10-14-13 Bird Field Note

10-14-13 Bird Field Note

October 14, 2013

The bird crew describes the capture of a rare Tennessee warbler, the serious look of a young northern goshawk, and the perfect raptor migration storm.

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Male Mountain Bluebird

A yellow-rumped warbler, above, and a dark-eyed junco, below, foraged together in a mixed flock that included a spotted towhee and white-crowned sparrows.

An American pipit, above, travelled with eight other pipits through a grassland area. Large flocks of mountain bluebirds flew overhead. One group consisted of over 75 birds. At least 20 birds perched in the chokecherry shrub, below.

Ripe hawthorne berries attracted flocks of hungry American robins, including the banded bird above.

This week had the highest number of captures since banding started in mid-August. Species diversity decreased from last week as neotropical migrants continue to become less common. White-crowned sparrows, late season migrants, increased from the previous week. After weeks of consistent captures, no cedar waxwings were banded.

A rare Tennessee warbler (above) capture on the floodplain became the week’s highlight. This species breeds in the boreal forests of Canada and the northern US. The first captures of Townsend’s solitaire (below), another late season migrant, occurred this week.

Ruby-crowned kinglets dominated for a second week as they made another big push southward.

This week, RVRI banded 10 raptors of four different species. A male prairie falcon, the last of Montana’s four falcon species to be banded this year, provided the week’s highlight. With 56 total captures this season, RVRI is on pace to surpass fall 2012’s total of 63.