Date: 10/1/25 7:26 pm
From: Violet Wu via groups.io <zishiwu33...>
Subject: [NEBirds] Wildcat Hills Banding Station Week 5
The juncos have arrived! This week I banded a total of *91 birds of 14 species/subspecies.* Pine Siskins took the top spot, replacing Spotted Towhees for the first time as the most frequently banded bird. It looks like a good year for siskins, possibly even a small irruption year?

Because Tuesday was rainy, I switched banding to today (9/29)—which also happens to be my birthday. And I was surprised with the best birthday gift— *the busiest banding day of the season so far, with 58 birds caught in the nets!* At one net run, there were more than 10 Siskins and “Butter-butts” that I had to release a few unbanded to avoid holding birds for too long. I still managed to band 50 of them! One of the Audubon‘s Warbler looks to be leucistic, its nape area has white feathers instead of the normal brown color, while other body parts are normal (Photos attached).

Besides that, I added two new species for the season today: a juvenile male *Eastern Bluebird* and a stunning adult male *Red-naped Sapsucker* (6th for station). I’ve attached photos of both below.

*Totals for the week:*

*

Pine Siskin — 28

*

American Goldfinch — 10

*

Spotted Towhee — 10

*

Orange-crowned Warbler — 9

*

Chipping Sparrow — 8

*

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) — 8

*

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) — 7

*

Red Crossbill — 3

*

House Finch — 2

*

Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) — 2

*

White-crowned Sparrow (Gambel’s) — 1

*

Black-capped Chickadee — 1

*

Red-naped Sapsucker — 1

*

Eastern Bluebird — 1

Come visit us! Our station is located behind the Nature Center in Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area. I’ll be running the banding station five days a week, every Tuesday–Saturday morning (Weather permitting) through *October 10th.*

— Violet Wu Bander,
Wildcat Hills Station
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies


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