Pine Siskins at feeders

I’ve read descriptions of American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins eating through bags of thistle seed in one winter season but never experienced it myself. Before I left for a winter vacation in early December I’d seen a lone Pine Siskin at the feeder. The first one seen here in four years. I return to find a large group of Pine Siskins have taken over the feeders. I’ll be buying more food before January is half through. I counted 23 at one time this morning.

New bird - Pine Warbler

Temperatures warmed up today so I could band in the afternoon. The feeder birds continue to NOT go in the nets. A pair of Pine Warblers down by the lake did go in a net which is a first for that species here. The contrast in coloring between the male and female is striking. Other captures were a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet and a recaptured Brown-headed Nuthatch.

On the lake there are between 130 and 150 Ring Necked Ducks. Never had that many before.

Our suet mix is popular with many species at the feeder station. Peanut butter is now available on two new pine cones. Long-Leaf Pine pine cones make excellent feeders. I'm recycling the wide ties that grocery stores use to hold lettuce together. Tie the tie around one end of the pine cone and tie the other end to a convenient tree branch; add peanut butter, and wait for the guests.

Recaptures

This is my second year of banding at this station. I now have site fidelity confirmed for White-throated Sparrows. While this is not 'news' to ornithologists, it is a thrill for me to know that the bird in my hand has navigated long distances from this spot and returned to it.

A bird banded on February 16 was recaptured on October 26. It was the first White-throated Sparrow caught this winter season.

Then on November 9th two additional birds were recaptured in the same net. I looked them up and these birds were caught together last year November 17, 2007.

Yes, my sample is small but this is a good beginning.

Dogwood berries

There are three dogwood trees right by our house. Each fall a group of mockingbirds appear to dispute 'ownership' of this patch of food. The 'winning' mocker guards against all comers, except for the small birds. The chickadees and titmice are allowed to visit the feeders nearby and seek shelter in the dogwoods unharmed. Then a week arrives when the berries are either 'just so' or roaming bird hordes moving through this neighborhood spot the trees. A week of furious activity results as a mocker tries to chase off every bird from a large flock.

In past years the dogwood berry season is when the starling flocks visited. This year I've seen a flock across the lake but the birds have not come here. Last year a robin flock came and stripped the trees over a couple of days. The mocker tried to defend. The robin flock flew in low from nearby woods. This meant some of the birds went into the banding nets. I was looking forward to a repeat this year so that I could improve my knowledge of age and sex identification with robins.

So who is stripping the trees this weekend? Rusty blackbirds are eating the berries and there is no mocker defending. We've not seen one for several weeks. The Rusty Blackbirds fly high and dive down to the trees. Even though I had nets up near the bird feeders and dogwoods no blackbird came close to them. When startled, the birds flew straight up and away.

Surprisingly the Rusty Blackbirds ignored me most of the time. The banding station is between two of the dogwoods. The birds were even feeding on the ground near me.

Worm snake

Beetle, crickets, ants, and assorted flying insects all land up in our swimming pool. Every day I rescue some and some of the beetles immediately 'jump' back in ... Occasionally larger critters fall in and these I try and identify. The worm snake looked like its name .... a large worm lying on a floating plastic tube. As worms are rare in our yard and this one was definitely longer than normal I was curious. The 'worm' swam vigorously away underwater when I tried to fish it out with a net. I easily caught it and took a look.

The animal was the thickness of a pencil and a uniform dark color on top with a slightly lighter shade under. I thought it might be a glass lizard and checked in "Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia" by Martof etc. Nope. The coloring did not match with any of the three glass lizards illustrated. I browsed the snake section and there it was - a worm snake. Length was right, location was right, photo matched. Apparently it is a common snake but rarely seen.

Photo by J.D. Willson

You can read about this snake and see photos at the Davison Herpetology site or at this site from the University of Georgia.

Record keeping

Now that the MAPS banding season is over I've concentrated on paperwork. All that banding data must go into Bandit and MapsProg and be submitted. I've just completed the records for the spring 2008 season and submitted them to the banding lab. Through early May 2008 I banded 34 species at this station. Next I'll complete putting MAPS records into MapsProg and see if I can export the data over to Bandit. I hope so.

With the end of MAPS the feeders went back up. The birds found them after about a week. Now the usuals are regularly visiting, including at least one 'smart' squirrel and a very 'tame' bunny. WBNU and BHNU are back for the food. Some birds are eating in the blueberry patch but there is no obvious diminution of the supply when we go picking berries.

Anniversary - one year

Monday the 28th will be the one year anniversary for this banding station. There was one net up that morning. A ruby-throated hummingbird (not banded) and cardinal were the first birds caught. Today there were six nets up for 36 net hours and a grand total of 2 birds banded -- ovenbird and cardinal. I'm banding under the MAPS protocol for the summer months and July is a low number month for a MAPS bander.

MAPS = Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivability Program
http://www.birdpop.org/maps.htm

Birds can look so different as juveniles and when in heavy molt. I consult Pyle's book, I've attended training courses, but I still wish for an 'expert' sitting next to me at the banding table. Over time I'll have more exposure to variations in plumage at different times of year. Right now I keep suffering from frustration. Todays birds are good examples. In the net I immediately labeled the cardinal as an AHY F. While processing the bird doubt crept in. The crest is brown. A small patch of shoulder feathers are red while most of the coverts are brown. The bill is orange but with light edges. Is this actually a HY male that fledged over two months ago? I'll know for sure if I recapture this bird in three months time.