Puget Sound Bird Observatory

Winter Color Banding Report – Saunders Site, March 25

PSBO — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 05:00:01 +0000

A very beautiful, but slow day. We only banded a total of 6 birds. But we had good company, with a great turnout of volunteers: Polly, Kim, Charlie, Natalie, Jason, and Emily. We continue the trend of catching varied thrushes.

New Captures: pine siskin (1), black-capped chickadee (2), varied thrush (1)

Recaptures: black-capped chickadee . . . → Read More: Winter Color Banding Report – Saunders Site, March 25

Winter Color Banding Report – Saunders Site, March 11

PSBO — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:51:44 +0000

A typical day at the Saunders Site. We continue to get varied thrushes nearly every banding session.

New captures: Oregon junco(1), varied thrush (1), pine siskin (2), black-capped chickadee (3), red-breasted nuthatch (1), chestnut-backed chickadee (1)

Recaptures: Oregon junco (1), black-capped chickadee (1), chestnut-backed chickadee (1)

Thanks to the volunteers Natalie, Polly, Kim, and . . . → Read More: Winter Color Banding Report – Saunders Site, March 11

Banding Report, 3/10/12

PSBO — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:56:19 +0000

Written by Kira Wennstrom, edited by Mary Huff

Though the day started a little damp, the site was very active today. We caught 32 birds, though only 31 were banded (we released a Pine Siskin due to a shortage of size zero bands.) Here are the tallies:

5 new Oregon Juncos and 2 recaptures 2 new . . . → Read More: Banding Report, 3/10/12

Banding Report, 3/7/12

PSBO — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:49:38 +0000

Written by Chris Southwick, edited by Mary Huff

Lots of wind, and a little cool sun conspired to keep the bird numbers down. We only caught 17 birds:

7 Oregon Junco, all new 3 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 new, 2 recaptures 1 Chestnut-backed Chickadee, new 5 Pine Siskins, 4 new, 1 recapture 1 Varied Thrust, new

We also had . . . → Read More: Banding Report, 3/7/12

Winter Color Banding Report – Saunders Site, Feb. 29

PSBO — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:49:55 +0000

The day was highlighted by strange weather. Although we had to close the nets for about an hour due to snow, we enjoyed the day. We banded a total of 13 birds, mostly of the usual suspects (chickadees, juncos, sparrows), but we also got a pair of varied thrushes (male and female found together . . . → Read More: Winter Color Banding Report – Saunders Site, Feb. 29

Screech Owl Nest Box Building

PSBO — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:15:26 +0000

My son, Alex, foster daughter, Jonali, and I attended PSBO’s owl box building event at the beginning of this month in Edmonds. It was wonderfully organized by PSBO board members Cindy and Mark. We started with a short bird watching walk. The highlight was a group of common redpolls. After that, the real fun . . . → Read More: Screech Owl Nest Box Building

Winter Color Banding Report – Saunders Site, Feb. 12

PSBO — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:54:22 +0000

We had a great turn-out on Sunday. The weather was overcast, but remained dry. We had the greatest diversity of species banded thus far for this new site (seven species). We also got a chance to really compare various ages of chestnut-backed chickadees.

Don, Mike, and Jason comparing three chestnut-backed chickadees (photo by . . . → Read More: Winter Color Banding Report – Saunders Site, Feb. 12

Winter Color Banding – Saunders Site – January 29, 2012

PSBO — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:06:36 +0000

The day started a little drizzly and pretty slow, but ended with a bunch of activity. We got a great look at the difference between plumages of male and female red-breasted nuthatches. The female had a grayish colored crown which didn’t contrast very much with the gray back color The male had a black crown with very . . . → Read More: Winter Color Banding – Saunders Site – January 29, 2012

PSBO Board Member Returns to NW to Run Established Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) Routes

PSBO — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:12:05 +0000

Despite working on the BP Oil Spill in Louisiana for much of the last 20 months, PSBO Board Member Don Norman returned to the northwest in June in 2010 and 2011 to complete BBS routes that he’s been running for more than a decade. “In one day I get a glimpse of the birds . . . → Read More: PSBO Board Member Returns to NW to Run Established Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) Routes

PSBO member Dawn Garcia Recaptures Foreign-Banded Northern Saw-whet Owl

PSBO — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:07:32 +0000

Written by Dawn Garcia, edited by Mary Huff

PSBO member and experienced bander Dawn Garcia recently recaptured a Northern Saw-whet Owl (NSWO) in Chico, CA, that was banded earlier this year in Montana.

Dawn set up a NSWO fall migration monitoring station at Chico State University after leaving the Pacific Northwest in 2005 to attend school there. She and her . . . → Read More: PSBO member Dawn Garcia Recaptures Foreign-Banded Northern Saw-whet Owl