Date: 9/23/26 7:17 am From: Barbara Volkle <barb620...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] West Hill Dam - Historic Big Days Banding
Thanks to Strickland Wheelock for this report.
Barbara Volkle Northborough,MA <barb620...>
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Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2026 09:58:13 +0000 (UTC) From: Strickland Wheelock <skwheelock...> Subject: West Hill Dam - Historic Big Days Banding
Thanks to Beth Milke who was my assistant/record keeper banding for many years to pull up past 50+ big days at West Hill Dam.What Beth added to this list of dates were the most caught species on those days which is fascinating. What this list of dates tells me that that the big days are near the end of Sept/early Oct such that my team better be prepared for some busy days laying potentially ahead of us - our 50 captures on 9/19/26 was just a warmup! What also is fun is knowing the team members that dealt with the 95-capture day on Sept 27th 2006 followed by a 74 capture day on Oct 7th Fall mornings with more than 50 birds:
2004 - 39 banding days Sept 11 - 54 birds, including 34 Gray Catbirds
Sept 30 - 88 birds, including 30 Yellow-rumped Warblers 2005 - 16 banding days
Sept 29 - 64 birds, including 33 Yellow-rumped Warblers
