McGILL BIRD OBSERVATORY

FALL MIGRATION MONITORING PROGRAM 2004

Fall 2004 was the first season of migration monitoring at the McGill Bird Observatory.  Banding activities took place on a part-time basis from mid-September through the end of October, on average 3-4 mornings per week.  Over the course of 21 banding outings, several of them quite short, over 700 birds were banded of 45 species.  In 2005 we hope to achieve more complete coverage and a longer season beginning in August to target earlier migrants.  Below are summaries of each outing.  Comments or questions are welcome at mbo@migrationresearch.org. 

FMMP 2004 SEASON TOTALS:
(click here for full report)

Species banded:

Individuals banded:  

 Species observed: Birds / 100 net hours:
45 715 111 78

Click here for information on the 2004-05 Winter Bird Monitoring Program
Click here for information on the Fall 2004 owl banding program
Click here for information on the 2004 Spring Migration Monitoring Program

Friday October 29, 2004
Bander in charge:  Marcel Gahbauer Banding assistants:  Manon Dubé, Gay Gruner, Noémie Laplante, Barbara MacDuff, Arnaud Tarroux
Hours:  5.5  (0700-1230) Nets:  10 Net hours:  45.75 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  37
Opening weather: 0% cloud -1C N (Beaufort 1) no precipitation
Closing weather: 0% cloud 10C NE (Beaufort 1) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
30 18 4 2 n/a
Banded Repeat Return
17 6 n/a
NOTES:   This was scheduled as the final morning of the fall season, and the results validated that decision well.  For the first time this fall, neither Song Sparrow nor White-throated Sparrow were present.  Instead of their half-hearted songs, we were greeted by a heavy layer of frost and sub-zero temperatures.  Eventually we did catch some birds - another dozen American Robins to bring our season total to 141, plus our third Sharp-shinned Hawk and our first adult female Cardinal.  A Northern Shrike was seen briefly early on, and a Long-eared Owl heard from the gate at opening time.  However, the highlight of the morning was a small flock of 4 Eastern Bluebirds pausing briefly at the Purple Martin house near the banding station, our 112th and final species for our first fall season. 

Wednesday October 27, 2004
Bander in charge:  n/a Census:  Chris Murphy, Ross Murphy
Hours:  1.25  (0820-0935) Nets:  n/a Net hours:  n/a Birds banded / 100 net hours:  n/a
Opening weather: 90% cloud 6C - no precipitation
Closing weather: 90% cloud 6C - no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
19 19 n/a n/a n/a
Banded Repeat Return
n/a n/a n/a
NOTES:   Over the past week census totals have consistently been under 20 species, and many species that have been familiar throughout the fall season such as Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Yellow-rumped Warbler have become scarce or entirely absent.  For the most part, today's census documented the usual suspects of late - lots of American Robin, American Tree Sparrow, and Slate-coloured Junco, small numbers of woodpeckers, etc.  The highlight was a Palm Warbler, only the second recorded this fall, and the first in over a month. 

Monday October 25, 2004
Bander in charge:  Marcel Gahbauer Banding assistants:  Marie-Anne Hudson, Betsy McFarlane, Crissy Ranellucci
Hours:  6.25  (0655-1310) Nets:  10 Net hours:  56.5 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  127
Opening weather: 90% cloud 1C E (Beaufort 1) no precipitation
Closing weather: 70% cloud 9C NE (Beaufort 2) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
24 16 9 4 n/a
Banded Repeat Return
72 15 n/a
NOTES:   It seems at least one final big push of migrants remained - today was our second busiest day of the fall season, with 87 birds caught.  Most numerous by far were Slate-coloured Juncos, accounting for nearly one-third of all birds; American Robins and American Tree-Sparrows also remained very numerous.  A female Pileated Woodpecker (possibly the one banded last week) was around net B2 for a while, but stayed well above it this time.  Two others were seen flying over the centre field.  Several Golden-crowned Kinglets were around early in the morning, but the only kinglets caught were three Ruby-crowned. 

Saturday October 23, 2004
Bander in charge:  Lance Laviolette Banding assistants:  Christina Donehower, Marilyse Lefevre, Barbara MacDuff, Don MacDuff, Betsy McFarlane
Hours:  5.25  (0645-1200) Nets:  10 Net hours:  50.7 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  45
Opening weather: 0% cloud 7C - no precipitation
Closing weather: 0% cloud 13C E (Beaufort 3) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
29 18 10 1 n/a
Banded Repeat Return
23 2 n/a
NOTES:   A much quieter morning, suggesting that migration may be coming toward an end for most species here.  American Robin and American Tree Sparrow were the most frequently banded birds today with a half dozen each.  The banding highlights of the morning were our first Fox Sparrow and first adult male Northern Cardinal.

Friday October 22, 2004
Bander in charge:  Marcel Gahbauer Banding assistants:  Shawn Craik, Chris Murphy, Crissy Ranellucci, Arnaud Tarroux
Hours:  5.7  (0645-1225) Nets:  10 Net hours:  49.9 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  82
Opening weather: 100% cloud 1C NE (Beaufort 1) no precipitation
Closing weather: 0% cloud 11C NE (Beaufort 2) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
27 20 10 1 n/a
Banded Repeat Return
41 2 n/a
NOTES:   Another exciting morning of banding, highlighted by our first ever capture of a Pileated Woodpecker.  A hatch-year female, she was the largest bird of any kind we have banded here, and was quite a handful to work with!  A female Hairy Woodpecker visited us later in the morning, as did a female Northern Cardinal, ensuring our fingers would remember this day for a while!  The dominant bird of the day was without question again the American Robin.  Another 25 were banded, vaulting them into the lead for the fall season with 105 to date.  One of the males banded today was leucistic, with some interesting white patches on the back and wings. 

Thursday October 21, 2004
Bander in charge:  n/a Census:  Shawn Craik
Hours:  1.00  (0810-0910) Nets:  0 Net hours:  0 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  n/a
Opening weather: 100% cloud 3C NE (Beaufort 3) no precipitation
Closing weather: 100% cloud 4C NE (Beaufort 4) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
20 20 n/a n/a n/a
Banded Repeat Return
n/a n/a n/a
NOTES:   Late fall is becoming evident, both with the rapidly falling leaves, and the consistently lower species diversity in recent days.  Even American Robins were somewhat down in number today, to 77. 

Wednesday October 20, 2004
Bander in charge:  n/a Census:  Mélisa Brunet
Hours:  1.00  (0805-0905) Nets:  0 Net hours:  0 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  n/a
Opening weather: 20% cloud 2C NE (Beaufort 3-4) no precipitation
Closing weather: 20% cloud 3C NE (Beaufort 3- 4) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
12 12 n/a n/a n/a
Banded Repeat Return
n/a n/a n/a
NOTES:   A windy day, and quiet in terms of birds.  Just 12 species evident during the census hour, with American Robins once again dominating with a count of 120. 

Tuesday October 19, 2004
Bander in charge:  n/a Census:  Chris Murphy, Barbara Macduff
Hours:  1.25  (0815-0930) Nets:  0 Net hours:  0 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  n/a
Opening weather: 80% cloud 7C SW (Beaufort 1) no precipitation
Closing weather: 80% cloud 7C SW (Beaufort 1) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
24 24 n/a n/a n/a
Banded Repeat Return
n/a n/a n/a
NOTES:   Census today again yielded a large number of American Robins (140), but also discovered a flock of 465 Red-winged Blackbirds, which we have not seen since a while.  Of note, at last our first Herring Gull of the fall was seen, an immature bird flying overhead. 

Monday October 18, 2004
Bander in charge:  Marcel Gahbauer Banding assistants:  Gay Gruner, Marie-Anne Hudson, Eve Marshall, Betsy McFarlane
Hours:  5.33  (0640-1200) Nets:  10 Net hours:  40.25 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  149
Opening weather: 80% cloud 4C W (Beaufort 4) no precipitation
Closing weather: 100% cloud 6C W (Beaufort 3) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
31 23 13 4 n/a
Banded Repeat Return
60 4 n/a
NOTES:   At last the American Robin influx has ended up in the nets!  38 banded this morning is by far the highest number of individuals of any species we've had in a single day - and yet it represents only a bit over 10% of the Robins in the area today!  It was also a milestone day in that the second bird we banded this morning was our 500th of the fall season.  Perhaps most memorable of all though, we caught our first Northern Shrike, a hatch-year bird, in mid-morning.  All around, one of our most interesting mornings yet.

Sunday October 17, 2004
Bander in charge:  n/a Census:  Marcel Gahbauer
Hours:  1.00  (0815-0915) Nets:  0 Net hours:  0 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  n/a
Opening weather: 100% cloud 10C SW (Beaufort 3) drizzle
Closing weather: 100% cloud 10C SW (Beaufort 3) light rain
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
20 20 n/a n/a n/a
Banded Repeat Return
n/a n/a n/a
NOTES:   A windy and wet day, much like yesterday when we didn't get out at all.  Census conducted under drizzle today, yielding 20 species, generally those which have been hanging around.  Robins remain the most abundant bird in the area with nearly 100 seen during the hour. 

Friday October 15, 2004
Bander in charge:  Marcel Gahbauer Banding assistants:  Marie-Anne Hudson
Hours:  2.75  (1445-1730) Nets:  6 Net hours:  11.25 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  62
Opening weather: 100% cloud 15C E (Beaufort 4) no precipitation
Closing weather: 100% cloud 16C E (Beaufort 3) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
24 19 5 2 n/a
Banded Repeat Return
7 7 n/a
NOTES:   Just a brief afternoon session today to introduce the second half of the Natural History of the Vertebrates class to MBO.  Again we were lucky, catching 14 birds in just over 11 net hours.  Nearly half of these were recaptured chickadees, which delighted in showing off their aggressiveness to the class, at our expense.  Also a few more Ruby-crowned Kinglets banded, and our third American Tree Sparrow.  The most noteworthy sighting of the day was of a juvenile Northern Shrike in the hawthorns just west of the banding station, also seen there earlier in the day by the census team. 

Thursday October 14, 2004
Bander in charge:  Marcel Gahbauer Banding assistants:  Gay Gruner, Isabel Julian, Barbara Macduff, Arnaud Tarroux
Hours:  5.0  (0640-1140) Nets:  7 Net hours:  31.5 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  111
Opening weather: 40% cloud 3C NE (Beaufort 2) no precipitation
Closing weather: 20% cloud 16C NE (Beaufort 3) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
33 16 9 5 n/a
Banded Repeat Return
35 8 n/a
NOTES:   Though bird activity seemed overall a bit lower this morning than it has been over the past two weeks, the nets were very productive throughout the session.  The past two days we have experimented with a new net, F3, located at the south end of Stoneycroft Pond.  Initial results are promising, and we will likely add F1 and F2 in the future to cover off this area better.  Ruby-crowned Kinglets were again the most frequently banded bird today, with Song Sparrows still up near the top too.  For the fourth day in a row, over 100 American Robins were seen (250+ today).  Aside from banding, today's highlight was a Great Horned Owl which perched for a couple of minutes near C1 as we were heading out to open the nets.  A weasel chasing a cottontail near the new F net was also an interesting sighting.  The latest addition to the site checklist is Common Merganser, courtesy of four individuals which flew over early in the morning. 

Wednesday October 13, 2004
Bander in charge:  Marcel Gahbauer Banding assistants:  Melisa Brunet, Shawn Craik, Christina Donehower, Marie-Anne Hudson, Arnaud Tarroux
Hours:  8.5  (0900-1730) Nets:  6 Net hours:  11 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  64
Opening weather: 0% cloud 5C SW (Beaufort 2) no precipitation
Closing weather: 0% cloud 16C SW (Beaufort 2) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
33 17 5 4 n/a
Banded Repeat Return
7 6 n/a
NOTES:   This was primarily a work day, to put on the new roof.  From that elevated perch we saw some nice birds, including the local Pileated Woodpecker flying by at eye level, and a couple of migrating Red-tailed Hawks.  With the warm weather some butterflies are also still about, including a Viceroy and a Mourning Cloak.  In the afternoon we did some non-standard banding as a demo for the McGill Natural History of the Vertebrates class; the nets were surprisingly productive, with 13 birds caught in just 11 net hours.  Among them was only our second Purple Finch netted, and our first American Tree Sparrow of the fall.

Tuesday October 12, 2004
Bander in charge:  Marcel Gahbauer Banding assistants:  Christina Donehower, Marie-Anne Hudson, Betsy McFarlane, Chris Murphy
Hours:  5.25  (0635-1150) Nets:  9 Net hours:  43 Birds / 100 net hours:  86
Opening weather: 0% cloud 4C NW (Beaufort 1) no precipitation
Closing weather: 20% cloud 11C W (Beaufort 3) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
38 26 13 3 1
Banded Repeat Return
37 6 1
NOTES:   Though cold, it was another nice sunny morning, and many birds were in song around dawn, including White-throated Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and American Robins.  Migration is progressing though, with increased numbers of Slate-coloured Juncos and White-crowned Sparrows.  New for the site checklist today was Cackling Goose, recently split from Canada Goose.  New for our banding checklist was House Finch, a very dark red male that looked like a Purple Finch at first glance.  Later in the morning some raptor migration was observed overhead, including both hatch-year and adult Red-shouldered Hawk together, and several Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks.

Sunday October 10, 2004
Bander in charge:  Lance Laviolette Banding assistants:  Marcel Gahbauer
Hours:  6.75  (0635-1320) Nets:  14 Net hours:  65.7 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  62
Opening weather: 60% cloud 10C W (Beaufort 2-4) no precipitation
Closing weather: 100% cloud 12C NW (Beaufort 3-4) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
23 n/a 14 6 n/a
Banded Repeat Return
41 7 n/a
NOTES:   Wind forced some nets to be closed early today, but it was a productive morning all the same.  Among the birds banded were our first Red-breasted Nuthatch and Hairy Woodpecker, our second Nashville Warbler and Sharp-shinned Hawk, and our third White-crowned Sparrow.  The hawk was caught in one of the owl nets, which have otherwise been rather unproductive during our morning sessions.   

Saturday October 9, 2004
Bander in charge:  Marcel Gahbauer Banding assistants:  Shawn Craik, Christina Donehower, Gay Gruner, Isabel Julian
Hours:  5.0  (1130-1630) Nets:  0 Net hours:  0 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  n/a
Opening weather: 100% cloud 16C S (Beaufort 3) no precipitation
Closing weather: 100% cloud 21C SW (Beaufort 5) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
16 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Banded Repeat Return
n/a n/a n/a
NOTES:   No banding today - work on the cabin instead, taking off the old roof and preparing for installing a new one.  The adult Red-shouldered Hawk put in a nice appearance mid-afternoon; otherwise we saw relatively few birds while working.

Friday October 8, 2004
Bander in charge:  Marcel Gahbauer Banding assistants:  Sheila Arthur, Shawn Craik, Christina Donehower, Barrie Ford, Noemie Laplante, Eve Marshall, Arnaud Tarroux
Hours:  6.0  (0630-1230) Nets:  9 Net hours:  48.5 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  167
Opening weather: 0% cloud 13C SW (Beaufort 1) no precipitation
Closing weather: 0% cloud 21C SW (Beaufort 2) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed Census Banded Repeat Return
41 n/a 17 3 n/a
Banded Repeat Return
81 10 n/a
NOTES:   What a day!  Gorgeous weather for October, and an unprecedented number of birds in the nets for our site (94).  The first net round produced a few dozen birds in itself, and while the pace tapered off after that, we remained busy through the morning.  Diversity was the best we've had yet, with 17 species banded, and only three species reaching double digits (American Robin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Song Sparrow).  Highlights included our first Purple Finch and Field Sparrow.  New for the site overall today was the first Orange-crowned Warbler of the fall.  Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers are still around in good numbers too, but we are probably only one or two cold fronts away from seeing the last of the warblers until spring, unless a few hardy Yellow-rumps decided to hang around because of the abundance of fruit at the site.

Thursday October 7, 2004
Bander in charge:  n/a Census:  Marcel Gahbauer
Hours:  1.25  (0800-0915) Nets:  0 Net hours:  0 Birds banded / 100 net hours:  n/a
Opening weather: 0% cloud 10C W (Beaufort 2) no precipitation
Closing weather: 0% cloud 12C SW (Beaufort 2) no precipitation
SPECIES INDIVIDUALS
Observed