So, Life caught up with me and got crazy (working 60 hours a week at 2 jobs will do that) and I didn't have time for posting. I'm a bad bad blogger, I know, but in the back of my mind, I sorta knew this would happen. *shrug* Here's a BRIEF summary of the rest of the season, as well as a link to ABO's official end-of-season summary report for more details on most of this stuff, written by my excellent boss, Sue.
The long and short of the seasons can be summed up in one word: Strange. Strange weather, strange numbers, strange species, strange notable absences, a few strange people ;) and a few strange events. Here is a semi-organized list of the things that happened this season. While most are slightly weird, many are also slightly awesome.
1. The Myrtle Warblers sorta never showed up. They have pretty consistently been our #1 capture over the 20 years the Creamer's Field Station's been in operation, and they didn't even make the top 5 this year, with only about 10% of what we normally catch.
2. Lots 'o rain in August. LOTS.
3. Species diversity was WAY up from previous years. 42 species when we usually only get 25-30. It was an 'on' year for species we only catch every couple of years. Examples:
- Merlin
- Green-Winged Teal
- Golden-Crowned Kinglet
- Brown Creeper
- Black-Backed Woodpecker
- American Three-Toed Woodpecker
- Belted Kingfisher
- Pine Siskin
4. Large numbers of uncommon species. The cool birds were almost becoming commonplace. E.g. The first BBWO had me in a squealing fit and, I was certain, earned me 'King of the Lab' status forever. The last one just got an "Ooo, cool!" Examples:
- White-Winged Crossbills: 16 (fourteen of those were juveniles who were all in one net at the same time). Usually: 1-2 per year.
- Brown Creeper: 3 (these are 'one every couple of years' birds)
- Black-Backed Woodpecker: 4 (all male)
- American Three-Toed Woodpecker: 4
- Golden-Crowned Sparrow: 4 (a lovely male was our first migrant to arrive back in the spring)
- Pine Siskin: 15 (I really missed these guys from when I was in Washington! When Dayna discovered the first one, there was panic. "Crap crap! What do baby Siskins look like?? I don't remember! That was 2 years ago and I don't think we got babies!! There's not a picture in the field guide and Pyle doesn't really say anything useful... do they still have yellow tails??" O.o;;;)
5. Irruptive year for Common Redpolls. This means that there was probably a very good crop of birch seeds this spring. We had 3 days with 100-300 redpolls (Common, Hoary, and a few Pine Siskins thrown in there just to keep us on our toes). Our total numbers for the season were about average from previous years, but if you take out all those redpolls, it was definitely on the low side.
6. Nothing nefarious happened during Fair Week, e.g. the PortaPotty was still standing up and in its rightful spot, but there was a fire extinguisher incident 2 days after Fair Week. Go figure.
7. Lots of awesome volunteers, quite a few of whom were brand-new in the spring, and several of whom got 'Trial By Fire' when the Redpoll Hoard descended.
8. Three amazing interns, Julie, Mitch, and Josh... all of whom we were/are willing to manipulate and/or blackmail and/or bribe to make them come back next year. ;)
9. Snow flurries on the last day of banding. :)
10. And last, but certainly not least: an excellent boss in Sue, and amazing co-workers in Dayna, Lila, and Tricia.
ABO Winter Newsletter. The banding station season summary is on page 3. http://www.alaskabird.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/winter2011.pdf
