November 1, 2018

On Thursday we did our first White-crowned Sparrow Project banding at McNary National Wildlife Refuge.  We need a special use permit to band there and it came through.  We had banded there in the initial White-crowned banding from 2009-2011.  Now we will hopefully track individuals banded there.

A great thing about this location is that it is accessible to the public and we will be holding public banding sessions.  At this moment we do not have the second session scheduled but it will be announced at the bottom of this (and future entries) when the date is determined.

Our first bird was exciting.  We caught a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  We cannot band raptors but it was exciting to see.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

We soon banded our first White-crowned Sparrow at this location.  We have 2 split colors so McNary will have all orange/yellow split bands.  Other locations may use this split too but if you are going to try to spot bands, you can note this split there.  The split bands are important as they designate these White-crowned Sparrows as being from our study.  No one else will use this split.  Remember that the order is important.  Colors are read and recorded this way:  upper left, lower left, upper right, lower right.  That means this bird is split, silver (federal metal band), light blue, light blue.  No other bird will get this combination.  We can track this bird and possibly see it next year with adult plumage.

White-crowned Sparrow

First one banded at McNary NWR

We also band other species but they only get a federal band.  The incidentals were a Spotted Towhee, a Song Sparrow, and a male Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (male)

We banded a total of 13 White-crowned Sparrows before weather pushed us to close.  Next session will be announced here when scheduled.  Once feeders go up at the refuge these banded birds may be more easily spotted.

August 26, 2018 - west of the Cascade Mountains

Fresh off the plane from Arizona, we went to Edmonds, WA to observe a banding class conducted by the Puget Sound Bird Observatory.  I had taken a course through this organization a year before I moved to Florida (2010).  We banded in the Cascade Mountains and I have fond memories of this experience.  I was very pleased to be able to reach out to Christine Southwick and she graciously let us come to observe and/or help.

The class was specifically run on weekends so working folks could attend.  The small class size was perfect to accommodate us.  Students were Jen, Zack, Mariko, and Karissa.  Instructors Chris, Cynthia, and Elaine were great to work with.  We went on net runs, assisted in data taking, and whatever was needed.  Our first run had three American Robins and more.  It got hard to keep track of birds going in different directions (to different students and instructors).  It was clear that we were also students (does one ever stop learning? - I hope not).  It had been a while since we did evaluations of breeding birds and new hatch year birds as most of our banding was with winter birds.  It had also been a while since we looked at western species.  And thirdly, I had never worked west of the Cascades.

American Robin

Net runs also yielded Spotted Towhee (I banded a HY SPTO), Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Song Sparrows, and more.

Things got quiet for a while and we were just taking down nets when one net had 8 or 9 birds!  Wow - four or five were Bushtits as well as an Orange-crowned Warbler, and a already banded Chestnut-backed Chickadee.  I think there was also a wren or Song Sparrow too.  Oh, how I had wanted to band a chickadee (all were recaptures) but of course I settled for a Bushtit which was a new species for me to band.  (#115).  I must remember, patience is a virtue.

Bushtit (female)

The Bushtit was so incredibly small.  I had banded other small birds (gnatcatcher and kinglet) but this beat all!  5 grams!  I love her glaring eyes!  The male Bushtit has dark eyes.  This bird had a receding brood patch - was the whole family in the net?  As it turns out the answer is no, there was another post-breeding female.

What a tremendous opportunity.  I hope to encourage others to take classes offered by Puget Sound Bird Observatory and/or to support their work.  They are home-based in Puget Sound but work for all we believe in, in Washington, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond.  We hope to participate again.