Like all things, the fall 2019 bird migration monitoring is coming to an end. October 31st is the official end date, marked this year by a tumultuous wind- and rain-storm! There was obviously no banding that day: we were warned…

It is this time of year when we really start to feel the end of season: almost all the trees have changed their colours (except, of course, the evergreens), the days are getting shorter and colder, and most of the…

Warblers in October- October 12, 2019 It has been a very pleasant beginning of October, with mild temperatures and sunny skies, with more and more leaves changing colour. The sudden drop in temperatures on the overcast morning of the 12th…

On the first day of October, a very warm and very strong wind is blowing from the South, bringing unseasonably warm temperatures and keeping our nets furled. How often do I have to write “unseasonal” when it comes to weather…

For this week’s blog, several titles came to mind: “the return of Summer”, because temperatures have soared back to unexpected and unseasonal warmth; or, “a time of transition”, as new species have started to arrive. According to the American Birding…

A week of Storms… In the nine days from September 8th to 16th, four banding days were lost to strong wind and/or rain. The wind came almost from all points of the compass, striking us from the North, South, East,…

In the North wind and colder nights, in the reddening of leaves and shortening of days, in the first honking skeins of southbound geese, changes are under way. We’re slowly transitioning from care-free summer to dutiful autumn, as any school…

And so, it continues to be slow, in the sky, in the trees, and in the nets. There are certainly multiple reasons for such paucity but I do not want dare advance explanations which would be no more than barely…

It has been now ten days of monitoring. We’ve been settling into a routine of waking up before dawn, admiring the slow rise of the sun over Georgian Bay, listening to the sounds of birds, trees, and water. Summer is…

It is mid-August, leaving the dog days of summer behind and slowly-but-surely returning to cooler temperatures, longer nights, and migrating birds. It is also when monitoring starts again at the Cabot Head Research Station, with all 15 nets set up…