Here is a quick field report from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies 
montane field station on Stratton Mountain. This is our 11th year 
working intensively on demographics and ecology of Bicknell's Thrush and 
other songbirds there and the 16th year for Mt. Mansfield. Our crew this 
year is led by veteran duo Juan Klavins and Sarah Frey..

This week on Stratton Mountain was a good one despite trying weather. We 
were able to capture about a dozen Bicknell's Thrushes including several 
females. These females now have miniature radio transmitters on them to 
enable us to easily find there nests and monitor them with minimal 
disturbance. Surprisingly, one female had a well developed brood patch 
with an egg in its oviduct 2 nights ago. Average egg laying date is June 
10th.

We have now captured over 25 Bicknell's thrushes already this year. One 
of the females was a bird that Sarah actually banded on Stratton as a 
nestling in 2004! We have not captured our oldest male from last year 
yet. He was 11 years old last year!

This year, as expected, has proven to be a very low year for red 
squirrels. There are none on our study plots. Since there were no cones 
grown last year, this was to be expected and it should be a banner year 
for songbird productivity. Young, green flowers are already appearing on 
some fir trees, as expected. Next year will be a strong year for red 
squirrels. This biennial cycle has been well documented by our long-term 
work on these study plots and figures prominently in Bicknell's Thrush 
population regulation.

The next two weeks are the loudest and most active periods for 
Bicknell's thrush. It is a great time to visit your favorite peak, and 
enter your sightings into Vermont eBird!
http://ebird.org/content/vt/

Kent

-- 
Kent McFarland
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
PO Box 420 • Norwich, VT 05055
802.649.1431
http://www.vtecostudies.org/

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