Date: 10/14/26 1:24 pm From: Barbara Volkle <barb620...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] West Hill Dam banding 10/15
Thanks to Strickland Wheelock for this report.
Barbara Volkle Northborough,MA <barb620...>
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Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2026 19:59:07 +0000 (UTC) From: Strickland Wheelock <skwheelock...> Subject: West Hill Dam banding 10/15
Today had the makings of a 50+ capture day but given only 3 trained extractors plus 1 volunteer, we decided for starters only to open the last 2 sets of the Marsh nets & keep closed all the Beaver, field & wood nets - did not want to get bombed with excess extractions and banding steps for the birds and our sake.Here is how it went - we opened the 1st pair [short & long] of the Marsh nets, then within 10 mins, opened the 2nd pair [short & long nets], walked back to the 1st pair and within those few minutes, we had already 8 birds in the nets - decided to check the 2 nets we had just put up and they already had 2 birds [mostly Ruby-cr Kinglets, Yellow-rumps & Palm Warblers and Wht-thr Sparrows]. By the time we completed banding those captures, we quickly returned and had maybe another 9 captures of the same mix. By the time we finished banding those captures, we quickly returned again and had additional birds that included more of the same along with Song & Swamp Sparrows.In the end before the heat plus wind told us to close the nets around 10:15 am, 24 of the 25 birds were all caught in just those 2 net pairs [one Song Sp was caught in another net we had opened on the 3rd run]. The mix was 7 Ruby-cr Kinglets, 8 Yellow-rumps & 2 Palms, 5 Wht-thr & 2 Song & 1 Swamp Sp.The 4 of us worked nonstop under no stress given we were only dealing with 4 nets close to each other out of the 15 nets. Upon checking the Field & Wood nets later, seeing flocks of Chipping Sp and warblers in the grasses/weeds - knowing the 2 Beaver nets had lots of birds flying about - only opening those 4 nets was perfect.While walking the fields hearing much song/call notes along the way, I did hear several Goldfinches calling - a species that the last 2 falls banding at Ann Hanscom's house in Oct, we were swamped with them [80 1 morning] around Oct 27th. Along with the Goldfinches, flocks of juncos also joined them, so with this cold snap coming up next week, will we be trying to deal with those along with all the Yellow-rumps, Wht-throats, Kinglets - maybe throw in some Rusty Blackbirds & other surprises [Chat or Dickcissel] into the mix - a lot to look forward to!
