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>Fall 2007
Hannah Suthers
With ample rains during the growing season, and only a mild drought
during August, the fruiting shrub crops were spectacular, excepting the
multiflora rose which is dying of rose rosette disease, a virus carried
by wind-blown mites.The native Virginia rose remains unscathed. Grass
seed and insects were flentiful. More adults were banded in proportion
to young this year, implying a less than optimal breeding success up
north. With the abundant food supply on our stopover grounds, there
were fewer recaptures; birds did not have to linger long to refuel. An
unusually warm fall, the first frost did not occur until Nov. 11.
We banded birds on 10 weekends from Sept 2-Nov 11. Forty nine
species were banded, 25 more tallied, totaling 74 species, of which
27 were Neotropical migrants and 22 resident species. There were 493
encounters: 456 newly banded, 77 recaptured from previous banding, and
18 escaped not banded. Two flycatcher species, 7 thrush, 10 warbler and
9 sparrow species were banded. Both Chickadees and their hybrids were
well represented. As cooperators with the UCLA/NIH Avian flu project,
we swabbed and took feather samples of 100 birds.
Sighting and banding highlights, dates, (number of birds):
| Common Name | Count & Comments |
| Turkey Vulture | throughout |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2-Sep |
| Cooper's Hawk | Sept 30, Oct 14, 21, 28, Nov 3, Nov 4 escaped net |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 9-Sep-30 |
| Eastern Screech Owl | pair calling Sept 9, 16 |
| Great Horned Owl | calling Sept 9 |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | 2-Sep |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | throughout |
| Hairy Woodpecker | Sep 8, Oct 21 |
| Downy Woodpecker | throughout |
| Common Flicker | throughout, banded Oct 28 |
| Pileated Woodpecker | throughout |
| Alder Flycatcher | banded Sept 16, 23 |
| Least Flycatcher | banded Sept 9 |
| Hybrid Chickadee | banded Sep 9, 16, 23, others recaptured Sep 9, 16, Oct 28 |
| Carolina Chickadee | banded throughout (8), recaptures (2) |
| Black-capped Chickadee | banded throughout (5) |
| Eastern Tufted Titmouse | banded (20), recaptures (6), from previous years (3) |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | Sept 2, 9, 30, Nov 4 |
| Brown Creeper | 21-Oct |
| Winter Wren | 11-Nov |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | banded Oct 14, seen Nov 11 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | banded Oct 2 (2), 16 (3), Nov 6 (4), 13 |
| Eastern Bluebird | 21-Oct |
| Hermit Thrush | banded Oct 14 (3), Nov 6 (3), 13 (7) |
| Swainson's Thrush | banded Sept 30 |
| Gray-cheeked Thrush | banded Sept 30 (2) |
| Bicknell's Thrush | banded Sept 30, Oct 14 (2) |
| Catbird | last observed Nov 4 |
| Cedar Waxwings | Sept 1, 4, Oct 28, banded Nov 4, seen Nov 11 (20) |
| Black-and-white Warbler | banded Sept 6 |
| Magnolia Warbler | banded Sept 2, 9, 16 (6), 23 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) | banded Oct 21 (8), 28 (15), Nov 4 (2) |
| Black-throated Green Warbler | banded Oct 14 |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | banded Sept 2 (4) 9, 16, 30, Oct 14 |
| Ovenbird | last banded Sept 23 |
| Common Yellowthroat | banded through Oct 21 |
| American Redstart | banded Sept 2, last banded Sept 23 |
| Scarlet Tanager | 2-Sep |
| Purple Finch | flock Sept 30, banded Oct 14, banded Nov 11 (2) |
| Eastern Towhee | banded (4) last seen Nov 4 |
| Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) | banded Oct 14-Nov 4 |
| American Tree Sparrow | banded Nov 4 |
| Eastern White-crowned Sparrow | banded Oct 21 |
| White-throated Sparrow | banded Sept 23-Nov 4 |
| Fox Sparrow | banded Oct 21 (3) |
| Swamp Sparrow | banded Sept 30, Oct 21 (2), 28 (2) |
| Song Sparrow | banded Oct 21, 28 (2), Nov 4 |
Hannah Suthers and the Featherbed Lane Banding Station Crew
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