08-15-13 Field Note

08-15-13 Field Note

August 15, 2013

Debbie Leick, Eric Rasmussen, and Kate Stone give accounts of bird banding, solitary sandpipers, and raptor banding.

Download (3.98 MB)

Bird Field Note 8/10/13 Debbie Leick Eric Rasmussen Kate Stone

This yellow warbler scolds us with a sharp “chip” call as it flies away from the banding station.

Bucky assesses the flight feather molt and wear on a noisy downy woodpecker.

A young cedar waxwing refuses to surrender this chokecherry. After regurgitating the berry from its crop, it clasps the fruit in its bill during the entire banding process.

Migration Observations Eric Rasmussen An immature black-chinned hummingbird perches high in a chokecherry. Hummingbird migration is underway and resident nests have fledged.

An immature rufous hummingbird pokes at a snowberry shrub. Activity around nectar feeders increased in recent weeks and will likely hold through migration.

migration. At first glance, I mistake these two shorebirds for spotted sandpipers (our only breeding sandpiper). On the left is a solitary sandpiper. They breed in wooded areas of Canada but disperse southward before fall migration.

Solitary sandpipers have white tails with black stripes and lack white on the wing (above). Spotted sandpipers have brown tails and white on the wing (below).

_______________________________________________________________________________

Bitterroot Float with RVRI Kate Stone Philip, Nicholas, Rob, Adam and I float the river to try and catch the non-territorial osprey. Rob and Adam prepare the lure fish and the log used to weight the bait down.

The osprey ignores the bait so we try to catch a bald eagle. The eagle rips the fish off of the weight and tries to fly away with it.

it. A swarm of more than 50 Vaux’s swifts circle above a cavity in this cottonwood across the river from the pump slough. We suspect they roost in this tree.

Previous Field Note

08-09-13 Field Note

Next Field Note

08-21-13 Bird Field Note

What would you like to learn about?

08-15-13 Field Note

Block title