What a spring/early fall of banding at West Hill Dam and to top off that, what a fall from Oct. to Halloween at this historic property in Uxbridge that is managed for the birds, bees & butterflies. When I arrived at this property at 7:30 am this warm morning & knowing we were closing up for the season, a sense of sadness hit me about closing watching flocks of birds swirling around the field, knowing we were going to have our hands full instantly with captures before the heat shuts things down, knowing we could be banding 20 to 40 birds easily a day through next week - yet I am shutting down & need to be patient to next spring. Here is the morning: 20+ Turkeys were walking under 1 unopened net, flocks of Goldfinches and Juncos were swirling about, the 5 species of woodpeckers were calling/feeding, Cedar Waxwings were flying about, a Winter Wren starts singing by one of the nets, Pine Siskins were calling along the marsh with all the Red-winged Blackbirds, Bluebirds were landing in the trees by our banding table, Wht-thr Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows were calling from the marsh edge - those were just some of the obvious species.My faithful team & I quickly started to put up the nets and within minutes, the short net by the banding table already had 9 birds and another close by short net had 5 more - mostly Juncos, a few Song Sparrows, Goldfinches - other nets had Swamp and Wht-thr Sparrows, more Goldfinches, more Juncos - the Winter Wren chose not to get banded which would have been a great ending to an awesome banding year.Once we summarize all the various species & numbers banded & recaptured this 2024 season in Uxbridge, should be very impressive list with highlights like the Dickcissel, Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes, Lincoln Sparrows, Yellow-thr & Blue-h Vireos, many species of warblers from Canada, Prairie, Nashville, N Waterthrushes, Ovenbirds, etc, several E Kingbirds and Willow Flycatcher, Brown Creepers, N Flicker - even caught at West Hill Dam a Spotted Sandpiper and Killdeer - as you know, every net check often has a surprise like early in the spring, we put up a short net in the field and 1st check, we had a M & F Baltimore Oriole and right next to it a M & F Orchard Oriole plus a Prairie Warbler. Besides collecting much data [goal] from all these captures, one gets to enjoy being in such beautiful habitat early in the morning with its peacefulness yet full of wildlife and song, having a chance to show many children & adults these special birds [could be even a Catbird], having a very special group of volunteers that drive from CT, RI, outside of Boston plus local volunteers that join me early, set up the nets, help extract, record & close up - net result I feel very blessed to be living in such a wonderful town along with having a passion for banding and birding for 70 yrs. - a great combination!
