Two First-of-Seasons!

Our station is set up and designed to capture fall migrating songbirds; rarely, we capture other taxa. Today we captured this Lesser Yellowlegs, and enjoyed learning more about this migratory shorebird that visits and breeds in Interior Alaska. We were also surprised by the capture of two Rusty Blackbirds! They are migratory songbirds in steep decline; though we see them frequently during the fall, we rarely catch them because they are large enough that they can escape from our mist nets.

Chickadee, chickadee, chickadees!!!

Our morning started with a slow rainy drizzle but bloomed into a sunny and warm day. We didn't run nearly as many nets today, but kept busy with small family groups of Hammond's Flycatchers, Yellow Warblers, and Black-capped Chickadees. It's not often that Black-capped Chickadees are our most frequent capture, and if you've ever extracted a chickadee you might instantly know what a feat this is. These plucky 10 gram birds are strong and wily dare-devils with what some suggest as a thirst for cuticles! 

Opening day!

Townsend's Warbler

Our 2019 fall banding season started with a bang! We opened the entire station except for two nets, and were able to navigate the 'gully' with ease now that the seasonal pond has dried up. We hardly had a chance to catch up on each others summer adventures before we were steadily extracting and banding! We also had great diversity in our captures (13 species) and the single Townsend's Warbler was voted "Coolest Bird of the Day" by a landslide with a spiffy Northern Waterthrush taking a close second.

This year we have a total of 29 net sets; we have decided not to run 8, 9, & 10 (the hinterlands) for bird and human safety. We have added two new net sets, 31 & 32, in the agricultural fields as an experiment. We're excited to host two interns this fall, and very lucky to have three returning apprentices. We hope you stay tuned to hear about all of our exciting adventures!