American Tree Sparrow Invasion!

We had a surprising morning when we arrived at Creamer's Field. American Tree Sparrows were everywhere! We silently opened our nets and had a productive morning of captures. What a nice fall treat!

How many toes on that first-of-season??

We had another great bird visit the here banding station this morning. This adult female American three-toed woodpecker is the second woodpecker we have banded this fall. 

These woodpeckers often take advantage of disturbed areas where dead, or burned trees can house bark beetles and other insects. Their foraging strategy is unique in that they will chip bark off of the trunks of trees, looking for insect larvae. American three-toed woodpeckers also breed the furthest north of any other woodpecker in North America, with nesting pairs reported as far north as the Brook's Range. 

Hopefully we can catch some of the other local woodpecker species this fall that also inhabit the woods around Creamer's Field!

-Dave

Ask-a-bander: how often do you recapture birds?

Almost all the birds we recapture at CFMS were originally banded here at the station. About 1% of birds from the current season are recaptured the next year (or later!) at CFMS; those species typically include Black-capped Chickadees, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Hammond’s Flycatchers, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. We’re the farthest north station in North American and it’s very rare that we capture a bird that was originally banded elsewhere; the last time that happened it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk that was originally banded in Nebraska!

Another first-of-season, a Hermit Thrush!!

Today we banded our first hermit thrush of the fall. This is not unusual timing as these thrushes migrate north for the breeding grounds later than other thrushes and also head south later than other thrushes. The song of the hermit thrush has been described by many as "the finest sound in nature". If you hear a flute like melody coming from the forest it may just be the hermit thrush. Often times their song may sound as if the bird is farther away than it actually is, so keep and eye out too! 

~Chelsea

Who says bright yellow isn't camouflage?

Most of our warblers has passed through on their way south. We were surprised and joyful to see this charming adult female Wilson's Warbler! She'd certainly be easy to miss among all the yellow leaves filling our trees!

First-of-Season: Red-breasted Nuthatch!

We had a very neat visitor here at the banding station this morning. This juvenile red-breasted nuthatch is the first nuthatch we have caught this year, and the first we have caught in the past couple years. These small songbirds can be found in mature coniferous woods where they often nest in cavities inside spruce trees. Nuthatches are well known for their unique foraging strategy of climbing up and down tree trunks looking for small insects. If you can't find one by sight, listen for their unmistakable car alarm-like song. Although many nuthatches in the lower-48 migrate to warmer climes during the winter months, most nuthatches here in Alaska are year-round residents. These birds love to frequent bird feeders, especially in colder months. Put a suet feeder in your yard and maybe you can attract your own nuthatches!

-Dave

Attachments area

Junco 2811- 092295 Comes back!

A "baby" Junco

Today at Alaska Songbird Institute's banding station, we caught a slate-colored junco that had already been banded. That’s not such a rare event. Birds often spend a few days at Creamer’s Field resting and eating in preparation for migration. When we initially catch it, the bird gets an aluminum band with a 4 number prefix and unique 7 number sequence attached to its leg. During its time at Creamer’s, the bird might get caught in the mist nets again while it forages and travels through the refuge. This junco’s band number was 2811- 092295. Its band looked old and the band number wasn’t in our 2020 data. With mounting excitement, we realized that this bird had been banded elsewhere, or at the ASI station in previous years. A data search revealed that junco 2811- 092295 was banded at Creamer’s Field in August of 2019. At that time, the bird was recently hatched and we couldn’t determine gender by its plumage. Today, we could tell that this bird was an adult female. What else can we tell from her band? We know that this tiny bird survived the round-trip migration to her wintering grounds somewhere in the Midwest, and back again. We can guess that this summer she found a mate and successfully raised her first brood of nestlings on or near Creamer’s Refuge. We hope we’ll catch her again next year and be able to read another chapter of her life story!

~Laurel