Hail to the King!

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Captures of Ruby-crowned Kinglets are picking up at the banding station. They’re one of the smallest birds we band. Weighing in at around 7 grams, almost 3 kinglets could be mailed for a single first class stamp. This bird packs a big attitude and an even bigger song into a tiny body. Kinglets are often one of the first migrants to arrive in the spring and the male’s territorial song rings through the awakening forest. When you first see a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, its generally olive-drab feathering makes its name seem like a misnomer. If a predator or another male kinglet enters a kinglet’s breeding territory however, his concealed scarlet crown flashes out as a warning. Hail to the king!

~Laurel

Fall is here!

 The leaves around the banding station are falling and the mornings have been quite crisp. Fall is in the air and the birds continue to migrate south! A pair of American Tree Sparrows was seen today at the station, a sure sign of autumn! 

-Dave

Is that a policeman's whistle?

Varied Thrush!

Most of the thrushes that nest in interior Alaska are subtle shades of soft browns and grays. Their showiness is in their fantastic songs that waft across the boreal forest and tundra. The Varied Thrush is exactly the opposite. It’s song consists of a single long whistle repeated in different tones. Some people describe it as sounding like a British policeman’s whistle. The varied thrushes makes up for its simple song with fabulous plumage. The male and female have subtly different patterns of rich rust, slate blue, and black. We only catch a few Varied Thrushes each year, so finding one in the mist nets is always cause for celebration.

~Laurel

Bird Banding Jargon Part 2: Age Class Terminology

 We're on day two of closures due to poor weather, but the forecast looks hopeful for tomorrow. 

As I sit here with my morning coffee, I thought I'd offer more insight into the swirling vocabulary inside a bird bander's brain with a dive into age class vocabulary. 

Local (L): this is a bird, often in the fledgling stage (it just recently left it's nest and is still actively being cared for by adults), that is assumed to have been hatched in the immediate area.

Juvenile (Juv): a bird in juvenile plumage before it's first prebasic molt. The juvenile plumage can be thought of as a bird's first "set" of feathers before it looses (e.g., molts) those feathers and replaces them with another set of feathers (more to come on molt later!). This plumage is generally of lower quality and appears very different than that of an adult; typically this plumage is cryptic and helps these young birds stay camouflaged. 

Hatch-year (HY): a bird in it's first-prebasic plumage and in it's first calendar year of life, which means it is less than one year old.

After-hatch-year (AHY): a bird in at least it's second calendar year of age; so an AHY bird is at least 1 year old but it is unknown how much older it could be.

Second-year (SY): a bird in it's second calendar year life (i.e, it is two years old)

After-second-year (ASY): a bird in at least it's third calendar year of age; so an ASY bird is at least 2 years old but it is unknown how much older it could be.

Third-year (TY): a bird in it's third calendar year of life (i.e., it is three years old)

After-third-year (ATY): a bird in at least it's fourth calendar year of age; so an ATY bird is at least 3 years old but it is unknown how much older it could be.

After-fourth-year (A4Y): a bird in at least it's fifth calendar year of age; so an A4Y bird is at least 4 years old but it is unknown how much older it could be.

Fourth-year (4Y): a bird in it's fourth calendar year of life (i.e., it is four years old)

Unknown: a bird of unknown age. Sometimes the physiological evidence that indicates how old a bird is might be conflicting, and it is impossible to know with certainty the age class of bird. We hope that these birds will be captured again so that more information can be collected to determine the age of the bird. We also use this terminology for birds that escape from the mist nets during capture and 

Ageing songbirds is fairly simple in someways. With the current techniques and what we know about songbirds right now, we can typically only age songbirds as L, Juv, HY or AHY in the fall (SY or ASY in the spring; make sense? check out the upcoming 'molt' post for the answer). To understand how long songbirds live, means it's essential that we band birds as HY or SY when we have a precise age class to reference when the birds is recaptured or recovered later. 

The other age classes (e.g., TY, ATY, 4Y, A4Y) are predominately applicable for woodpeckers and raptors that we capture with less frequency at the station.

Questions? Leave your question in the comments section and I'll respond with an answer!

~Claire

Bird Banding Jargon Part 1: Banded Birds

With the last couple of mornings facing poor weather conditions for banding operation, we've had some time off to enjoy the birds through binoculars instead of in the hand. Birds are certainly on the move, and we're hoping for better days ahead so that we can open nets again.

In lieu of sharing a cool bird with you, I thought I might share some terminology from the bird bander's vocabulary about previously banded birds, stay tuned for the next installment on banding vocabulary as the season progresses.

Banding (or ringing): the process of placing a tag that has a unique identifier (often a number) on a bird. North American researchers refer to this process as 'banding', while European researchers often refer to it as 'ringing'. 'Ringing' is a reference to the shape of the tag that is used on birds (a small circle, or ring, that is placed around the leg of the bird.). See a demonstration of how it happens here.

"new": this is often how we reference the "status" of a captured bird. Any bird that does not have any type of marker or band is classified as 'new' and thus is a valid candidate for having a band placed on it. Remember, we do not place additional bands on a bird that is already banded, and we do not replace bands unless they cannot be read or the band is defective.

Capture: this describes the act of entrapping or restraining a wild bird using permitted techniques for study by a licensed bird researcher.

Foreign: a type of recapture, this refers to a bird that is captured by a banding station that it was not originally banded at. For example, we have captured a couple Sharp-shinned Hawks over the years that were originally banded by other researchers in Canada and the lower 48 (most recently- Alberta, Canada!).

Recapture: any bird that has already been banded that is captured by a banding operation (or other bird researchers).

Return: a type of recapture, this refers to a bird that is recaptured at it's original banding location across years. The assumption is that (for a migratory species) the bird leaves the area and then comes back; this is powerful information and provides clues about timing, fidelity to stop-over or breeding locations, and even clues about longevity and physiological fitness. Examples of returns from this year are the adult Hammond's Flycatcher and Dark-eyed Junco captured earlier this season; they were originally banded here at CFMS in 2019 and returned this year (2020).

Repeat: a type of recapture, this refers to a bird that is recaptured within the same season at it's original banding location. Examples of repeats are the birds (usually young birds) we often catch for multiple days in a row while they "hang out" in the area surrounding the station before moving on in their migration. (Sometimes a bird can be both a repeat and a return; for example, think of 2019's Bob and Mrs. Bob - two Black-capped Chickadees that were captured multiple times that spring, but had been banded previously. The first time they were captured, they were a 'return' but each subsequent recapture that spring they were 'returns' and 'repeats'.)

Recovery: this is not a type of recapture; this refers to a bird that has a band but is encountered, often dead, by anyone in a research or nonresearch setting. This might include a bird that is found dead from known or unknown causes, or a bird that is injured and in custody of a licensed rehabilitator. For example, a recovered Swainson's Thrush that died from a window strike earlier this year had a band  (story here).

Resight: this is not a type of recapture; this refers to a bird that is observed in a natural setting and it's band number (or identifier) is read and recorded without capturing or impeding any normal behavior. This is often impossible with songbirds, because their bands (and thus the numbers on them) are too small to be read by an observer. This is more common with larger species like Sandhill Cranes that may have large colorful bands with large letters that allow them to be easily read through binoculars or a scope. If you see a bird with a band, you can report it here and get the original banding information about the bird (where and when it was banded, how old it is and maybe even what sex it is).

Questions? Leave a comment on this post and we'll get back to you!

~Claire

Yellow then Orange

AHY Northern Waterthrush

Although we started a little later this morning, due to lingering rain clouds, we managed to catch quite a few birds this morning. Yellow-rumped warblers are still working their way south, and we are seeing quite an increase in Orange-crowned warblers moving through the area this week. First wave was Yellow; now for the Orange wave! We have also seen a bit of a decrease in Hammond's flycatchers vocalizing in the woods around the banding station. Fall is definitely here!

-Dave

Sandhill Crane Festival 2020!!

The new barn quilt at Creamers!

Our good friends and collaborative partners, the Friends of Creamer's Field, are hosting a virtual celebration of fall migration by honoring the Sandhill Cranes and other migratory birds that use Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge as an important stop-over site on their migration south. Places like Creamer's that offer habitat that provide abundant and quality food and a safe place to rest are key to helping birds complete a successful migration. In addition to the phenomenal physical feat, birds face a multitude of hazards on their journey including collisions with power-lines, glass windows, wind turbines, and automobiles. You can do your part to help birds this fall and everyday by making your windows more visible, placing feeders in safe locations, and keeping domestic cats indoors or on leashes (click here to get more details on how to be a bird hero).

Our work at the banding station provides critical data to the large puzzle of bird migration. We are the farthest north banding station in North America (29 years and counting) and located in the "bird nursery" of North America; did you know that the boreal forest that we call home is the breeding grounds for nearly half of all North American bird species (over 300 species!). By collecting information from birds at or close to their breeding locations or natal origins we are able to provide insight into the beginning stages of many species journey south - population trends, the timing of stop-over, habitat associations, and movement timing for a variety of species.

Migration is probably one of the most difficult activities that many birds undertake, and we're especially excited to celebrate migration with you all; we hope you'll join us virtually at the various events occurring August 21st to 23rd (more information here)! In honor of the festival, we'd love to kick off our "Ask-a-Bander" series by answering one of our top questions: what's the biggest bird you've ever caught?  Watch the video below for the answer! 

~Claire

A busy banding day = dirty laundry

Used (aka. dirty) bird-bags

Starting off today it was easy to assume it would be a slow day with just a few birds in the first couple of net checks. Boy we're we wrong! Around 8:15 the birds graced us with their presence. A couple nets had 20+ birds in them. Highlights of the day were a belted kingfisher (released without a band) and a gray-cheeked thrush. Overall we rounded out the day with over 100 birds.

Luckily for us, the afternoon slowed down because it started raining!

~Chelsea

Returning Dark-eyed Junco!

Dark-eyed Junco

This week we were lucky enough to recapture a Junco from last year. This bird, an adult female, was captured last August as a juvenile. At that time she still looked like a baby bird with fluffy, streaky plumage, so we weren’t able to determine the sex. This year, though, it was obvious! Her brown-tinged gray feathers and small wing gave her away. 

Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) come in a variety of subspecies with very distinctive plumages. The subspecies we find in Fairbanks is the Slate-colored Junco (J. h. hyemalis). While several subspecies of Junco are found in the Western U.S., Slate-coloreds spend their winter in the Midwest and Southeast. That means our little Junco probably flew east over the boreal forest last fall, and then south to spend the winter—and THEN she flew all the way back up here. Pretty impressive!

Today, banding was slow and steady, catching a few birds at a time throughout the morning.

~Laura

A successful Snipe hunt!

The vast majority of what we catch at the ASI banding station is small songbirds like sparrows and warblers. However, sometimes our nets yield a surprise like this Wilson’s Snipe! Snipe are shorebirds that breed in wetlands all across Alaska. They have nerve endings inside their long bills to help them locate insects as they probe in mud and under water. Snipe are most noticeable in the spring when the males conduct song flights to establish a nesting territory and attract a female. The whistle of wind through the male bird’s wing feathers creates the winnowing noise we hear all through spring and early summer nights as the birds soar high over marshes. The female’s cryptic coloration makes her almost invisible on her ground nest. If you walk along the seasonal pond at Creamer’s Field, you may be lucky enough to see a snipe probing the mud for high energy insect food to fuel their southbound migration.

~Laurel

Townsend's Warbler, we're pleased to MEET you!

Townsend's Warbler

The Townsend's warbler (Setophaga townsendi) can be found during the breeding season throughout the coniferous and mixed forests of the western United States. Here in interior Alaska, lies the northern most extent of their breeding range. Favoring tall, mature conifers, these birds are more often heard than seen due to their habit of fluttering around in the tree tops while gleening insects from pine needles. 

I personally have noticed that these birds seem to have quite a high diversity of song variations which may be based on geography. During my time here in Fairbanks, the Townsend's warblers' songs that I have heard tended to have a somewhat similar dialect. Put into words, it sometimes sounds like they might be saying "Pleased to MEET you!" (see https://www.xeno-canto.org/475113) 

The wintering grounds of these warblers is quite expansive; stretching as far north as the Pacific Northwest, and as far south as Costa Rica. Where ever this male Townsend's warbler ends up, we hope he enjoyed his time here in Fairbanks and hope he makes it back next spring to sing another day in Alaska!

~Dave

Returning Hammond's Flycatcher

Hammond's Flycatcher
(2680-05909)

Despite the beautiful weather, capture rate remained low relative to previous days. However we did recapture a pretty special bird, a Hammond's Flycatcher, that was banded at the station last August 9th as a hatch year. After we banded it, it may have migrated as far as Costa Rica before returning to Interior Alaska this spring. Normally we don't know how old songbirds are (we know they were hatched this year or are adults), but the data associated with this birds band let us know that this bird is approximately one year of age. This returning bird still leaves us wonder whether it is male or female, but we're pleased to see it in great condition and hope that we might catch again in the years to come.

~ Claire

Wet and Foggy Morning

 You could cut the fog with a knife this morning in Fairbanks as a result of the cool and wet weather we had recently. As I shook the dew off of our mist nets today while checking for birds, I stumbled upon a Northern Waterthush (Parkesia noveboracensis), one of the larger wood-warblers who is no stranger to getting its feet wet. 

The Northern Waterthush is the largest wood-warbler we have here in interior Alaska and is usually found in or around standing water, where they forage for insects. 

These birds are all about water and wet places -even their song sounds like dripping water! So, while some of us may not like the wet weather and swampy surroundings, at least the waterthrushes are enjoying it!

-David

The amazing journeys of Swainson's Thrushes!

A very young Swainson's Thrush! 

We have been so fortunate to catch a lot of Swainson’s thrushes at the banding station lately. Swainson’s thrushes are one of my favorites of the songbirds that migrate north to nest in the  boreal forest. Their flute-like song wafting through the new foliage in May is a balm to the ears after a long northern winter. As I stand on my porch in the June evenings, I can usually hear three different males counter-calling to claim their nesting territories. I grieve a little when the songs end in early July. The male thrush no longer needs to maintain a territory once the families are roaming freely through the forest. Soft “wicking” calls can now be heard as the families keep in touch as they forage. 

Now that August has arrived, young Swainson’s thrushes are on their own. In just a short time, they’ve had to learn how to fly, how to avoid predators, and forage on their own. Many are also blundering into a new obstacle- mist nets strung in their paths. The banding team at ASI collects information about the birds and fits them with a leg band that they’ll carry for the rest of their lives. 

 

Soon, the biggest challenge of their lives will be upon them. These young thrushes that have only ever known the boreal forest will soon be finding their way, purely by instinct to Costa Rica and other areas in Central America. They’ll cross mountains, cities, farm lands and deserts- each with their own challenges. Once on their wintering grounds, young thrushes will adapt to a whole new environment in the rain forest and stay there for the next 7 months. If these young birds avoid all the dangers of migration, we’ll be lucky enough to recapture some of the returning birds at the banding station next May!

~Laurel

P.S. We did not operate the station today due to substandard weather conditions.

First-of-season Fox Sparrow today!

Savannah Sparrow

The clouds that enveloped Creamers this morning were quite foreboding, but proved to be forgiving when they gave way to diffuse sunshine while we finished up the day. A brief spell of Yellow-rumped Warblers again overtook our nets mid-morning but luckily didn't distract us from a cool first-of-season, a  Fox Sparrow! We were also excited to capture a handful of Blackpoll Warblers and our second Savannah Sparrow (a hatch year pictured  right).

~Claire

Moose in the gully!

Common Redpoll

It was an overcast and cool morning at the station today. The nets were wet this morning from an overnight rainfall and a moose decided to hang out in the gully near nets 13 and 14. While he didn't seem to mind we were around, he certainly didn't help with our net checks (we often close nets if a moose sticks around for ours and the bird's safety).

Yellow-rumped Warblers are still around in relatively abundant numbers and made up most of our captures. The diversity of our captures was higher today (13 species!) and even included a new species for the season, a Savannah Sparrow! The feeling of Fairbanks fall at Creamers continues to deepen as more Sandhill Cranes arrive and their prehistoric calls fill the skies.

Yellow-rumped Warblers 'TGIF'ing!

 

Northern Waterthrush

Our first Friday of banding was a whirlwind. Yellow-rumped Warblers (Myrtle subspecies) filled our nets and dominated the captures for the day (123 out of 150 birds!). The smattering of other warbler species (Blackpoll, Orange-crowned, Waterthrush, Wilson, and Yellow) kept us on our toes, and one of us also saw a vixen Red Fox with three kits!

The curious case of 2771-28004

 A few days ago I received a call about a thrush that had hit someone's window this summer and unfortunately perished from the incident. However, the careful observer saw something different on the birds leg: an metal bird band!

 

We met up, exchanged information, and I excitedly rushed off to query our database. Surely, this Swainson's Thrush must have been"one of ours". I was further curious by the unfamiliar prefix of the band and pondered how old the bird might be; the prefix is the first four numbers on a songbird band and a station will often go through 100s or even 1000s of bands with a particular prefix (the last 5 digits change in chronological order). This sometimes gives the bander an indication on the time period a band was used (and thus the age of the bird) or if the band is "foreign" (a bird banded by someone else). 

My curiosity rose as I went through 29 years of banding data and didn't find '2771-28004'. I double checked the band number, took some measurements, checked the birds sex, and took some other notes from the specimen. My last resort was to check the inventory of every band ever issued to be used by our station. No band with the prefix 2771 had been in our inventory, which meant that...

...it was banded at different banding station or by a different research project! A foreign band!

The Bird Banding Laboratory (run by the U.S. Geological Survey, a federal agency) issues permits and bands, and maintains a records database of all birds banded in North America; it also helps connect banders to each other when birds are found (or bands are seen through binoculars or in a photo) and reported across the country. This was my only hope to find where this Swainson's Thrush "came from". I reported the band to the Bird Banding Laboratory (this is something anyone can do by going to this link).

 It wasn't long until the original banding record arrived in my inbox; the Swainson's Thrush, now dead from a window collision this June, was originally banded in September of 2018 at Silver Islet, Ontario, Canada as a hatch year! That's over 3,000 miles away! At the time it was banded, it's sex wasn't able to be determined, which was a question I could now answer almost two years later for the banders at Silver Islet. It's a male! This Swainson's Thrush may have met an unfortunate end, but it's recovery has provided clues about it's life. 

Banding birds is one of the ways that we have uncovered where birds go during different times of year, sometimes how quickly it takes to get there (a Swainson's Thrush we banded here in Fairbanks in 2018 flew about 900 miles in 10 days a couple years ago!), how long birds live, and other important insights that can be applied to both further our understanding of these marvelous species and pave the way to research that guides management decisions to conserve them.

------ 

Common Redpoll (Female)

 

Today we had a beautiful clear day and captured two new species for the season, an American Green-winged Teal and a Common Redpoll. The Common Redpoll was particularly exciting because she still had a brood patch (an area of highly vascularized and featherless skin on the abdomen used to keep eggs and chicks warm) suggesting she'd just completed a breeding attempt; she also had an esophageal diverticula that appeared to be full of birch seeds.

Fall 2020 Updates

It's been an eventful few months in Fairbanks and across the world. We are excited to announce that we are operating the Creamer's Field Migration Station this fall while following national guidelines for banding safely during the pandemic. We have integrated protocols to help protect our crew, birds, and members of the community. It's with a heavy heart that I announce that the station will be completely closed to the public. I'll miss all the smiling faces and helping hands of volunteers, visitors and students. 

Our crew will do our best to share the season with you and hope you'll stay in touch with everything that happens through our blog, YouTube channel, Instagram and Facebook. We'd like to take a some time this season answering questions you have about the station, bird banding and birds. Let us know what burning questions you have! Submit your questions in the comments of this post and stay tuned for an answer later this season.

I'd like send out a huge thank you to our 2020 Adopt-a-Net sponsors! Your continued support through this challenging year has been critical at enabling us to continue with the 29th year of operation.

ABR, Inc.
Usibelli Coal Mine

Design Alaska
North Pole Physical Therapy
Martha Hanlon Architects

Bryce & Michelle Lake
Randy Meyers
Arctic Audubon
Alaska Feed Co.

Jeff Walters

in loving memory of Claire Turnbough

If you haven't renewed your membership or you'd like to sponsor our work at the station by Adopt-a-net, we could still use your help!

We thank you for your continued support and hope that this fall sees you safe and healthy.

Happy migration and best wishes,

Claire & the CFMS Crew

P.S. We had a great day out at the station. The gully deepens by the day, and Yellow-rump Warblers have made an early play for leader board in capture numbers.