Friday, October 18, 2019

Saying Good-bye to 2019


Wednesday, September 25th was our last day of banding operation for 2019. We were lucky to finish with golden weather and fantastic help.

We had a fabulous year with over 2,000 total captures; 1,727 were newly banded birds and 29 were returning (birds banded in a previous year). We had one newly banded species for the station, the Spotted Sandpiper, and our "rarest" species banded this year was the Western Palm Warbler.

Our top species captured:
1. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle subspecies)
2. Orange-crowned Warbler
3. Swainson's Thrush
4. Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-color morph)
5. Lincoln's Sparrow

Our 2019 season wouldn't have been possible without our crew of over 55 volunteers, 2 interns, 3 apprentices who helped with everything from running the station, educating visitors and ensuring there were tasty-morning-treats to get us through the day!

We are ever thankful for the generous support of our Adopt-A-Net Sponsors:

ABR Inc.
ExxonMobil
ConocoPhillips Alaska
Fairbanks Hotel-Motel Discretionary Fund
The Usibelli Foundation
Martha Hanlon Architects
North Pole Physical Therapy
Curtis Thorgaard
Randy Meyers
Camp Denali
Alaska Feed Company
Arctic Audubon
Kinross Ft. Knox
Michelle and Bryce Lake
Design Alaska
Alaska USA
Spirit of Alaska FCU

Would you like to support the Creamer's Field Migration Station? Become a member at the Alaska Songbird Institute or become a 2020 Adopt-A-Net Sponsor today!

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Six Weeks of Birds!


My name is Ellen Munshower and I am the other intern that was hired by ASI to assist in the fall bird banding season. I moved up here in August from Minnesota and have not only been able to take advantage of this incredible learning opportunity at Creamers Field, but I have also been able to explore this beautifully wild state. The position here gave me time to travel all around Alaska and I've seen more wildlife here than I have in any other state in the US. While working at the banding station I saw so many birds- not just those caught in the nets, but the thousands of Sandhill Cranes out in the fields before they headed south, and all of the waterfowl and birds of prey that call the nature preserve their seasonal home. This experience was so much more rewarding than simply bird watching at a nature preserve because I was learning new skills and working alongside volunteers and staff members that have years of avian knowledge they were happy to share with me. I have learned practical skills that will help me as I apply to future positions, and I have had the rewarding experience of being able to work on a project that I care about. I felt welcomed and respected by everyone at ASI and I will miss the little tent in the woods where I learned how to band and ID songbirds. Thank you to everyone that I worked with who made this internship so wonderful, and to those of you who contribute to the Alaska Songbird Institute- either through donations or by volunteering- and make the research and internship possible.


P.S. Today (Wednesday, September 25th) was our last day and here are our stats:


Tuesday, September 24, 2019

My office is out with the birds!



My name is Melanie Graeff and I was hired this year to be a Science Education Intern with the Alaska Songbird Institute. This year has been an absolute whirlwind with learning new wildlife information, learning bird handling and extracting methods, leading education walks with school groups and visitors, and getting to work outside in this beautiful area with an amazing group of people! I have been so enriched with all of the experiences that this opportunity has given to me! Everyday was a new adventure for me and I was so lucky to be able to call these woods my outdoor office. Though my position has come to an end, I do intend on returning next year as a volunteer to continue this amazingly fun work! Thank you to all the volunteers that I got to know and work with this year. You all are rock stars and all of you have taught me so much this year! I want to thank Claire and Tricia for giving me this opportunity and for being all-around amazing at what they do. Without their dedication and hard work, ASI would not be what it is today. And I am sure the birds are thankful as well. I can't wait to come back next year to see what the 2020 banding season will bring.

Monday, September 23, 2019

35th Species of 2019! Northern Shrike!

Monday, September 23rd

It was a cold morning with a hard frost covering all of Creamer's Field. We were excited to capture a variety of species today including an American Three-toed Woodpecker and a late Gray-cheeked Thrush. We were especially excited to capture a 35th first-of-season today - a Northern Shrike!!! This individual was easily identified as a hatch-year due to it's indistinct facial mask, dark baring on it's chest, gray rather than black bill, and brown rather than black wing bars.

The Northern Shrike is a migratory and typically breeds in taiga and tundra habitats. They are a predatory songbird that eats insects, amphibians, small mammals and even other birds. Unlike other songbirds, the "butcher bird" has a very unique eye adapted to it's specialized diet.

Unlike humans, birds eyes are fixed in place and they must move their entire head to change their field of view (our musculature allows us to remain stationary). The placement and stationary nature of most bird's eyes results in monocular vision (humans have binocular vision). Certain groups of birds have adapted a way to tackle this obstacle and attain a degree of binocular vision, something that is useful if you rely on your eyesight to capture quickly moving prey. 

Humans and most songbirds have a single structure in the eye called a fovea. Fovea are small pits at the rear of the eye (located in the macula of the retina) composed of a very dense cluster of rods and cones; this structure is responsible for crisp and extremely detailed vision (i.e., visual acuity). A second fovea in some species provides a degree of binocular vision, increased visual acuity and depth perception. These are all useful if you are trying to catch quickly moving prey. Raptors (e.g., hawks, falcons, eagles, owls), hummingbirds, kingfishers, and shrikes are among the few birds that have more than one fovea (interestingly, a few bird species have no fovea - any guesses on who?). The only other songbird family that has two fovea are the swallows. 





Friday, September 20, 2019

Fun Friday

Melanie educates a field trip
Friday, September 20

We were excited to open after being closed for two days. The skies constantly threatened to rain and sporadically drizzled throughout the day. Luckily we were still able to safely open and operate the station. We were happy to capture a variety of species including a late migrating Orange-crowned Warbler!




Thursday, September 19, 2019

Banding Station Stats Explained

Wednesday, September 18 & Thursday, September 19

Banding operations were canceled both Wednesday and Thursday due to weather; the combination of both cooler temperatures and rainy weather creates unsafe conditions for mist netting. We're hoping the forecast improves so that we can resume operations for the rest of the season.


Example of daily station stats from 9/17/19
We've had a couple questions about the daily station "statistics", so I thought I'd take a crack at decoding all the numbers I've been sharing with you this year. A rainy day seems like a perfect day to do it! Grab a cuppa of tea or coffee, and perhaps even a cookie or two.

# of Birds Banded
This is the number (quantity) of birds that had not been previously banded that we placed bands on. Sometimes you'll hear us call a bird a "new bird" or "unbanded".

# of Recaptures
This is the number (quantity) of birds captured that already have bands. This means that they have been banded previously at our station or another station. This does not include birds that are caught multiple times in a day (for example, if we were to release a bird and it were to fly directly into a net, we would release the bird without collecting any further information. If we were to catch that bird the next day, we would collect complete information on that bird). Thus it is important to note, that the total number of recaptures for the entire season may not be "unique" birds (for example, think about how we catch the same BCCH multiple times in a season); in contrast, the number of recaptures in a single day are unique birds.

# of Species
This is the number of different species that are represented in our captures for the day and year. You'll hear us talking about "first-of-seasons" (with lots of excitement) because it's the first time we've encountered that bird during the current season.

Number of Days
The is the number of days the station has operated. Days when banding is canceled (for example, the snow storms this spring or the rain this August) and nets aren't operated don't contribute to our capture effort.

Number of Nets
This seems simple, but it's a bit of a curve ball. This is the number of 12 meter mist nets opened during a banding day. Our canopy nets (nets 25, 19, 5, and 3) have multiple mist nets "stacked" on top of each other. Similarly, nets 29 and 7 are 6 meters in length and count as "half" a mist net. So, if we opened nets 1, 2, 3 and 7, we will have opened  4.5 nets (think: 1 + 1 + 2 + 0.5 = 4.5)

Effort (Net-hours)
Effort (or net-hours) refers to the amount of time a particular mist net has been active and able to capture a bird. Understanding how much "effort" (think: time opening a certain number of nets or a particular net) helps with future data analysis. This statistic reports the cumulative number of hours all nets opened have been operated in a day or full season. For example, if we open nets 1, 2, 3 and 7 from 8am to noon, each net will have been open for four hours. From our previous example we know that the number of nets totals 4.5, and thus our effort for this day is 18 net hours (4.5 * 4 = 18).

Capture Rate
Capture rate is a metric that indicates how "busy" our station was for an entire day (or the season) while also accounting for the variability in effort. This metric standardizes the number of captures (recaptures and newly banded birds are combined) using effort (net-hours). It's important to do this because we open a variable number of nets for a variable amount of time each day we operate. In other words, we want to know the number of birds we're catching given a certain amount of effort (think: birds per net-hour). In order to to expand this to include the cumulative effort of the station we further standardize this metric by 100 net-hours (so now think: # birds per 100 net-hours). Our station typically accumulates at least 100 net-hours per day of operation (remember that the greater number of nets we have open for longer increases the total number of net hours); other stations or analyses may use another quantity of net-hours to standardize their capture rate. We report the capture rate for the current day and for the entire season to get a "snapshot" of the entire season's effort (imagine if we captured our birds at a steady rate throughout the season instead of in "spurts"). Generally, a daily capture rate of 100 birds per 100 net-hours (or 1 bird per net-hour) is considered a busy day at most banding stations.

Going back to our example: if we capture 20 birds with nets 1, 2, 3, and 7 while they are open for 4.5 hours, then our capture rate is 111.1 ( (20 birds/18 net-hours) * 100 = 111.1). Thus we would expect that if those nets had accumulated 100 net-hours we would have captured 111 birds (we can't catch 0.1 birds!). Using this metrics we are better able to compare how "busy" the station across days than using the total number of birds captured.

Thinking further, total birds captured alone are misleading. For example, 75 birds one morning would appear to be more busy than a morning that captures 25, and the opposite is true if the 25 birds were banded in 20 net-hours (capture rate of 125) compared to 75 in 150 net-hours (capture rate of 50). So while 25 birds doesn't sounds like much, a capture rate of 125 is a busy morning regardless of the number of birds captured.

CFMS is a busy place for migrants but isn't as active as other stations in North American. Some potential reasons why are: the length of our banding season, our location in our fly-way, changes in habitat and disturbance at our station, and the variable size of our crew. Ultimately, our goals are to prioritize bird welfare and safety while collecting robust data in a standardized manner. Running fewer nets to accommodate the availability of skilled crew accomplishes this.


Tuesday, September 17, 2019

First-of-season: Canada Jay!

Tuesday, September 17

There was a distinct chill in the air this morning as we opened the station for day; fall is beginning to wind down as leaves fall from the trees and we capture fewer migrants. Of the migrants remaining, we caught one adult female Wilson's Warbler, some Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, and a few American Tree Sparrows. We were excited to catch a new species of the year: a Canada Jay! Despite how large this bird appears, it's actually about the size of a smaller American Robin (about 70 grams). This brings our species total to 34. Do you think we'll get to 35? 




Monday, September 16, 2019

Smallest to Largest

Ellen ageing a RCKI
Monday, September 16

It was a fairly slow morning at the station, but were all pleased that diversity remained high. Our last bird of the day was a gorgeous Ruby-crowned Kinglet. They are the smallest species in the songbird family and weigh about 6 grams. Alaska is also lucky enough to host the largest songbird, the Common Raven, that can weight up to about 4 pounds! We've never captured a Common Raven at the station; they're too large to be captured by our mist nets, and they're also known to be quite intelligent and may be clever enough to avoid our nets.


Saturday, September 14, 2019

A Rusty Weekend

Saturday, September 14

We had a fabulous Saturday of gorgeous fall weather and had a small boost in our capture rate. A surprise flock of Rusty Blackbirds were easy favorites of the day and was the most frequent species captured. We also enjoyed Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Dark-eyed Juncos (Slate-color morph) and American Tree Sparrows.


Friday, September 13, 2019

First-of-season: American Three-toed Woodpecker!

Friday, September 13

We captured a particularly exciting 'first-of-season' today, an American Three-toed Woodpecker! This bird was beautiful hatch-year male that had been hanging out around our research site the last couple of days. We had a great time talking about woodpeckers today with our station visitors; we also captured a female Hairy Woodpecker and were able to compare the differences between these two incredible year-round Alaska residents! Do you know the major differences between the two?



Thursday, September 12, 2019

Chickadee fun continues!

Thursday, September 12

Black-capped and Boreal Chickadees were the most frequent species captured today. We also had the good fortune to have them both in hand at the same time so that we could compare the two. 

Black-capped Chickadees (photo left) are slightly larger, have white wing-bars, a delicate white edging to their outer tail feathers, large white cheek patches, pale buffy blanks, a black bib and cap. Boreal Chickadees (photo right) have very small white cheek patches, no wing-bars, uniform gray wings and tail, a gray nape, brown crown, and warm cinnamon sides and flanks. 

They are both tough year-round residents of Interior Alaska that are full of personality and a joy to hear vocalizing throughout the year.


Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Rainy September Day

Banding operation was delayed and then canceled as rain continued throughout the morning. We're looking forward to sunny skies tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Chick-a-dee-dee-dee


Tuesday, September 10


It was another beautiful day at the banding station. Black-capped Chickadees were our most frequent capture and we were excited to catch a couple of Boreal Chickadees as well.



Monday, September 9, 2019

Fields of Gold

Monday, September 9

It was a warm and quiet Fairbanks morning. We were happy to share our small number of captures with visiting school groups and travelers who visited the station today. 


Friday, September 6, 2019

Varied Thruhes and Chickadees!!

Friday, September 6

We began our banding morning watching three Red Foxes displaying alternate color phases (learn more here). Two bounced and tumbled with each other, appearing to joyfully play in the dewy morning fields. The third tried to unsuccessfully sneak into taller grass where a small flock of Sandhill Cranes was beginning their morning.

We were excited to capture a couple Varied Thrushes today: one male and one female, both hatch-years. Otherwise, the majority of our captures were Black-capped Chickadees. These spunky year round residents are 11 grams of muscle of perseverance.



Thursday, September 5, 2019

American Tree Sparrows and fall colors

Thursday, September 5

The fall colors of golden yellow are peaking in Fairbanks, Alaska. We've been lucky to enjoy the changing colors in relative comfort; we've had a relatively warm week with temperatures well above freezing. 

Captures have remained low, but have been punctuated by fun surprises. We were excited to catch a small flock of American Tree Sparrows this morning. They're easily identified by: a dark spot on their chest, bi-colored bill (dark upper mandible, yellow lower mandible), two crisp white wing bars, a chestnut crown, and a dark eye-line.


Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Foxes and Wood Frog Chatter

Captures were slow today despite the larger numbers of American Robins and Rusty Blackbirds hanging around our banding site. We did have the chance to observe two "cross" foxes and even heard a Wood Frog croaking near the banding tent. This spiffy adult male Yellow-rumped Warbler in it's prebasic (winter) plumage was our first capture of the day.



Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Fatty Fox Sparrow

Tuesday, September 3rd

One of the morphometrics we collected from every bird is the amount of fat accumulated in the furcula (analogous to our collar bone); migrating songbirds accumulate large stores of fat to help fuel their long journey. Because they accumulate fat subcutaneously and their skin is "clear" we can easily make a qualitative assessment (scale of 0 to 7) of how much fat a bird has. This Fox Sparrow had a fat score of 5!




Monday, September 2, 2019

Labor Day Junco Bonanza

Monday, September 2nd

Even though most of Fairbanks enjoyed a day off from school and work, we operated the station on this beautiful fall day. (As far as we can tell, migrating birds don't observe federal holidays.) We had a steady day of Dark-eyed Juncos with both chickadee species collectively taking a close second. Other excitement for the day included a couple "cross" foxes harassing the waterfowl and cranes, presumably looking for their next meal.

 Happy Labor Day!


Saturday, August 31, 2019

Autumn is in the air!

Saturday, August 31 2019

Autumn is definitely here in Fairbanks! The trees are changing colors and dropping their leaves. Which also means our nets sometimes catch more leaves than birds! Capture rates were a little low today due to a Northern Goshawk scaring away a lot of the songbirds in the research area. Once it moves on, we hope the songbird presence will go up once again!

~ Melanie


Friday, August 30, 2019

Friday slow down

Things slowed way down today despite the extra help and additional nets open today. Highlights were a couple of Fox Sparrows, a Boreal Chickadee, and a Hermit Thrush!


Western Palm Warbler!!!

We had a huge day of birds, diversity and surprises! Our first surprises of the day were a pair of adult Rusty Blackbirds - absolutely stately in their fall plumage. A long awaited first-of-season, the Varied Thrush was also in the same net as the Rusties! We've been hearing them for over a week, hopeful that we might have the chance to see the bird up close. The day picked up quickly after these feathered gems and consisted predominately of Orange-crowned Warblers and Myrtle Warblers. One of my favorite birds of the day was a male Hairy Woodpecker that we caught this spring; this handsome fellow is pushing six years old and a year-round resident of Creamer's Field. Despite my genuine woodpecker and chickadee love, one bird in particular captivated us all today: a Western Palm Warbler! This is the 6th in station banding history (28 years!)! Check out this gorgeous Fairbanks rarity, a HY unknown sex Western Palm Warbler:



Wednesday, August 28, 2019

First-of-season: Avian Pox

We had a busy morning despite the overcast skies and gentle breeze. Luckily, coffee and donuts kept us fueled and warm! 

OCWA with Avian Pox
We captured a hatch-year Orange-crowned Warbler that showed signs of an active Avian Pox infection (photo right). Avian Pox is an avian specific infection caused by a virus that results in growths on the birds skin (particularly around the eyes, ears, feet and legs); some severe infections cause lesions in the respiratory tract. It's one of the oldest known avian diseases and is known to impact >230 birds species. Biting insects like mosquitoes are the predominate vector for the disease, though direct contact with an infected bird or contaminated object (for example, a bird feeder) are also responsible for the spread of the disease. We typically see a few cases of Avian Pox every season and do our best to reduce transmission by cleaning ourselves and our equipment regularly, and after infected birds. The Orange-crowned Warbler we captured appeared to be in good body condition and health despite the active infection on its feet that have already resulted in the partial loss of a couple toes.


Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Cloudy day, Savannah Sparrow

We had a cloudy and cool day at the station that was punctuated by a couple flocks of Orange-crowned Warblers. We caught our fourth Sharp-shinned Hawk of the season; she was a hatch-year female. Another favorite was a spiffy Fox Sparrow. Before things got busy, we admired a few Savannah Sparrows that ventured into our nets.



Monday, August 26, 2019

Busy weekend and a Brown Creeper!

Crane Festival Visitors!
Brown Creeper
We had a busy weekend of birds and people at the station during the 2019 Tanana Valley Sandhill Crane Festival. The star of the weekend was a Brown Creeper! It was also a hatch-year bird (like our first this season). Thank you to everyone who helped!!!  
Things slowed down today with low bird captures. However, this granted us the time to compare notes with two fellow visiting banders (one from Homer, AK and another who bands on Jekyl Island, GA). We also had a fabulous group visiting from OLLI!


Friday, August 23, 2019

First of seasons: American Tree Sparrow and Ruby-crowned Kinglets!

Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Tree Sparrow


We kept busy today with just shy of 100 birds total for the day; most of which were Orange-crowned Warblers. We were excited to start the day with our first American Tree Sparrow of the season, and we finished the day with another first of season - TWO Ruby-crowned Kinglets!  

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Second day of frost

Our second morning of frost was steady and dominated by Swainson's and Gray-cheeked Thrushes. Mushrooms are everywhere and the local red squirrels are busy enjoying the wealth.


Wednesday, August 21, 2019

First-of-season Fox Sparrow!

Fox Sparrow



We opened the station late due to a lingering rain storm. Luckily, the sunshine came out and transformed our morning into a beautiful day. We were also excited to capture a new first-of-season, a Fox Sparrow! It was a gorgeous after-hatch-year (adult) male. We captured many more adults (approximately 15% of total captures) today, which is unusual; most of our captures consist of hatch-year birds. 


Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Third Sharpie!

Things slowed down today, but diversity and excitement remained high. The highlight of the day was a gorgeous hatch-year female Sharp-shinned Hawk. She was much larger than the male from last week and had a full crop from a recent meal. Occasionally small raptors like Sharp-shinned and Merlins are attracted to songbirds trapped in mist nets (birds can make up a large portion of their diet). This young female was unsuccessful and likely uninterested in the birds we were capturing since her crop was so full!




Monday, August 19, 2019

Busy busy busy!

It was another busy day at the station dominated by flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Orange-crowned Warblers and Swainson's Thrushes followed up in second and third most captured. We captured our first Gray-cheeked Thrushes several days ago, but have only captured a small number of individuals so far. Check out this feathered brown-eyed beauty:



Sunday, August 18, 2019

Hatch-year male Sharp-shinned Hawk

Laurel with the Sharpie!



We started late today due to morning rain showers, and didn't catch many birds once we opened. We did capture another male Sharp-shinned Hawk, but this one was a hatch-year instead. How cool!


Saturday, August 17, 2019

Big Day - 155 birds!

The rain cleared and the morning began with the chorus of hundreds of Sandhill Cranes alighting the fields of Creamer's. Most of our captures were Yellow-rumped Warblers, but we had several stunning Orange-Crowned, Yellow and Wilson's Warblers. Check out this particularly spiffy Yellow Warbler:



Thursday, August 15, 2019

Stormy August Skies

Heavy rain showers resulted in banding operations being canceled for the day. This is our 6th cancellation due to rain this season.


Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Two first of seasons! Sharp-shinned Hawk and Hairy Woodpecker!

Ellen with the HAWO


We had a great morning. The clouds cleared and incoming rain held off while we operated the station. Most of the morning's captures were Swainson's Thrushes and made of the bulk of the days captures. We caught several adult birds today including a beautiful Orange-crowned Warbler. We also caught two new birds for this fall: a Sharp-shinned Hawk and a Hairy Woodpecker! The Sharp-shinned Hawk was a feisty second-year male migrating south. The Hairy Woodpecker was a beautiful hatch-year female who may stay at Creamer's all winter long. 

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Here comes the rain again

The rain returned today, which provided us with ample opportunity to catch up on data management. It looks like the next few days will continue to be wet and gray. Hopefully the clouds will break and allow us to open the station soon.