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.

Spring 2020 Updates

I hope this update finds everyone well and enjoying this beautiful sunny day. Normally by this time, we'd have the banding station up and running, and perhaps even capturing our first migrants! Unfortunately this isn't a normal year, and the board and staff at the Alaska Songbird Institute have been busy staying tuned and adapting responsibility to the implications of the global pandemic. In all our efforts we strive to put health and safety first, and it is with this in mind that we have decided to cancel our spring banding season.

Despite the challenges that COVID-19 has presented for us all in 2020, the Alaska Songbird Institute is excited and hopeful for the future. We hope that you'll stay in touch and help us with some awesome new and ongoing projects!

Stay tuned by visiting our website or Facebook for current updates on our response to COVID-19 and how you can stay involved. If you haven't already, sign-up for our newsletter or become a member!  We still need your support to continue our important work of conserving boreal songbirds through education and research!

We thank you for your continued support, and wish you and yours the best in health and happiness.

Cheers,

Claire & the CFMS Crew