Fall Bird Banding - Saint Joseph, Missouri, 2006 (1 Viewer)

This morning was a good morning for bird banding on the campus of Missouri Western State University here in Saint Joseph, Missouri. We only banded for an hour and a half as our leader had to attend a funeral and needed to leave.

We netted and banded 38 birds in that hour an a half, representing twelve (12) species.

Nashville Warbler (about a dozen)
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - several
Lincoln's Sparrow - several
White-throated Sparrow - several
Dark-eyed Junco - 1
Gray Catbird - several
House Wren - several
Winter Wren - 1
Brown Thrasher - 1
Scarlet Tanager - 1

*Banders: Jack Hilsabeck, Dr. John Rushin and Larry Lade

Not quite as many birds today, compared to yesterday, bird banding at MWSU in Saint Joseph, Missouri. We netted and banded 24 birds this morning. For number 25, we had one re-capture of a House Wren which we processed yesterday.

12 Species banded:
Gray Catbird - 1
Orange-crowned Warbler - 6
Nashville Warbler - 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle race) - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3
Lincoln's Sparrow - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 3
Dark-eyed Junco - 1
Winter Wren - 1
House Wren - 1
Marsh Wren - 1
House Finch - 1

We also had one Northern Cardinal caught in the mist net, but it flew out before it could be retrieved and banned.

*Banders: Jack Hilsabeck and Larry Lade

Birds seemed to be everywhere this morning (October 7) on the campus of Missouri Western State University, Saint Joseph, Missouri. In the area where we are birding there were a lot of Cedar Waxwings, American Robins, Blue Jays, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Canada Geese, and some Chimney Swifts, Common Grackles, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Carolina Wrens, European Starlings, several Turkey Vultures and one Pied-billed Grebe on a small pond.

Birds banded (I think Jack said the number of individual birds was 41)

Species List of Banded Birds (17):

Nashville Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
*BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER (I may get a photo of this one to post later. A stunning bird!)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Winter Wren
Cedar Waxwing
Gray Catbird
American Robin
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow

Bird Banders: Jack Hilsabeck, Dr. John Rushin and Larry Lade

Jack Hilsabeck, Ryan Evans and I netted and banded birds this morning
from 7:30 until 10:00 on the campus of Missouri Western State
University, Saint Joseph, USA.

Species (netted) banded:

Eastern Phoebe - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 2 (one of Jack's "favorite species" NOT,
they bite a lot)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3
*Carolina Wren -1 (a recaptured, already banded bird)
Hermit Thrush - 1 (perhaps our best bird of the morning)
Gray Catbird - 1
Orange-crowned Warbler - 7 (+ 1 recaptured bird)
Nashville Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 3
**Spotted Towhee - 1 (in the net, but escaped before it could be
retrieved, not banded)
Song Sparrow - 1 banded and 1 recapture
Lincoln's Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 13
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - 1
Northern Cardinal - recaptured bird (If you think Black-capped
Chickadees can bite, try holding one of these!)
American Goldfinch - 2

Other birds observed in the bird banding area: European Starling,
American Crow (apparently mobbing an owl or hawk in the area), Blue Jay,
Canada Geese (flyovers), White-breasted Nuthatch, American Robin,
Red-bellied (incessantly vocalizing), Cooper's Hawk and Red-tailed Hawk.

(Numerous other small birds, but we were too busy with the banding to
ID them.)

Note: So far this fall we have banded 632 birds (52 species) on the university's campus.

Here is a photo of a species we netted and banded a few days ago.

We only were able to net and band a few birds yesterday. Setting up the nets at 7:15 AM, we were looking forward to a successful morning of banding. But with with onset of a heavy mist (around 8:15 AM) we had to shut the nets down as it is to stressful on the birds to be in the nets in such conditions (that is in the rain or mist). We did manage to band the following species before the moisture "rolled in":

Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco

This morning it was rather dismal (weather-wise) as we banded birds from 7 AM until 10 AM on the campus of Missouri Western State University, Saint Joseph, Missouri, USA. The temperature was 45 degrees F. and a north wind was blowing 5-10 miles per hour and it was misty. We discontinued banding because the mist became a light rain and we did not wish to traumatize the birds by catching them in wet nets.

However, it was one of the best days we have ever had banding birds. We totalled 59 birds (and there were some which bumped into the net and bounced back out. And some escaped our cold and numbing hands as we were processing them). Therefore the number of birds actually encountered during the morning was considerably higher than the 59 actually banded.

Species List of Birds Banded:

Marsh Wren - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3
Orange-crowned Warbler - 2
Nashville Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 10
Eastern Towhee - 1
Song Sparrow - 17
Lincoln's Sparrow - 4
White-throated Sparrow - 5
Swamp Sparrow - 14
Indigo Bunting - 1

I thought some of you might be interested in a bird caught and banded on October 28 of this year. It was banded on a local, university campus in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

It is the first of its kind that we have ever banded.

Larry Lade said:

I thought some of you might be interested in a bird caught and banded on October 28 of this year. It was banded on a local, university campus in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

It is the first of its kind that we have ever banded.

Click to expand...

Le Conte's Sparrow - certainly looks like an Ammodramus.

It is a LeConte's Sparrow, which is in the Ammodramus family of sparrows.

Good call, Jane!

Larry Lade said:

I thought some of you might be interested in a bird caught and banded on October 28 of this year. It was banded on a local, university campus in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

It is the first of its kind that we have ever banded.

Click to expand...

It looks like a LeConte's Sparrow (but only if the crown stripe is white). Otherwise I'm guessing Nelson's Sharptailed Sparrow.

Jourdaj, it is a Le Conte's Sparrow.

Notice the brownish purple streaks on the nape. The sharp-tailed has a plain gray nape (hind neck).