May 27, 2011

Boulder Bound

CUT's doing well so far, I'll makes there for the first game tomorrow...

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May 25, 2011

In TG's Office

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Species at Pinnacles

63:
Oak Titmouse
Western Scrubjay
Northern Flicker
Common Raven
Bushtit
Yellow-billed Magpie
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Yellow Warbler
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Mourning Dove
Bewick's Wren
Brewer's Blackbird
Western Bluebird
Turkey Vulture
Wrentit
Warbling Vireo
Spotted Towhee
Black-headed Grosbeak
Acorn Woodpecker
Red-shouldered Hawk
Orange-crowned Warbler
House Wren
California Towhee
Hutton's Vireo
Red-tailed Hawk
California Condor
White-throated Swift
Cooper's Hawk
Tree Swallow
Oregon Junco
Steller's Jay
House Finch
California Quail
California Thrasher
Song Sparrow
Anna's Hummingbird
Western Wood-Peewee
Violet-green Swallow
Wilson's Warbler
European Starling
Western Kingbird
Western Tanager
Lesser Goldfinch
American Kestrel
Black Phoebe
White-tailed Kite
Prairie Falcon
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Picoides Woodpecker
Purple Finch
American Robin
American Crow
Bullock's Oriole
Sage Sparrow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Western Screech Owl
Rufous-crowned sparrow
Lazuli Bunting
Canyon Wren
Rock Wren
Pygmy Owl
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Unidentified Pigeon

Species of Nests Found:
Bullock's Oriole
Black Phoebe
Black-headed Grosbeak
Western Scrubjay
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Brewer's Blackbird
Ash-throated Flycatcher
American Robin
Rock Wren
House Wren (x2)
European Starling
Acorn Woodpecker

May 24, 2011

23, but slow

We had about 23 birds today at Redwood Creek, but it felt pretty slow. We did catch a couple of very cute chickadee fledglings, and found a hummingbird nest.
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Pinnacles

Sunday and Monday the Palomarin field station was shut down, as all of the staff and interns headed to Pinnacles National Monument for a couple days of hiking and camping. I had a really great time. Pinnacles was beautiful, the change of habitat was great, which brought on many new birds to see, and it was nice to spend time outside of the field station with much of the staff, who we don't often get time to interact.

There was A LOT of this:
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And this (checking out bugs and flowers):
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Some lizard catching (some kind of whiptail):
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And views
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It was not hot as we had hoped and kind of expected, so this reservoir at the end of of the hike was not the treat it could have been
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May 20, 2011

Chickadee banding from Todd

A few more photos from the chickadee banding a while ago, all from Todd, thanks Todd!

Checking the box
Nest Boxing

A Chestnut-backed Chickadee Nestling

Sam With A Nestling

First week walk

Cara, Me, Maria, Amanda, Xeronimo
Hey Remember That One Scene In Armageddon...
Photo By Todd Chang

May 19, 2011

10 birds today, 7 species.

First thing today we caught our first olive-sided flycatcher of the season. I guess we only catch a few of these a year, so purty cool. Very snappy.
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And a Hutton's vireo
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May 18, 2011

Geolocator tags, 5 and counting

In February 2010 ~33 geolocator tags were harnessed (with Kevlar string, making sort of a backpack) to wintering golden-crowned sparrows here at Palo and a near by location. In June 2010 35 tags were attached to breeding Swainson's thrush between three sites (Palo, Pine Gulch, and Muddy Hollow).

Here's a short description (from the seller) of what the tag's function:

"Our light level geolocator is an instrument used to record the flight paths of migrating animals; particularly birds. British Antarctic Survey (BAS) engineers originally developed the instrument for recording the behaviour of the Wandering Albatross. The device records the change in light levels at different latitudes and longitudes, enabling scientists to determine where the bird has been. Animal recapture is necessary to retrieve the device as it is an archival logger. Information is recovered by downloading the data from the logger for analysis. Using low power technology and data compression the device is able to record data for many years."

In the fall we retrapped ~11 sparrows that were fixed with tags, but only retrieved the low number four tags, as we ran into the problem of tags having been bitten off by the strong seed-crushing sparrow bills...sad, indeed.

Within the last three weeks we have seen the arrival of the Swainson's thrush and have since retrieved 5 tags! Three at Muddy Hollow (one today!), one at Palo today, and our first at Pine Gulch. It seems as though the tags have stayed on these birds much better, and it makes sense, as their bills are much better fitted for picking at insects and eating berries. It's pretty exciting to know that there are still 30 tags out there and we are seemingly likely to get many more.

After returning to the banding station with the bird in a bag, Amanda and I decided to play it safe by removing the tag from within the confines of my car (in case there was an accidental release)...

Excitement
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Swainson's thrush with one color band and one silver
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Attached geolocator
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Cutting the tag off
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Success!
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May 17, 2011

Tree Swallow

Great picture my mom took of my dad taking...
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...this great picture of a swallow:
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May 16, 2011

Until next year #alumnigame

After an awesome alumni weekend with CUT, I somehow made it back to Cali in time for work today. Not much sleep for four days, but with 29 birds today we were kept busy at Pine Gulch

Male American goldfinch
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Our first warbling vireo
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House finch
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Female California quail
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May 12, 2011

Worn wrentit wing

A second year wrentit with the most wear I've ever seen
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Parent?

Perhaps a parent of the recently banded youth
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Pacific-slope flycatcher

Caught our third (?) western flycatcher today. With these guys there are a handful of measurements that must be taken, then put into a formula to determine what species it actually is. There are a variety of other features to look at in order to separate western's from other flycatchers, but figuring out if it's a pacific-slope or cordilleran flycatcher is a bit tougher.

Looking at bill shape
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Measuring culmen lenth
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May 11, 2011

Chickadee banding

Today we banded the chickadee nestlings!
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We generally band nestlings when the feathers of the primaries are breaking through the sheaths.
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Being weighed
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