Thursday 19/01/12 Re-visiting the mountain

Considering our poor catch rates thus far, this morning we have a change of scene. Up on the well-forested Odwenanoma Mountain, where we used to reside when in the area, we had early success in spotting wood warblers this season, before any were located on the study site. As we’ve established a transect route here, it was thought that some “validation” was in order. In other words, survey the route, and if lots of wood warblers are seen/heard, then perhaps we really do need to consider searching for a true forest study site.

7 wood warblers are registered in all, but 3 of these are unseen, “pewing” birds only detected after the mp3 playback. Compared with previous visits, this is not an exceptional total. It is some affirmation that the study site is the better for both numbers of birds, or at least our ability to detect them, and for overall access.

Back at the site in the afternoon, and heartened by our finding bird 4 yesterday, we start a search for one of the others. Bird 2 is considered the most likely, based on its movements last year when tracked. Within an hour 4 birds are spotted/heard, and then Roger spies a pewing bird in the high crown of a maple-leafed tree (subsequently identified as a Cola species). Sure enough, it has a red over a pale blue ring on its left leg, white over metal ring on the right. This bird has now been around for at least 54 days. Will bird 3 prove traceable? And what about bird 1? We failed to find this one again after the supposed tag failure back in December.

Chris O