The End

The season is once again closing for the year as winter sets in and birds move further south. We ended our season with over 2000 birds banded of 65 species. The 30th was windy as the cold front from the north blew in with high winds and pounding 10 foot breakers hitting the shore there was no running nets and we banded no birds. Despite the winds waterfowl were moving through with White-winged Scoter, Bufflehead, Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted, Hooded and Common Merganser seen during census. A single Hoary Redpoll was observed later in the morning in with a flock of 30 Common Redpoll. We also saw at least 7 Pine Grosbeaks moving through the area. The winds finally subsided on the 31st and we were able to operate nets for part of the morning due to rain. We banded our first White-winged Crossbill of the year. We also banded a Black-and-white Warbler which is very late for this date. Finch migration was excellent: 150+ Common Redpolls, Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches, Pine Grosbeaks, 300+ White-winged Crossbills, 3 Hoary Redpolls, and 1 Red Crossbill. 3 Snow Buntings were also seen during census.

That’s all folks,

Until next spring,

Andrew