Great presentation on our Boreal Owl Study at the IBBA this past week.  Got to do some birding while we were there and snapped this photo of Green Jays at Bentsen-Rio GrandeValley State Park.

Jill and I had a great time talking about birding the Haul Road with the folks from Columbus Audubon! What a fun night! Thanks for inviting us to share our adventures with you!

We will be teaching banding classes at the Ecology Research Center, Miami University every Tuesday this Winter.  Classes are free and open to all beginning and experienced banders.  If you are planning on attending classes, please contact Dave Russell @ russeld@muohio.edu.

Tuesday was our last day of banding for Fall Migration.  We will begin banding migrating Northern Saw-whet Owls at our Hueston Woods State Park banding station in November.  Watch the calendar for exact dates.  Also, remember that Jill and Sr Marty are banding at CBO on the 2nd Tuesday of the month throughout the Winter.

We’ve had a great month of banding this year!  Last week we got five different vireo species on the same day!  Check out these three.

Blue-headed Vireo

Philadelphia Vireo

Yellow-throated Vireo

Banding at our Hueston Woods station has been very busy this Fall!    Photos will be coming!

 We banded 194 individuals, recaptured 1 female Indigo Bunting from 01Oct2009 for a total of 195 from 12 species. Banded birds included:

Nashville Warbler-1

Palm Warbler-6

Common Yellowthroat-20

E. Phoebe-1

Indigo Bunting-17 [+1 recapture]

Am. Goldfinch-78

Field Sparrow-2

Swamp Sparrow-12

Lincoln’s Sparrow-8

Savannah Sparrow-7

Song Sparrow-39

Bobolink-3

 Yes we banded three Bobolinks!! Two were hatch-year females

and one an after-hatch year male

Note that the male looks very different in his basic plumage than we typically see while breeding in summer. These guys might wind up as far south as Argentina this fall!!! The males colors appear richer than the females, but they are easily sexed by wing cord length-males are greater than 93mm females less than 91mm. 

 There were numerous other birds around that didn’t make their way into the nets—Cooper’s Hawk (almost ended up in the net!), Bobwhite, woodcock, Sedge Wrens, ect.

Hopefully Sat morning will be as nice as today!!!

This Hatch Year male Black and White Warbler was banded August 28th.  Since getting back from Alaska, we have been very active banding Fall Migrants at our Hueston Woods State Park banding station.  We got both of these male Mourning Warblers on the same day – a Hatch Year and an After Hatch Year. 

Be sure to check the calendar for other banding dates in 2010.

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Thane Maynard, Director of Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, author and host of NPR’s 90-Second Naturalist will be the Keynote Speaker at the Queen City Bird Festival, Saturday, May 15, 2010.  An avid birder, Thane will share is love of nature and hope for all animals at 4pm.  Click here for more information.