BANDING/BIRD STUDY PROGRAM AT RUTHVEN

The banding station was founded in the late Fall of 1995 on a trial basis and came into full operation – for Spring and Fall seasons – in 1996. Thus the end of 2005 marks 10 years of full operation!

The station was developed for 4 reasons:

• To monitor migrants during Spring and Fall migrations following a standardized protocol (determined by the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network) with a view to identifying population trends of neotropical migrants.
• To monitor breeding/wintering birds at the site to provide baseline data for use in making decisions around land-use policy related to urban development generally, and in the Haldimand Region specifically. (Ruthven Park contains approximately 1500 acres of land, over half of which is forested.)
• To provide a training facility for students and other individuals interested in developing practical skills in field ornithology.
• To provide a learning resource to the local community to enhance awareness and appreciation of the local environment.

This has been Ruthven’s most successful year ever.

1. We banded in every month of the year:
• In January, February, March and December to sample birds spending the winter at Ruthven. Did you know that we have a number of American Tree Sparrows that return every winter - and get caught in the very same net? These birds breed in far northern Ontario.
• We banded 1,401 birds of 83 species in the Spring. This included 101 Yellow Warblers, a bird that spends its winters in Latin America. Ruthven has a large breeding population of these highly colourful birds. We had 12 of them, that were banded in other years, return again this year – even one banded way back in 2000. Imagine the 1000’s of miles it has flown and the countries it has traversed!
• The Summer program is aimed at monitoring the breeding success of birds at Ruthven. For the second year in a row we had a McMaster Biodiversity student run a MAPS program (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship). Through this effort we discovered breeding evidence for birds that we didn’t expect: Brown Creeper and Mourning Warbler – both species that one thinks of as breeding further north. Also, Linda and Al Thrower expanded our bluebird box trail (to 83 boxes) and monitored them closely. One of their interesting findings was that nests in boxes next to the highway weren’t as successful as boxes in the fields or along sideroads (Indiana Road). Makes you wonder what effect a daily string of garbage trucks will have on the breeding success of our birds.
  It was a record-breaking Fall:
• Most birds banded in a season – 3,827 (81 species)
• Most birds banded in a single day – 271 (on October 10)
• Most birds banded in a 3-day stretch – 701 (October 8th, 9th, and 10th)
• Most birds banded in a month – 2,694 (October)
• Most volunteer hours contributed in a season – our volunteers put in over 894 hours!
• Record high banding numbers for 14 species:
  

  Downy Woodpecker (28); Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (5); Brown Creeper (34); Golden-crowned Kinglet (176); Gray-cheeked Thrush (44); Swainson’s Thrush (76); Yellow-rumped Warbler (652 !!); Blackpoll Warbler (76); Mourning Warbler (3); Swamp Sparrow (47); Fox Sparrow (21); White-throated Sparrow (326); Purple Finch (183 – a real surprise as before this we were averaging only 7.5 per Fall); and American Goldfinch (678 !!).
  
  
2. Our total number of birds banded for the year was the highest yet: 6,142 (102 species – including hybrids).
   
   
3. For the year we banded and/or observed 165 species. Some of the highlights included:
• Snow Goose
• Peregrine Falcon
• Merlin
• Bald Eagle
• Sora (a 1st)
• Whip-poor-will
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Olive-sided Flycatcher
• Lawrence’s Warbler (the rarer Golden-winged x Blue-winged hybrid)
• Connecticut Warbler
• 29 species (including 2 hybrids) of warblers


There is no question - Ruthven is a good place to see birds!


4. The scope of our collaboration with McMaster University is expanding. The Biodiversity program visits the banding lab in both Spring and Fall so that their students can experience birding field work. This has lead to individual students doing projects in the Summer in both 2004 and 2005. This Fall a total of 7 students expressed an interest in doing a collaborative project that will look at the effects of urbanization on wildlife populations – birds, plants, insects, amphibians, even earthworms. This project will begin in the Spring of 2006 and will generate invaluable data on Ruthven’s flora and fauna.

Note: The Annual General Meeting of the Haldimand Bird Observatory (HBO) was held at the Coach House at Ruthven on February 18th. The organization operates three banding stations, Selkirk, Rockpoint and Ruthven. At the meeting Rick Ludkin was nominated as Chair of the HBO.