Timiskaming Birds Forum

Greetings everyone we had a couple of spectacular banding opportunities over the past 2 days one with a school group and one just Abi max and myself . On the 5th we banded for about an hour and the 6th we were able to band for 3 hours. We were banding at the north end of the marsh which is the first fall we have been banding there so the potential to band resident birds for the fist time is very high. And because it took a while for the birds to find our feeding station we have been very curious to see what we would be catching and in what numbers. This was the first time we had been able to band after the major dump of snow we all enjoyed and the birds seemed to have found the feeders. In the two days we banded 16 new chickadees 12 pine grosbeaks, 6 common redpolls, 2 grey jays, and 4 hairy woodpeckers, We also had a number of retrapped chickadees meaning they were banded on a previous day and we managed to catch them again.  One advantage of banding a bird is that when you see subseqent birds after banding a species if they do not have a band you get an idea of how many of a particular species might be in an area. After banding a grey jay on the 5th we saw 2 additional jays without bands. Another intersting item about banding is that it can give us some insight into the territoriality of resident birds. For example when we caught the woddpeckers we caught an male and female at the same time. We had only ever observed a single male at any one time in the area. Upon checking the net later we saw a male woodpecker in the net. As we approached the net expecting to see a band the woodpecker called out and and another male swooped into a nearby net. To our excitement we found the 2 were unbanded. I have never captured 4 hairy woodpeckers on any one day. I had the impression that most hairy woodpeckers were fairly territorial and that a feeding station generally has one pair. Having said that the north end of the marsh has extensive beaver activity and there are a lot of dead and deaying trees which may allow for a greater number of woodpeckers in a concentrated area. We have not noted a downy in the area but judging from some peeled bark on some of the trees I am hoping for a resident black backed. Redpolls have not really found the northern feeder in any numbers but we are hoping soon. We are hoping to return for another day of banding next week so hopefully I will have a banding report then. I would appreciate any feedback on the woodpecker question as cuurently at Gillies I have only seen 1 male hairy vsiting the feeder. Now there maybe more than 1 but I have only seen 1 at a time leading me to suspect this is more the norm to have 1 resident pair, I am curious to learn more. If there is more information people would like please get in touch. Murph  

Hi Bruce.  Interesting observation on the Hairy Woodpeckers. I too have never more than one at my feeder at a time.  When I was living north of Lake Superior, I would often have both Hairy and Downy coming at the same time, but never more than one or two of each.

Hi,

I have suet balls, not with the seeds, plain suet....and lots of Woodpeckers. I have them in the back and front of the house and it isn't at all unusual to have woodpeckers at both stations.

I do have more than one pair of Hairy's. One male is very easy going and doesn't frighten off when i open the door, but continues eating...8 feet from the door...yesterday at one feeding, he ate for 12 minutes..one stretch. His wife flew down and took a position two feet from him on a log feeder ( a 1 ft. log Paul drilled full of holes and I filled with fat and peanut butter) . The Mr. didn't flinch.

The other male is very timid....stays short time only... so yes, I ahve more than one pair.

 

That is very interesting gert I wonder if the boreal it is the more we are likely to get more. I know there has been som recent logging near the marsh and i was wondering if it had displaced some hairy's  and they found the feeders but it is hard to know. is the other male more aggressive or does it just take flight easier??

Hi ,

I believe there are more than the two males (plus the females) but I will take more notes on them, just to see. In a few weeks the suet balls will be visited almost continuously by the woodpeckers.... will watch their behaviour.