McGILL BIRD OBSERVATORY

WINTER POPULATION MONITORING

Week 6:  December 5-11, 2006

Welcome to the McGill Bird Observatory weekly report.  Click here for a complete listing of our archives.  Comments or questions are welcome at mbo@migrationresearch.org

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:



So far it is still very much the winter of the House Finch at MBO - they account for
over one third of the birds we have banded, and are routinely the most abundant
species at the feeders.  (Photo by Marcel Gahbauer)
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  THIS WEEK THIS WINTER 2006 TOTAL SITE TOTAL
# birds (and species) banded 3 (3) 44 (8)

4247 (84)

9300 (96)

# birds (and species) repeat 4 (2) 17 (5)

667 (39)

1545 (52)

# birds (and species) return -- 1 (1)

129 (22)

198 (26)

# species observed 20 46

159

180

# net hours 11 46.0

7580.7

14002.8

# birds banded / 100 net hours 27.3 95.7

56.0

66.4

Note: table does not include nocturnal banding (owls)

Bander-in-charge:  Marie-Anne Hudson
Assistants:  Jean Beaudreault, Sophie Cauchon, Shawn Craik, Barbara Frei, Marcel Gahbauer, Gay Gruner, Betsy Mcfarlane, Andre Pelletier, Katleen Robert

Notes:  For a couple of days this week it was very cold; at other times it remained unseasonably mild but again wet.  At least we were able to squeeze in one attempt at banding this week, but gusty winds severely hampered the effectiveness of the nets, with just 3 new birds banded, and another 4 repeats.  Nonetheless, it was good to get back out and into action.  Another two species were added to the winter 2006/07 list, with a Great Black-backed Gull spotted flying overhead on Saturday, and two Snow Geese in the skies the following day.  The big story though remains the phenomenal number of Canada Geese still in the area - 935 counted on Saturday, and 1600 on Sunday!  Mallards are also still present in large numbers, reflecting the late start to winter this year.

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