Skunked!

We had an absolutely fantastic day at the station, but had our first day with no captures this season. Most of the morning was relatively quiet in terms of songbird activity (i.e., vocalization and visual detections). We did have a few exciting net runs at the end of the day when a moose "camped-out" around net 25!

Wood Frogs have started singing

Our first schools visited the station, but otherwise the station was relatively quiet. We did hear our first Ruby-crowned Kinglet at the station, and once the day warmed up the Wood Frogs began to sing. We ended our day observing a moose in the gully!

Second week of spring banding comes to a close

ASY Male

We had another beautiful day at the station. Expansive blue skies and a light breeze set the tone for the day. We captured two Common Redpolls; one was a SY (second-year) and the other was an ASY (after-second year).

The 'seasonal pond' water level dropped a bit and we started setting up nets in the 'gully'. Other visitors in the gully included: Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintail, Mallards, and a Bufflehead! We still haven't heard any singing from the Wood Frogs.

Common Redpolls are breeding

Male CORE

Today was a gloriously sunny and pleasant morning at the station. It was almost difficult to believe that three days ago a snow storm was raging.

We captured three Common Redpolls (CORE). Two were male recaptures that we originally banded Monday the 17th. Our newly banded bird was a female that had a well developed brood patch (a patch of highly vascularized and featherless skin on the abdomen that is used to keep eggs and young warm), suggesting an active breeding attempt.

Sunshine Returns!

The snow storm passed and the banding station resumed operation today. The snow storm left frozen mist nets in its wake; due to time constraints we only had time to thaw and open nine nets. This was one of the few times it took longer to open nets than close them!

American Tree Sparrows and Varied Thrush were new migrants heard singing throughout our morning. Despite the improvement in weather and the increasing bird activity all around us, captures were low today. We only captured one bird, a Boreal Chickadee.

Another snow storm cancellation

Banding was cancelled due to snow for the third day this season. If the storm continues as forecasted, the closure will continue through tomorrow.

Spring Firsts

Gravid female

It was great to get back out at the station after a few 'fowl' weather days. Despite the improvements in weather, it was a rather slow day for bird captures. We only captured one Black-capped Chickadee (a bird we caught last Monday!).

We did hear geese flying over the station, and our first songbird migrants singing- an American Robin and a Dark-eyed Junco! We also saw our first Wood Frog; no singing yet has come from the seasonal pond, but perhaps we're close. We're hoping that spring has finally settled in and that the reports of bad weather don't come to fruition tomorrow.

Snow Continues

After Wednesday's snow day, we were hopeful for improved conditions. However, weather forecasting is difficult in Interior Alaska. The forecasts are often wrong and reporting of current conditions can be inaccurate. Even radar isn't to be trusted blindly. Ultimately we rely on 'ground-truthing' through an exchange of texts and calls across town to determine current conditions and attempt to predict conditions over the next few hours (I think we make a pretty fabulous meteorological team).

Today I awoke on the west side of town with what appeared to be snow on the eastern horizon. 'Weather marco-polo' confirmed that snow was obscuring the hidden Alaska Range. Over the next fifteen minutes I watched the advancing snow as flakes began to fall. The intensity ebbed and flowed, but never ceased across town. Without any indication of improving conditions and our window for meeting a minimum sampling effort closing, banding was canceled for a second day. 

A wave of songbird migrant reports including Dark-eyed Juncos, American Tree Sparrows and American Robins have been popping up over the last few days, despite the snow! A brilliant male Dark-eyed Junco feeding on sunflower chips this morning was my first this year. Keep your fingers crossed that weather will improve and allow the station will open on Monday!

Snow Day

Looking out across the Tanana Valley

Spring took an interesting turn last night. With reports of varying snow depths around town, snow still falling and temperatures below freezing, we canceled banding for today. There are three weather variables we consider to determine whether banding is safe: 1) Temperature, 2) Wind and 3) Precipitation. Generally, any one of these three conditions at low levels may still allow station operation. These thresholds vary across region; for example, our temperature threshold is different (i.e., lower) than most banding stations in the lower 48. This is due to a number of reasons including humidity and species-specific adaptations. When more than one of these weather variables occurs, station closure is best practice for bird (and human) safety. In general, it's always best to err on the side of caution. Today's low temperatures and precipitation (i.e., snow) would make banding unsafe. We hope the sun will break through and improve conditions to allow banding on Friday. As consolation, I'll share with you a "Weather Report" from a bad weather day at the Kiawah Island Banding Station in 2013. 

First day of spring 2019 banding!

We had a great start to our spring 2019 season! It's not uncommon for capture rates to be low this time of year; in 2018, six days passed without any captures. Today broke the 'norm' with a total of eight birds captured! A male Common Redpoll was our first bird of the season! We've already surpassed the total number of redpolls captured last year (two!). No migrants were captured or detected, yet.

Today’s Banding Stats
# of Birds Banded	5
# of Recaptures	3
# of Species	2
Effort (net-hours)	49.75
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	16.1
# of Nets	16

Getting ready for the 2019 field season!

We've had a busy couple of days setting up mist nets, installing the Weatherport, and getting our gear out to 'The Station'. The mild winter and early spring granted easier conditions for set-up. Our only setback was widespread vandalism to our year-round equipment and station signage.

This year marks this beginning of our station blog. We hope you'll stay tuned as we share our day-to-day capture stats and all the cool adventures along the way.

                                               We hope to see you out there!

The crew hard at work

Installing the banding table