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March Birding
Excitement
In 1983, a remarkable example of the birding
excitement that can be generated in March was
expressed by Jerry Talkington of Willoughby. At the
time, Jerry was a bird bander and he was able to
document an invasion of northern finches for all to
remember in the Cleveland Bird Calendar. The
following is from 1983 spring issue of The
Cleveland Bird Calendar.
Vol. 79, No. 2
-18-
FIELD NOTES
Common Redpoll Banded in Anchorage Alaska
Recovered in Lake County Ohio During the
winter of 1982 and through the following spring
there was an irruption of Common Redpolls at the
backyard feeders at my home in Lake County, Ohio.
The location is about one-half mile west of the
mouth of the Chagrin River and 100 yards from Lake
Erie. Two mist nets were operated near the bird
feeders, mainly on weekends, but some banding was
done before leaving for work and some after
returning home.
It all began on 14 February and ended 19 April.
During that period 645 Common Redpolls were banded
--130 of which were ASY-M --all others were AHY-M.
The big day was
20 March
with the netting and banding of 82 Common Redpolls
and the capture and banding of a Hoary Redpoll -a
handsome AHY-M. The only previous record of Hoary
Redpoll banding in Ohio was in 1977. My wife Cynthia
first saw the Hoary and called me at work to say
"there is a strange white Redpoll at the feeder."
The Hoary was easily spotted among the flock of
Common Redpolls due to its whiteness and also its
more stubby, conical bill. The bird was present the
day before it was captured and banded, and for three
days following.
Among the 49 Common Redpolls netted on 25 March
there was one bird, an ASY-M, that was wearing a
foreign band #1510-29847. When I sent a report to
the Off ice of Migratory Bird Management of the Fish
and Wildlife Service, they were at first reluctant
to make this record a part of their permanent files
without a double check, due to the unusual nature of
the recovery. Only after confirming the date to them
did I learn of the truly impressive migration of
this bird. It had been banded in Anchorage, Alaska
(more than 3,000 miles from my mist nets) on 6
February 1981 by Mrs. Elizabeth Allen (subpermittee
to Larry Hood of Anchorage).
Mrs. Allen ran a large feeding program in her yard
in the foothills east of the city and banded 5 other
Common Redpolls that day. Larry Hood expressed
surprise at the recapture saying (pers. corres.) "as
we are on the 'wrong' side of the mountain for
movement into the midwest, I can only assume this
was an interior bird and in the fall of 1981 the
bird went southeast instead of southwest. I have
handled several hundred Redpolls here in Alaska, but
have had only a handful of returns and only 4
recoveries; window kills within less than one-half
mile of the banding site. Why this one was such a
'traveling man' is hard to understand."
Examination of the records from the Bird Banding
Laboratory reveal that 10,758 Common Redpolls were
banded in Alaska from 1956 to 1981 --and only 11
recoveries were tallied --of this 11 only one
occurred outside Alaska, and that one being our
#1510-29847.
Ohio banded Common Redpolls numbered 1,647 from 1960
through March 1982 --not including my total. There
were 5 recoveries tallied, 4 of which were from
Ontario, Canada. The 645 individuals banded at my
station during February, March, and April 1982
indicates the presence of a remarkable number of
Redpolls in northeastern Ohio at that time.
The paucity of "repeaters" at my mist nets suggests
an ever-changing population of Redpolls. They were
present at the feeders a day or two and then a new
group would move in.
Only 4 birds repeated at the nets after a week, as
follows:
#1580-29990 banded 2-14-82, recaptured
4-11-82
#1580-29993 banded 2-18-82, recaptured
2-28-82
#1580-29994 banded 2-18-82, recaptured
3-28-82
#1580-29101 banded 2-21-82, recaptured
3-21-82
Five days after I had banded the last Redpoll, the
Pine Siskins arrived at the feeders and from 24
April to 1 June I banded 331. Not one Pine Siskin
was banded during the time the Redpolls were at the
feeders. - JERRY TALKINGTON
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Back to Looking for Birds in March
Page last updated on
Monday August 21, 2006
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