This week's Mansfield session marked VCE's fourth banding session on the mountain in 2018. A crew of visitors, including a lively group from Otter Creek Audubon, were treated to a solid assortment of mist-netted birds, though fewer surprises than last week. Weather was cool and dry. The avian nesting season is clearly in full swing, as females of all species showed well-developed incubation/brood patches. Small groups of siskins are still present on the ridgeline, though crossbill numbers seem reduced -- we caught juveniles of both species. I did finally hear a distant Winter Wren sing, but their abundance is distinctly low, as is that of Swainson's Thrush (back to numbers of 10-20 years ago). We had our first red squirrel sightings of the season, with two individuals. This year's cone crop is non-existent -- I have yet to see a single fir or spruce cone. Included among the 57 birds we captured on Tues-Wed: Least Flycatcher 1 female with regressing brood patch Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 male Bicknell's Thrush 12 2 new yearling males, 10 within-season retraps Swainson's Thrush 2 2 within-season retraps American Robin 4 2 new, 2 within-season retrap Blackpoll Warbler 11 4 new (3 males), 2 returns (male from 2016, female from 2017), 5 within-season retraps Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 female Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 4 males: 1 new; 1 return from 2017, 2 retraps Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 3 1 new female, 1 return male banded as hatch-year on 2 Aug 17, 1 retrap White-throated Sparrow 13 9 new (8 males, 1 female), 4 within-season retraps Purple Finch 1 new yearling male; we've now banded 8 this year vs. 1 in all of 2017 White-winged Crossbill 1 free-flying juvenile, flight feathers >85-90% full-grown; likely a locally-hatched bird Pine Siskin 2 free-flying juveniles ________________________ Chris Rimmer Vermont Center for Ecostudies PO Box 420 | Norwich, Vermont 05055 802.649.1431 x202 http://vtecostudies.org/ <http://vtecostudies.org/> To post messages, send e-mail to: [log in to unmask] Set your e-mail application to PLAIN TEXT ONLY to post messages. To contact the list owner: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe: E-mail this command to [log in to unmask] UNSUBSCRIBE UV-Birders To change your e-mail address: E-mail this command from your old address to: [log in to unmask] CHANGE UV-Birders [new e-mail address] Web based archives and subscription management are available at: http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/Archives/uv-birders.html