The Wrack

It's the 20th anniversary of bird banding at the Wells Reserve this year. The master bander who has been at the heart of the program all this time, June Ficker, recently looked back at her 1988 records and provided this summary: Operated 6 12-meter mist nets from May 27 to August 31 for a total of 14 Wednesdays from 6 to 10:30 am. Species banded: 19Birds banded: 69Gray Ca…

The pattern strengthens over time. Twice a year, in November and February, the Wells Reserve parking lot and adjacent grassy areas attract a small number of Snow Buntings. Without surveilling the area more regularly than I do, it's hard to say whether they're around every day. Whenever they do appear, it's a brightening experience. The four that were pecking through sandy puddles and winter-worn weeds this …

Time flies. Its nearly a year since the last Winged Wednesday. My 2007 quest for 99 Common Birds has ended 19 species shy of the goal, even though I compiled a list of 112 species at the Wells Reserve during the year. It is an interesting coincidence that I also tallied just 80 of the 99 so-called common species during 2006. Most of my misses in 06 were ticked in 07, but once again it is clear…

The Wells Reserve Visitor Center has kept a wildlife sightings log for at least a decade. While updating the form today (it's now labeled Nature Observations), I pulled out the stack of sheets that have accumulated since May 1996. Birds dominate visitors' sightings, though deer, weasel, garter snake, otter, praying mantis, mosquito, and other animals found their way in, too. How reliable are those bi…

Quantity over quality?

I've made checkmarks on a copy of "99 Common Birds," our brochure listing the most expected species at the Wells Reserve, and although my Reserve bird list for 2006 contains 106 species, I only got 80 of the 99 "common" ones. While I saw some tricky species? Snow Goose, Tricolored Heron, Laughing Gull, Fish Crow, Field Sparrow  I missed some that point to holes in my coverage and make me wonder if I simpl…

That was the bird of the day! A woodland hawk hunting for breakfast found its course suddenly interrupted by the woven nylon of our bird bander's mist net. It was a Coopers Hawk, just a few months old, and with its 285 mm wing chord proved to be a female.…

Too hot to move. That's what the birds must be thinking. The banders had the nets up soon after 5:30, by which time it was already over 80 degrees. Six hours later, they closed them down, having completed the requisite duration. By then it was 95.Just three birds in those six hours, all hatch-year captives? two Black-and-white Warblers and an American Robin.Three. That's the banders' lowes…

Mosquitoes. Visitor complaint #1.

The intrepid banders caught 14 birds today; it has been a consistently modest summer for the nets so far... June 7 rainout June 14 16 birds June 21 15 birds June 28 15 birds July 5 14 birds Eight more weeks to go& it's always a …