Stéphane’s Posting for Sept. 12, 2011

A Feast of Berries!

It is a good fall for berries, mainly chokecherries and dogwood berries. Our local bear seems to agree, as it has been busy gorging on them. Birds also are pleased, mostly Cedar Waxwings and Red-eyed Vireos. As a consequence, we are getting lots of these species in our nets, which are often close to chokecherries trees! We had up to 12 Red-eyed Vireos and 26 Cedar Waxwings in a day…

Vireos are usually not captured in big numbers because they spend so much time high in the canopy. Waxwings, likewise, fly high and feed in treetops. But both of these species will go low for juicy cherries!

There also has been a good movement of Black-throated Green Warblers, as well as boreal warblers like Blackpolls.

Big flocks of Canada Geese went through this morning, as they do in mid-September, fleeing the incoming of freeze-up up North.

Stéphane