Only a few days....

Between rain, wind, and cold,  weather has conspired against us! We have only been able to band five days total! Yet those days have been productive, with numbers already close to half of what they were for the ENTIRE season last spring!

To date, we have banded 142 birds of 29 different species! Just to get you all up to speed, these species are (in no particular order):
 Brown creeper, blue-gray gnatcatcher, ruby-crowned kinglet, golden-crowned kinglet, yellow-throated warbler, field sparrow, slate colored junco, American goldfinch, house wren, yellow warbler, myrtle warbler, western palm warbler, carolina chickadee, swamp sparrow, ovenbird, downy woodpecker, song sparrow, hermit thrush, white-throated sparrow, brown-headed cowbird, carolina wren, yellow-bellied sapsucker, northern cardinal, red-winged blackbird, eastern towhee, american robin, brown thrasher, northern flicker and warbling vireo. WHEW!

One of my personal favorites was the yellow-bellied sapsucker. This one is a male, which have red throats as well as crowns. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers migrate through Ohio in spring on their way to their summer breeding range, which extends across Canada all the way to eastern Alaska.One of the nice things about this species is you don't always need to see these birds to know they were there, they leave plenty of signs behind!

Sapsuckers eat.....wait for it.....sap! They will also eat insects and even fruit, but sap is the main part of their diet. They will drill a series of holes in rows along the tree trunk. In spring these holes are small, round and deep to reach the sap moving up the tree to the branches. As the tree develops leaves and starts to send sap back down along the shallower phloem layer, they drill more shallow, rectangular openings. They use their brush-like tongue to lap the flowing sap, as well as any insects that have become trapped. Pretty ingenious! These sap wells also benefit many other species. Bats, porcupines and other birds have all been observed utilizing these wells. In fact, in some regions of Canada, ruby-throated hummingbirds may even time their migration to coincide with yellow-bellied sapsuckers!

Sapsucker's have been plentiful in Ohio the last few weeks, and will be moving on soon. However, the arrival of new species continues, and the forecast is looking up. The next three days look promising for banding, so please stop by! And while you are here, be sure to take a quick look to see if you can spot a yellow-bellied sapsucker, or perhaps just a sign that they were here.

Spring has sprung!

      Spring is finally here, and what a perfect time to start up our blog! We will aim to update regularly with the newest information about our conservation efforts and how you can participate!

      The Scioto Audubon Metropark is buzzing! Song sparrows, robins and cardinals are counter-singing from every corner of the park, busy claiming their territories. The osprey pair has settled in nicely, great egrets and tree swallows are back and new migrants appear daily! Within the last few days, trees have started to show a hint of green as their buds emerge. What does this mean? It's time for bird monitoring, including spring banding!

     Banding started April 10th, and we had a great morning!  The day was warm and cloudy, and birds were active! We arrived and started setting up at 7am, and ran until rain forced us to close at 11am. In that short time, we banded 46 birds representing 15 species! Species included a beautiful male yellow-bellied sapsucker,  brown creepers, hermit thrush, brown thrashers, and three northern flickers.

          Northern flickers vary in color depending on whether they are eastern or western birds. Eastern birds are "yellow-shafted" and have yellow under their wings and tails. In the picture above, you can see this yellow, as well as the red crescent on the nape of its neck. Males have a black malar "mustache" region under the eyes. Western birds are "red-shafted", and lack the red patch behind the head. The males have a red mustache. Where the two may mingle, such as in the Rockies and western Midwest, the hybrids can have a lovely salmon orange tinge and intermediate characteristics!

        The bird above is a bit of an enigma, because it has a slight smattering of red feathers in its malar region. Not enough to truly be called a mustache, and they are RED not the black that one would expect! We will be doing a little more research to see if this is a hybrid!

      Did you know Northern flickers are special to the Grange Insurance Audubon Center? When the building was being constructed, the idea was put forth to use a specific bird for inspiration. That bird? You guessed it, the flicker! The browns, blacks, grays and red can be seen reflected in our building materials. So next time you stop by, take a moment to look around with the flicker in mind!

      Banding will continue until the end of May, please stop by! If you are interested in volunteering, please email Anne Balogh at abalogh@audubon.org.