From the banding team-- 150 to 200 rosy-finches present!
The January 31st effort was certainly better than average. We newly banded only 7 birds and they were all Brown-capped. However, we encountered 89 recaptures of which 32 were from previous seasons, and 21 of these we had not seen this season. Two of these were Black Rosy-Finches that we originally banded in the winter of 2005/2006. Our best bird was a Brown-capped Rosy-Finch that Ryan originally banded on December 27, 2004 as a hatch year bird! This bird (a female) is now 7 years old!
We were also able to put a radio transmitter on a recaptured, male, Brown-capped, originally banded on January 13, 2008. He is a 4 year old.
We estimated the flock size to be between 150 and 200 birds.
Raymond led an Audubon field trip looking for Three-toed Woodpeckers. They did not see any but they did hear Pine Grosbeaks.
The road has been well cleared. However, with snow melt, there could be many areas of black ice, especially early in the mornings. So please drive carefully.
Nancy & Steve
Locked
