Mason Farm Biological Reserve -- 4 April 2009

Avian Biology (BIOL 476L), Haven Wiley

Bird-banding in second-growth ashes and multifloral rose east of the northern end of Big Oak Woods (location L).

7:15-10:00, sunny with light winds

The ford across Morgan Creek was passable, but water still covered the ford.   Sloughs in the fields were full of water, and the ground was muddy everywhere.

See notes on special observations at the bottom!

CICONIIFORMES
Great Blue Heron 1 beside the pond on the golf course
FALCONIFORMES
Black Vulture 2 rising above Big Oak Woods about 9:30
Red-tailed Hawk 1 soaring in a blue sky overhead about 10:00
CHARADRIIFORMES
Ring-billed Gull 30 or more around the pond on the golf course
COLUMBIFORMES
Mourning Dove 2 (a cozy pair) on the power line through the trees north of the ford
PICIFORMES
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 or more heard in Big Oak Woods (calling whirrr!)
Pileated Woodpecker 1 called twice in Big Oak Woods soon after we arrived
PASSERIFORMES
VIREO FAMILY
White-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo 1 singing, slow and sweet, at the northeastern corner of BOW -- this species is a regular migrant in low numbers in April -- but this bird was the earliest I had ever heard!
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
JAY AND CROW FAMILY
Blue Jay 2
TITMOUSE FAMILY
Carolina Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 6 or so singing
WREN FAMILY
Carolina Wren 2 singing
KINGLET FAMILY
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3 singing incomplete songs
OLD WORLD WARBLER FAMILY
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2 paired and building a nest
THRUSH FAMILY
Eastern Bluebird 2 near the bird box northeast of Big Oak Woods
MIMIC FAMILY
Northern Mockingbird 4 along the multifloral rose thickets beside the fields
NEW WORLD NINE-PRIMARIED FAMILIES
WOOD-WARBLER FAMILY
Common Yellowthroat 1 singing in the weedy field to the north
NEW-WORLD SPARROW FAMILY
Eastern Towhee 2 in thickets along the road
White-throated Sparrow 12 including about 8 caught for banding
CARDINAL FAMILY
Northern Cardinal 4
BLACKBIRD, MEADOWLARK, ORIOLE FAMILY
Brown-headed Cowbird 2 males displaying and singing atop a bare tree

OTHER VERTEBRATES

Yellowbelly Slider lots on logs in the former beaver pond
River Cooter

NOTES

We focused on setting three mist nets and then removing and banding about 8 White-throated Sparrows.

Soon after we arrived we watched a Brown-headed Cowbird displaying and listened to its song (ending on a very high pitch) atop a bare tree.

Molly noticed a pair of Blue-gray Gantcatchers building a lichen-covered nest, nearly perfectly camouphlaged on the lichen-covered branches of an ash sapling.

On the way home I noticed a couple of other interesting species!   In the Nash Parking Lot, just after everybody had left one Brown Thrasher chased another (presumably a rival male) while a third (presumably his mate) watched.   A few seconds later a Yellow-rumped Warbler sang several times in a tree next to Nash Lot (the first one singing this spring).

Then while returning the keys for the vehicles to Coker Hall, I heard a Rough-winged Swallow -- turning around I quickly spotted two zooming back and forth over (former) Bell Tower Parking Lot, a place they visit every spring for a week or so after they return from the Caribbean.   Another one swooped over West Franklin Street near Crooks's Corner on my way home.

We should also note that the Cedar Waxwings were still visiting the holly trees between Wilson and Coker Halls on Friday (4/3) during class, but there seemed to be fewer of them.   Although this year as every year several had been killed by crashing into the windows of the breezeway, the reduction in numbers was probably a result of many birds leaving for northern breeding grounds.