Banding in Missouri

[Larry Lade]

Jack Hilsabeck (certified bird bander), Dr. John Rushin and I banded birds today here in Saint Joseph, Missouri, at Missouri Western State College Campus. I was not initially there (I did not even know he would be banding today). I received a telephone call from Jack informing me that warblers were "swarming" his nets, could I give him a hand. I jumped into my Jeep and headed for the college which is about a ten minute drive from our home. When I arrived he had 12-15 birds in holding bags. Dr. Rushin was soon there and we captured about 18 more birds in the mist nets. We began to extract them from the bags and identify, age, sex, band, record, photograph and release the birds. Our final tally of birds was:

Red-eyed Vireo (5)
Mourning Warbler (2)
Yellow Warbler (1)
Black-and-white Warbler (2)
Wilson's Warbler (6)
Nashville Warbler (1)
Chestnut-sided Warbler (3)
Least Flycatcher (1)
Empidonax flycatcher (9) (Acadian/Alder/Willow?)
Gray Catbird (1)
Northern Cardinal (1)
Ovenbird (1)

This was certainly a lot different than those days when we banded and only caught 3 or 4 birds! It was a great day! I will try to post a picture or two when and if they become available to me.

Larry ;)

[Geraldine]

How fabulous, Larry. There is a birdwatching site near here where they teach banding, and I very much want to learn. It is fascinating to watch. And to see all those warblers! I've spent countless hours hanging round reed beds, to be rewarded by brief flashes of "could have been a ..." :hippy:

[phyllosc]

Larry

Are Empidonax flycatcher difficult to separate even in the hand?

Dave

[Larry Lade]

Empidonax flycatchers are extremely difficult to differentiate. Most people do so using the bird's call. Of the eleven species of "empids" the most problematical in our area are the Acadian, Willow and Alder. To illustrate this point I quote from "All the Birds of North America", one of the field guides I have.

"Science currently recognizes 11 species, distinguished by differences in voice, nesting habits, and habitat. Unfortunately, empids usually sing only at the nesting grounds, and migrants can appear in any habitat, making species identification impossible at times. Most species are so alike in plumage that their color varies more due to molt and wear than from one species to another."

With the bird "in hand" there are some physical measurements which can help with the birds identification, such as length of primary extension, P 10 compared to P 8 and P 7 being two millimeters shorter or longer, etc. But there is some overlap in these dimensions that even the experts sometimes have to conclude that the bird is an just an empidonax species.
We also were handling so many birds on this particular day that we did not have sufficient time to even attempt these rather arduous time-consuming measurements.

[Larry Lade]

Recent additions to our "banded" list of birds (Missouri)

Magnolia Warbler
Warbling Vireo
Bell's Vireo
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart

Larry

[Larry Lade]

Here's a photo of a Wilson's Warbler. Jack and I have banded six or seven in the last couple of days. The warbler migration has been very good so far this fall season. So far we have banded eleven warbler species (three vireo species).

[Larry Lade]

Empidonax flycatchers are very difficult to ID when not singing, as is stated in one of my posts above. The Least Flycatcher can be identified when compared with one of the larger empidonax flycatchers as demonstrated below. The smaller flycatcher on the right is a Least Flycatcher and the one on the left is an Acadian, Alder or Willow Flycatcher.

[phyllosc]

Larry.

I didn't realise that the 'empids' could be so problematical, even in the hand.

And a worderful photo of the Willson's.

Dave

[Charles Harper]

I'll bet the left one is a Traill's-- not yellow-greeny enough for Acadian...

[Larry Lade]

This morning we netted and banded a beatiful, adult male Mourning Warbler. Also banded were two Warbling Vireos and one Black-capped Chickadee.

Yesterday we only netted and banded one bird, a Swainson's Warbler.

Larry

This post ammended October 19, 2003.

It would have been great to have caught a Swainson's Warbler (as this would be a "lifer" for me!). They do occur in the southern part of the state in cane breaks, but not here in northwest Missouri. Alas, the bird we netted and banded was a Swainson's Thrush. Still in all, that was a pretty good bird to band.

[Larry Lade]

We had a good start netting and banding birds this morning on the campus of Missouri Western State College. We netted birds for about one hour, from 7 AM until 8 AM. At that point it began to rain. We took all the birds into a room in the science building and banded them in the presence of about 20 biology students and their instructor.

Birds banded were:

Brown Thrasher - 1
Northern Cardinal - 1
House Wren - 1
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
Orange-crowned Warbler - 7
Fox Sparrow - 1
Swamp Sparrow - 1

Larry

[Larry Lade]

Today, October 1, 2003, at Missouri Western State College in Saint Joseph, Missouri, we netted the following:

Brown Thrasher - 1
Gray Catbird - 3
Orange-crowned Warbler - 9
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 11
Song Sparrow - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 3
Northern Cardinal - 2
House Wren - 1

In October the number of sparrows caught should increase while the number of warblers/vireo should decrease.

Larry

[Larry Lade]

October 18, 2003, we netted and banding thirteen (13) species of birds:
Black-capped Chickadee - 1 + 1 recapture
Tufted Titmouse - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
Gray Catbird - 1
American Goldfinch - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Nashville Warbler - 2
Orange-crowned Warbler - 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2
Indigo Bunting - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 1
Field Sparrow - 1

Larry