler of the

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 30 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders Well today was kinda slow. Too much of one thing and not enough of the other. That would be wind and birds, respectively. More than half the nets were closed by 9:30 and all were closed by 10:30 due to wind 30+ MPH. We did have one highlight a Western Palm Warbler. Birds

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 28 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders This is our final week of banding for this fall season here at Chico Basin Ranch. We will be banding every day through Saturday 3 Oct, weather permitting. We had a decent day but numbers are down, especially for Wilson's Warbler. Ruby-crowned Kinglets are now the number one,

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 19 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders We had a decent day here that started just after I opened a few nets. Another juvenile male Sharp-shinned Hawk got caught at the station. We still have lots of Wilson's Warblers passing through and a few flycatchers. Birds Banded: Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Hammond's Flycatcher 2

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 18 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders We had an average day here. The banded Black-capped Chickadee reappeared after a weeklong hiatus. There were at least 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks around today, terrorizing Blue Jays and vice versa. Also seen around the banding station was a Cassin's Vireo and both Red-breasted and

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 17 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders We had a decent arrival of Wilson's Warblers today. We banded 48 Wilson's Warblers for a season total of 548 Wilson's banded since 31 Aug. Last year from 25 Aug - 25 Sep we banded a total of 249 WIWAs. We also had a few flycatchers around again. Patroling the woods were a few

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 16 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders We had a huge Wilson's Warbler arrival today. Not much other variety but the WIWAs kept us busy until after noon. Right now we have a welcome rain shower. Steve and Jill Brown were a huge help today as we never got too far behind. The numbers Birds Banded: No flycatchers

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 15 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders Well it was bound to happen...we had a slow day here at Chico. The Tuesday Birders had a few birds to look at and study but not nearly the variety or number of the previous few days. Bird Banded: House Wren 1 Townsend's Solitaire 1 Hermit Thrush 1 (+1 recap) Brown Thrasher 1

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 14 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders We started off in the fog this morning, it burned off and became a beautiful fall day for banding. Our 44 birds seemed a bit slow after ending last week with 131 and 93 banded birds. We got our first American Goldfinch, Rock Wren and Song Sparrow of the fall. Yesterday I saw a

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 12 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders We had another great day today. Most of yesterday's birds left and a new batch arrived, again Wilson's Warblers leading the way. Overall the day was not as birdy as 11 Sep but we certainly banded a wider variety of birds today (93 total new banded). The Star of the show had to

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 11 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders As John Drummond has warned, we had a massive arrival of birds today at Chico, mostly Wilson's Warblers. Because of severe winds we closed nets for a few hours mid-morning we still banded 131 birds in 83.5 net hours. My typical day closing at noon would result in 110 net hours

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch Banding 9 Sep 2009

Cobirders Well I hope I am not boring you with...another good day, but we had one here at Chico. 65 birds banded with a nice male Golden-crowned Kinglet being the star of the show, all 5.0 grams of him. Birds banded: Willow Flycacther 1 Western Wood-Pewee 1 Cassin's Vireo 2 Golden-crowned

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 8 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders We had a big arrival and notable departure since yesterday. Gone are most of the Western Wood-Pewees which have been terrorizing the insects of the Holmes Grove for days, also much reduced were Empid numbers though a few are still about. Just this afternoon here at HQ I found a

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding

Hi Cobirders Next banding days are Tuesday 8 Sep 2009 thru Sat 12 Sep 2009 We banded birds today, a few. The migration activity was low today but one new bird for the fall appeared in the nets, Northern Waterthrush. 21 New birds banded a few recaps. Birds Banded Downy Woodpecker 1 Western

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 4 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders A decent day here on the ranch. Lots of birds moved off overnight and only a few new arrivals. 29 birds banded with top honors going to mountain ssp Hairy Woodpecker and a Least Flycatcher. I ended yesterday with 10 species of warblers, today I could muster just 3. Banded

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 3 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders Another surprisingly good day, slow and steady with fewer birds around today for sure but lots of turnover. We saw no vireos or MacGillivray's Warblers today. So far we have only recaptured 3 warblers on subsequent days. Highlight was on the closing run. A female WILLIAMSON'S

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding 2 Sep 2009

Hi Cobirders NOTICE--The ranch will be closed to all recreation on Saturday 26 Sep 2009 (that includes birding and banding) A very active day today, I was a little surprised with clear weather all night. Best bird was the Black-and-White Warbler that flew into a net right in front of us.

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding

Hi Cobirders Today was less birdy overall but we banded 32 birds! This tally was helped by a flock of American Robins that came through with 12 getting banded. We also banded 1 Downy Woodpecker, 2 Western Wood-Pewees, 2 Willow Flycatchers, 2 Hammond's Flycatchers, 1 House Wren, 1 RED-EYED

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch RMBO Banding

Hi Cobirders Today was the first day of Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory banding here at Chico Basin Ranch. We had a quiet day which allowed me to get back into the swing of things. Our very first bird was a hatch year American Redstart. We also banded Wilson's Warblers 4, Orange-crowned

[cobirds] PM birding Chico Basin Ranch

Hi Cobirders Well we got the weekend off to a great start banding this morning. This afternoon I birded around the ranch Headquarters area and Rose Pond. At Rose I found a female N Parula, seen earlier by Maynard. I saw a couple Orange-crowned Warblers (numbers waning) HQ area had male

[cobirds] Chico Basin Ranch PM birding

Hi Cobirders Despite small numbers of birds today Josh Shramo and I found some goodies in the PM. I saw 11 species of warblers today! HQ area second year male Summer Tanager, Western Palm Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, male Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Rose Pond female Townsend's Warbler and a