08-21-13 Bird Field Note

08-21-13 Bird Field Note

August 21, 2013

Eric Rasmussen, Kate Stone, the Avian Science Center, and the Raptor View Research crew report on wild turkeys, cedar waxwings, an osprey fatality, and the 200th bird species found on the Ranch.

Download (1.38 MB)

Bird Field Note August 16th, 2013 Eric Rasmussen, Kate Stone Avian Science Center Raptor View Research Institute

Fifteen turtles bask on one log in the clubhouse pond.

me. A small group of turkeys feed in the open. The fox is no match for a turkey this size.

The shrubs around water’s edge crawl with insects and the warblers that eat them, like this northern waterthrush. Resident juveniles make up the bulk of the birds, along with a few early migrants.

This young yellow warbler gleans aphids from willow leaves. It practiced a song that was new to my ear, with hints of a typical breeding male song.

The final banding session of the breeding season occurred last week. The Avian Science Center captured many fledglings and observed a few females with signs of active brood patches. Many berry-laden shrubs enticed families of cedar waxwings and gray catbirds into the nets.

Streaks on the chest indicate hatch-year cedar waxwings.

On August 8th, Raptor View Research Institute (RVRI) equipped the last lone osprey chick with a satellite transmitter.

On August 8th, RVRI spotted one of the young from the entrance nest dead in a fence just south of the entrance gate. The bird had fledged just a few days before. Rob and Adam noted that the bird did not look like it died from hitting the fence; it looked as though something had tried to pull it through the fence.

fence. Brooke Tanner from Wild Skies Raptor Center x-rayed the young Osprey and found no evidence of broken bones or foreign objects. RVRI sent the body out for additional testing.

The early death of one of this year’s osprey highlights the low survival rate for first-year birds. Estimates of hatch-year mortality rates range from 75%-90%. Just one of the four osprey fledglings from 2012 survives. If it survives its second winter and travels north next spring, this will be the first known dispersal record of an osprey via satellite telemetry.