VCE's first 2014 foray to our long-term
study site on the Mt. Mansfield ridgeline was a noteworthy one.
This marks our 23rd consecutive year of monitoring the breeding
birds there. We were all eager, and a bit anxious, to know
whether any of the 19 Blackpoll Warblers fitted with light-level
geolocators last summer had returned, and would yield the precious
information contained in those miniature backpacks.
Weather was cool, dry and calm, so we set up 19 mist nets on
Wednesday evening. We immediately caught a slug of unbanded
Swainson's Thrushes (SWTH), which appear to have been creeping
upslope over the past 2-3 years. Our first Bicknell's Thrush
(BITH) was a male we had banded as a yearling last June. This was
followed by another male with a very worn band, which our records
show had been placed on 12 June 2007, when the bird was then at
least 2 years old, meaning it was hatched in 2005 or earlier!
Although that doesn't set a new longevity record for the species
(that distinction belongs to an 11 year-old male from Stratton
Mountain), it is the third 10 year-old bird we've now documented
on Mansfield. Although this individual has undoubtedly been
present on the ridgeline in every summer since our original 2007
capture, we'd mist-netted it only a total of 6 times previously:
twice in 2007, once in each of 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
As dusk was descending, we hit Blackpoll pay dirt, with the
Amherst Trail recapture of #2110-80395, still sporting his
0.9-gram geolocator and looking none the worse for wear! Even
more remarkable, this is one of the oldest Blackpolls on record -
we banded him on 24 June 2009, and he's now
> 6 years
old. We've caught him in every summer since, and 5 times last
year! We dutifully removed his geolocator (wondering whether he
sighed in relief or would miss his studly adornment), and we'll
download the data inside soon. Whatever we learn about where the
bird overwintered, what route(s) he followed, when he departed,
and how long he spent in transit, it is nothing short of
astonishing that this 11-gram bird has successfully negotiated
round-trip flights between Mansfield and northern South America at
least 6 times!
While we didn't recapture any other geolocatored Blackpolls before
wrapping up at noon yesterday, Steve Faccio was quite certain he
saw a banded bird with a small stalk protruding above its back
feathers. We'll be back on the mountain weekly through late July,
so we're very hopeful of additional recoveries.
Overall, we mist-netted 46 individuals of 8 species. These
included 9 BITH (4 new, 5 returns from previous years), 7 SWTH (6
new, 1 return), 3 American Robins (2 new, 1 return female from
2013), 10 Yellow-rumped Warblers (9 new, 1 return male from 2013),
6 Blackpolls (3 new males, 2 new females, and our returning hero),
7 White-throated Sparrows (4 new, 3 returns that included a male
from 2009), 2 new Yellow-belled Flycatchers (another species
thatmay be mobing upslope), and a single Black-capped Chickadee.
Outside the nets, our ridgeline bird list was a respectable 18
species. The biggest surprise by far was an energetically singing
towhee, the first we've ever had up there in 23 years!
Turkey Vulture 1
Chimney Swift 1
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 2 singing
Blue-headed Vireo 1 singing
Blue Jay 2
Common Raven 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Winter Wren 2 singing
Bicknell's Thrush 15 singing and calling; 9 mist-netted
Swainson's Thrush 4
American Robin 6 3 pairs; 2 nests found
Magnolia Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 15 singing males
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 10 8 singing males
Eastern Towhee 1 singing male moving about on ridgeline for 30 minutes; a first!
White-throated Sparrow 7 singing males
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 6 4 singing males
Purple Finch 1 singing
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18704851
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org/vt)
Stay tuned for more news after next week's trip.
Chris