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| Bird feeders at the LPBO at Long Pint Ont. |
The night cooled off considerably from the 70’s (F) yesterday to the 40’s this AM. We made sure we took out winter coats and hats and were off to the Observatory and bird banding station. (We used the hats at least.
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| The parking lot. Important when there is an aoverflow of people. |
First stop was the parking lot where we did see; NORTHERN CARDINAL, YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER, NASHVILLE WARBLER, many GOLDEN CROWNED KINGLETS, BROWN CREEPER, and RED BREASTED NUTHATCH. Then we crossed the street to enter the Observatory. It is a utilitarian place with a working “hut”, a gift shop and washroom and a large residence building (Two story) for the volunteers. The working hut was busy as they had just emptied the mist nets that held the birds netted for banding. They were coming in very fast. They scan the nets every one half hour. There were only three nets in operation as there were not that many birds as in the Spring, but enough to keep a crew of 9 busy for the morning from sunup to 6 hours later. (They rotated jobs)
Ruth and I watch them identify, weight, measure wing and body length and fat and a few other features that would be important to record. It is a fascinating process.
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| IT is a coordinated effort to measure all the components of the bird. |
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| All sources of date are used to be as accurate as possible. |
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| Length of wing for example. |
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| Weight of bird |
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| How to hold the bird correctly. |
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| Data and the metal bands for each bird size. |
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| The computer tells all information from name to fat content. |
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| One of the birding paths in the Observatory |
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| One of three mist nest that were active that day. |
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| They are about 60 feet long and 10'high. |
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| Ginseng after sorting .It isthen sent to the nearby plant for refining. |
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| Asparagus is big in S Ontario as well |
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| HArvesting the ginseng involves many personnel |
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| About 1/2 of the pumpkin field we saw. |
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| Lots of manpower here ,too. |
All the measurements was all done by a experienced (trained) expert as well as a data recorder who assisted. This allows data put into a computer where the data is collected. If a bird has previously been caught and identified (here) then it is noted and let go again. If they have already netted the bird today , then it is let go without data collection. It is a fascinating process.
We also took time to talk with our good friend (he lives near here) Hugh Mackenzie, who is the Volunteer Coordinator of the Long Point Bird Observatory and has done this for many years. Between he and Diane the gift shop hostess , they made the rest of the morning most enjoyable. There were few other people coming through on this cool morning. Diane served coffee, and sold the gift items. We were able to buy a “hoodie” for Ruth and t-shirt for Jim as well as a few of the new 2019 calendars (all birds of course). One of the birds in the calendar is the MILLIONTH bird banded last year.
IT was a great morning. The birds we observed there were: RED EYED VIREO, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, PURPLE FINCH, CATBIRD, WHITE BREASTED NUTHATCH, PHILADELPHIA VIREO, BLACK CAPPED CHICKADEE, WILSON’S WARBLER, RUBY CROWNED KINGBIRD, MAGNOLIA WARBLER, MYRTLE WARBLER, TREE SPARROW, MUTE SWAN (4 with 4 young) , KESTREL, EASTERN BLUEBIRD, SWAINSON’S HAWK and a ROBIN.
After our usual lunch we headed back east on route 24 where we had seen them getting ready to harvest the root crop, —GINSENG. Jim also wanted to get some photos of fields of pumpkins, asparagus, tobacco, and beans .The beans were ready to harvest, as well.
We did that and here are some photos of that time. (See above)
After supper we went back too the Observatory for some attempted banding of OWLS. We waited for about 30 minutes but no one showed up, so we went back to Trillium Sort and our trailer.
Tomorrow we head for London Ont. to do some cemetery research of Ruth’s family…”The Brown’s” (Henry and Caroline) who lived in London,Ont. in the 19th Century after coming from England.
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