LISTSERV - UV-BIRDERS Archives - LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU

VCE's Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning banding sessions on Mansfield were our most productive (and driest) of the 2017 field season. We captured 55 birds overall, of which more than half were young-of-the-year. Most of these were free-flying (i.e., beyond the bob-tailed fledgling stage) and likely independent. As always at this point in the summer, we captured several species that are typical of lower-elevation habitats. Hatching-year birds of several species routinely move upslope in mid-late summer after gaining independence from parental care. Black-throated Blue Warblers are the most abundant post-fledging disperser into montane forests (at least on Mansfield), and these appear to constitute an important pre-migratory habitat for this species. During three consecutive autumns in the late 1990s, VCE banded on the Mansfield ridgeline, and BTBWs were by far the most abundant non-local species among our captures, with nearly 350 banded. Not a single one of these was ever recaptured, even a day later!

Our banding totals:

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 1    female w/regressing brood patch
Brown Creeper 1 hatch-year bird in juvenal plumage, full-grown flight feathers
Winter Wren 3 all hatch-year birds in juvenal plumage, with full-grown flight feathers
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 juvenal plumage, flight feathers fully grown
Bicknell's Thrush 10     2 juveniles, one likely still dependent (incompletely-grown wings and tail); 2 females (1 new) and 6 males (2 new yearlings, 4 recaptures)
Swainson's Thrush 7 3 birds in juvenal plumage with flight feathers nearly full-grown; 4 recaptured males
Ovenbird 1     hatching-year bird in first basic plumage
Blackpoll Warbler 8 1 locally-hatched bird in juvenal plumage with incompletely grown flight feathers, likely still dependent, 1 new and 3 recaptured males, 3 recaptured females
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 bird halfway through molt from juvenal to first basic plumage
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 7 4 birds in juvenal plumage, 1 new and 2 recaptured adult males
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 11 10 free-flying birds in juvenal plumage; 1 recaptured female
White-throated Sparrow 4 2 free-flying birds in juvenal plumage; 1 new and 1 recaptured male

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38238547

Check our Chuck Gangas's outstanding photos on his Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/charlesgangas/. As always, we appreciate his excellent documentation of our work up there! Next week's visit will be our last until a mid-September mop-up field trip.

Chris

________________________

Chris Rimmer
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
PO Box 420 | Norwich, Vermont 05055
802.649.1431 x202
http://vtecostudies.org/

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