[TN-Bird] Exciting day at Tremont MAPS station (long)
- From: Charlie <cmmbirds@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN-Bird <TN-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 07:21:35 -0700 (PDT)
Hi folks,
The 4th banding day for Tremont?s 2004 MAPS season was an exciting
one. We removed a tree from a net, captured an unusual bird, broke a
record, had interesting weather, saw some neat reptilian behavior,and
generally kept boredom at bay.
Last week?s storms brought down a lot of (mostly dead) trees, and on
Friday Amanda, Cliff and Amy went to repair a hole in a net, but
instead removed a tree from that net. Yesterday (Tuesday the 22nd)
I got to remove a tree from a different net. Remarkably, neither net
suffered much damage, and only needed the poles moved due to
stretching. Whew.
The interesting bird was a hatch-year Louisiana Waterthrush (LOWA)
with some albino feathers. On it?s right wing, the 5 outer primaries
and 6 outer coverts were all white. On the left wing the outermost
primary and 2 coverts were white. The bird was normal in all other
ways I could discern. I got some good pictures, which I?d be happy
to email if anyone wants a copy. Please just credit me if you use
them anywhere (Charlie Muise, 6/22/04).
The reptilian behavior included a pair of mating Snapping Turtles and
a very actively posturing Black Racer.
The record we broke was one I wouldn?t have imagined 3 weeks ago.
Last year, after a big flood in May, we caught fewer LOWAs than in
previous years. This year we only caught one over the first 2
banding days. I thought the population had suffered a temporary
crash due to loss of nests last year. On June 11 we caught 5 LOWAs,
so I wondered if they were doing ok. Today we banded 10 LOWAs and
recaptured 2! Everyone got to remove at least one from a net and
have their picture taken with it. All but one was a hatch-year bird.
So either few adults were lost last year, and returned to breed
again this year or we had some good recruitment into Walker Valley
from other locations that were not as badly affected by the flood.
With the exception of last year, it is typical for this station to
get a pulse of LOWAs about the mid-point of the season, with most of
those being hatch-year birds, but we?ve not had double digits of one
species in one day before.
Other birds we had today were a Red-eyed Vireo, a Black-and-White
Warbler and a Carolina Wren for a total of 13 new birds and 2
recaptures. We now have 51 birds for the season, which is well ahead
of this time last year.
While out on our last net run before closing, we heard some thunder.
I radioed Amanda to close nets if she saw any rain. With the
terrain, and lack of help experienced in closing nets, I was
concerned that closing would take too long in the case of a sudden
downpour. A bird is unable to adequately thermoregulate when it is
in a net, and rain can be hazardous for it. We were both removing
birds. Being short-staffed (Three of our multi-talented helpers are
at music camp, and Mark had to leave early) Murphy?s law dictated
timing of course. A serious downpour arrived after Amanda was back
from the Lagoons (a longish hike over a rocky ridge) and I was back
at the station processing birds. I sent all hands out to close nets,
while I processed the birds ? not easy when trying to write, hold a
bird, and not ruin the data sheets with the water dripping off of me.
Finishing up, I ran across the river (a shortcut) to help the others
close up. Fortunately no birds were caught in the rain in the nets.
Our next scheduled banding day is Tuesday June 30. Nets open at 6:20
am. Please feel free to come watch ? and you may be put to work.
charlie
=====
**************************************************
Charlie Muise, Naturalist near
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer." -Edward Abbey
**************************************************
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================
The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society
Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
endorse the views or opinions expressed
by the members of this discussion group.
Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
========================================================
Other related posts:
