Teaming research with education to promote conservation

|  FALL 2007  |  SPRING 2008  |  SUMMER 2008  |

The Navarre Marsh Migration Monitoring Station is located in Navarre Marsh behind the Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station on Toledo Edison property. Migration monitoring consists of constant effort mist netting and morning point counts (5 minute counts at 6 locations at the research site). Habitat is remnant beach ridge consisting of canopy trees of Hackberry, Kentucky Coffeetree, and Cottonwood with tremendous under story of rough-leaved Dogwood on the sand ridges. This is similar to the vegetation found on the most know beach ridge of the Magee Marsh Bird Trail. Two other remnant beach ridge habitats in Northwest Ohio are on the Darby unit of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and at the Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge. The Navarre beach ridge is the largest of them all occupying about 370 acres of wetland and beach ridge habitat.

The Navarre Marsh Migration Monitoring Station is on private property and not open to the public, however, we are able to give programs to groups at the site when special arrangements are made in advance.

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FALL 2008

Sunday, 09 November
A blustery day to take down the fall migration mist nets for the season. We ran the nets for three hours before it started drizzling on us. We mustered 18 new birds and one recaptured Downy Woodpecker. Thirteen species of birds including Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Wood-Pewee, White-throated Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Myrtle Warbler, White-eyed Vireo, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Winter Wren, Northern Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, and Brown Creeper.  

White-eyed Vireo

The unusual birds of the day of course were the pewee, and the White-eyed Vireo. They both were hatching year birds. The pewee was measured for a possible Western Wood- Pewee but the measurements came out to an Eastern. The Eastern Wood-Pewee is a larger bird than the Western. The White-eyed Vireo of course is lacking its white eye which makes the aging of the bird easily identified as a hatching year bird.  

Eastern Wood-Pewee

                              Top 3 birds for the day were:

The few foreign recoveries we sent in to the Bird Banding Laboratory from the spring, those bands have not been reported to the BBL yet so we are anxiously awaiting the information when it arrives. 

Have a good rest of the year and remember if we can catch a White-eyed Vireo and a pewee in November keep on the look out for other late birds! 

All the Best,
Julie Shieldcastle

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Sunday,19 October
A brisk day under a high pressure system produced a few birds in the nets. Sixty-two new banded birds and 25 recaptures indicated that not much had moved in or moved out. The usual warblers were around for this time of year: Myrtle and Blackpoll. We did have another Black-throated Blue Warbler which this species numbers' are up for any of our previous fall seasons. There are still Gray Catbirds around even those which are not banded. There were small flocks of Pine Siskins today. All week there have been singles flying over calling but more numbers this day.

The highlight for the day was a female Red-bellied Woodpecker. She was a hatching year bird with a brownish eye and not much red on her belly. The eye color is not the only marking we look for to age woodpeckers. For aging we look at the primary coverts to see if there is any presence of old or newer feathers. Hatching year birds will only have one year of new feathers. Older birds will have potentially 2-3 molt limits showing. 

                          Top 5 species:

This day ends the migration season on a daily basis. I will be out periodically for the next couple weeks to get an idea when the winter birds arrive. We still have yet to see any American Tree Sparrows. That is when you say winter is coming! This has been a poor fall migration season with more easterly winds then I have ever observed.  

I want to take this time to thank the many volunteers who have contributed their time to this worthwhile project. This is one of the largest songbird banding stations in the United States. I am quite proud of the quality of work we do. It is all because of the diligence, conscientious, and passion of great volunteers. They all know it is a job to be out here every day putting up with me but it is a love for the birds that they know of this project’s value and merit.  

Thanks to all who help with this project!
Julie Shieldcastle

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Saturday, 18 October
Light winds early with lots of kinglet and sparrow sounds made it appear that it may be a good day for birds. It was a good day for bird diversity today with 18 species in 60 new banded and an additional 16 recaptures. Three warblers were present that we observed or banded (Myrtle, Blackpoll, and Black-throated Blue). Five species of sparrow including Field, Song, White-throated, and Eastern Towhee were netted. 

Highlights were a Field Sparrow, White-eyed Vireo, and our fourth Eastern Towhee for the fall season. We have only ever caught 2 in a fall season previously.

This was a female with her chocolate head. You can see she does not have her ruby red eye color yet. This makes her a young lady-hatching year. 

The eye color on the White-eyed vireo is more of a gray coloration which also tells us it is a hatching year bird. 

                  Top 5 birds: 

Have a Good Day!
Julie Shieldcastle

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Friday, 17 October
We caught a couple of GOOD birds today if I might say so myself. What does it really mean to have a good bird? It has different meanings to different people. All birds are good right?

So what do you think about a female Whip-poor-will and
a male Rusty Blackbird?

This is the second time I have heard Rusty Blackbirds around the banding site. There is not as much water as there normally is this time of year in the marshes near our nets and water is usually the attractant, or so I have found.  

Today we mustered a total of 96 new banded birds with 15 recaptures. Seventeen species including 5 sparrow species (White-throated, Song, Swamp, Fox, and Slate-colored Junco) and two warbler (Myrtle and Blackpoll) species were captured. 

                            Top 5 species: 

Here is a full picture of the quiz bird from yesterday:  I hope I don’t have to tell you to look at the rump to figure out what it was…

Have a Good Day!
Julie Shieldcastle

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Thursday, 16 October
A strong lake wind curtailed the catch for the day again. I can’t say I have ever seen this many easterly winds in the fall. The winds did start out in the NW but turned more to the NE by noon. Fifty-nine new birds with 9 recaptures rounded out the day. There was an unbanded Gray Catbird still around for our noisy pleasure. We may not be getting the numbers but we caught another early migrant that I would not have expected here during mid-October, Yellow-billed Cuckoo. It had better move on soon their caterpillar food source has to be getting slim to none. Four species of warbler are still around (Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Blackpoll, and Orange-crowned).

                     Top 5 species:

Here is a quiz bird for you to ponder…… 

Enjoy the day,
Julie Shieldcastle

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Wednesday, 15 October
It is a good thing I do not play the lottery at least in the fall because I would lose a lot of money. You would not think that at SW wind would have produced a 155 new bird day with 15 recaptures. I would have expected less new birds and possibly more recaptures. Caught were 21 species of birds including a late - Yellow-breasted Chat! Four additional species of warbler were captured: Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Myrtle, and Blackpoll. 

Yellow-breasted Chat

                 Top 5 species were:

There were no Gray Catbirds seen or heard today. Sparrows for the day were another Eastern Towhee, Slate-colored Junco (Dark-eyed), Swamp, Lincoln, and White-throated. 

Enjoy,
Julie Shieldcastle

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Tuesday,  14 October
An interesting morning, the weather was balmy out of the WSW and the wind picked up to well over 15 mph. Around 10:00 AM the cold front came through and the temperature dropped more than 10 degrees and the wind switched to the NW. During that time the nets filled with leaves. I have the best volunteer leaf pickers that I have seen anywhere! If we had as many birds as leaves we would have been there until dark processing them. 

As it turned out we managed to band 38 new birds with 9 recaptures. Nineteen bird species captured including a beautiful Fox Sparrow and another Black-throated Green Warbler. Five warbler species were banded or observed at the site (Myrtle, Blackpoll, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, and Northern Parula). 

For those of you who like Gray Catbirds they are still around. I know a couple stay here in Northern Ohio and manage to withstand our cold winters but there sure are a lot of them!

We caught a nice looking adult White-throated Sparrow. I don’t say that too often about them. You can see it has a reddish brown eye which assists in identifying it as an adult. Immatures have gray-brown eye color.  

                    Top 4 species:

Enjoy the Hunter’s moon tonight! 

Look for songbird migrants crossing the moon!
Julie Shieldcastle

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Monday, 13  October
Too balmy a day to expect fall migrants, however, we still mustered up 27 species for the banding session.  Seventy-six new birds and 23 recaptures were the catch today. Seven warblers were seen or captured including Western Palm, Tennessee, Myrtle, Black-throated Green, Blackpoll, Cape May, and Ovenbird. 

A Tufted Titmouse graced us with its presence today. They and Black-capped Chickadee are few and far between to be seen close to the lake. We usually have them as young dispersal birds in the fall. The cold lake winds keep them from the beach ridge during winter and spring months. 

Another Fox Sparrow, a couple Lincoln’s Sparrows, Philadelphia Vireo, and 3 Blue-headed Vireos were the additional highlights for this day. 

                        Top 5 bird species:

Here is a Zonotrichia leucophrys leucophrys immature (hatching year-eastern race of the White-crowned Sparrow). Note the brown line between the beak and the eye. The Gambell’s White-crowned Sparrow (Western race) we caught last week had no color in that area. 

Always something to learn! Enjoy!
Julie Shieldcastle

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Sunday, 12 October
It sure does not feel like fall weather outside. We had a surprising visit by both cuckoos. Our catch for the day included 19 species with 75 new banded birds and 20 recaptures. Five warbler species were seen or captured (Myrtle, Cape May, Blackpoll, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird).

A Peregrine Falcon was around the site which adds another highlight for the day.

We had the typical dominant birds for this time of year: Hermit Thrush, White-throated Sparrow. I don’t expect a big influx of birds until another cold front comes in. Maybe by Thursday they say.  It is still good opportunities to get out and look for migrant birds. You never know what will be around. If we had both cuckoos who knows?

And there are still Gray Catbirds around for those who love them. They are so quiet. 

As you can see a flock of Common Grackles hit the net. Such a big bird we do not catch all of them which in my opinion is good. They give a mighty bite. 

These cuckoos show some interesting aging characteristics. 

The Yellow-billed has indistinctive, bleeding black on white on the tail (retrices). An adult would have crisp black and white on these rectrices.

For distinguishing between Yellow-billed and Black-billed notice the wings on both. Yellow-bills have reddish or rusty and Black-bills have gray or match the rest of their body. You can see the contrast of Yellow Billed Cuckoos in flight and if there is no contrast on the wings of a cuckoo in flight then it is a what?----Black-billed. 

For the Black billed Cuckoo which here you cannot see the bill so you will have to use my identifying characteristics I just gave you. On this bird you can see it is an adult. It has an old feather left in the tail. It has not completed its molt. This is last year’s feather so therefore it is an adult. 

Enjoy your day!
Julie Shieldcastle

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Saturday, 11 October
Another easterly wind made for a slower day than yesterday. Sixty-one new banded birds including 15 recaptures were the catch for the day. Seventeen species of birds captured including 5 warbler species (Blackpoll, Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Ovenbird, Myrtle). 

Highlights for the day were these two Vermivora warblers for you to inspect side by side:

One does have yellow undertail coverts (Orange-crowned) and the other has white undertail coverts (Tennessee) as well as their faces look different. Whatever characteristics work for you to keep them straight, use them! 

                    Top 5 species: 

There are still some Gray Catbirds around. The only ones we caught today were already banded by us earlier. 

Enjoy the beauty of the season!
Julie Shieldcastle

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Friday, 10 October
Even though light lake winds curtailed the birds from being around the Navarre banding station there was still a good representation of birds. The Hermit Thrushes have become the dominant thrush. We netted 109 new banded birds with 19 recaptures. Seven species of warbler were seen or captured including Black-and-white, Blackpoll, Myrtle, Tennessee, Magnolia, Nashville, and Common Yellowthroat. There is still a good selection of birds for this date. 

Fox Sparrow

Quiz Bird

Highlights were the Fox Sparrow and the quiz bird. They were the first for the fall. Fox Sparrows are not singing but still the best sparrow in my opinion.

Another neat bird was another Eastern Towhee was captured making it a record fall. Not much of a record but we generally do not catch them during the fall migration season. 

                  Top 5 species:

Make time to enjoy the wonders of nature!
Julie Shieldcastle

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Thursday, 09 October
Before I forget, the quiz bird from yesterday was a hatching year Purple Finch. The immature birds look female-like at this time. 

Today was a good day for a few species such as Myrtle Warblers (Yellow-rumped), White-throated Sparrows, and Hermit Thrushes. We banded 157 new birds with 24 recaptures which included 31 species. Nine warbler species were caught or observed (Cape May, Western Palm, Magnolia, Blackpoll, Tennessee, Nashville, Myrtle, Common Yellowthroat, and Ovenbird).  

Gambell’s White-crowned Sparrow

Highlights for the day were another Marsh Wren, an immature (hatching year), Chipping Sparrow and a Gambell’s White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli). This White-crowned Sparrow is a hatching year bird with its brown head stripes. If you watch the White-crowns at your feeders in March you will see the brown striped will be molting in black stripes. With the assistance of several sparrow references and the Pyle banding manual we determined this as the western race of White-crowned. There is no dark brown line between the beak and the eye which distinguishes it from the eastern race (Zonotrichia leucophrys leucophrys). I had never seen an immature gambelli so this is a neat experience for me! 

                  Top 6 species:

The weather is still nice so get outside and enjoy!
Julie Shieldcastle

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Tuesday, 07 October
A strong easterly lake wind moved the birds inland from the station. We still had a respectable number with 54 new birds and 14 recaptures including 18 species. The warbler diversity has fallen off with 5 species seen or caught (Tennessee, Blackpoll, Myrtle, Northern Parula, and Common Yellowthroat). I am sorry to say that winter is coming. We caught our first juncos today. However, that means that my favorite sparrow will be arriving soon-Fox Sparrow. I am sure it has been seen somewhere recently by others but I have not seen one.  

The highlights were two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and the quiz bird. I hear the groans… 

                     Top 5 species: