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An enthusiastic crowd of rose breasted grosbeaks, in all plumage combinations, invaded my jewel weed laden gardens on Sunday. They were all over the place. Until one bird lead the movement and off they went... other birds in migration mode were many many Phoebes, tanagers, song sparrows, a swamp sparrow and flickers. The yard is still hopping crazy with an over abundance of hummingbirds. We did put up a third feeder which has relieved some of the stressful interactions.

I've been unable to use mist nets for banding. Its simply too stressful on both bird and banders to be constantly handling the ruby throats over and over. When there are only 4, they learn the net lanes and after a capture or 2, they are not an issue. BUT with the dive bombing and tail chasing of 15 or so, its been just out of control. So no netting until they split for the season. Just banding seed eaters for now...



Dave Merker
Etna, New Hampshire
Cape May Raptor Banding Project Inc.
www.capemayraptors.org