Fall 2015 www.bbbo.org

The Marsh WrenBraddock Bay Bird Observatory

A non-profit organization dedicated to ornithological research, education, and conservation.

Nothing butNET!

This summer, the Seneca Park Zoo brought natural history photographer David Liittschwager to Rochester to help document the biodiversity of

the Genesee River. For his stunning “One Cubic Foot” series, he places a green square frame into an ecosystem and records every living creature that passes through the frame in a single day. He then takes portraits of as many of those species as he can, and creates a composite image representing the variety of organisms inhabiting the area.BBBO was lucky enough to collaborate with Mr. Liittschwager when he visited Rochester, and his project made us wonder . . . how many birds (and how many species) get caught in a single square foot of net? The answer varies from net to net, but the quest to find that answer inspired us to look more closely at each of our nets to see what they catch - and in some cases, what they don’t.

All About NetsMist nets come in a variety of colors, mesh sizes, lengths, and materials. At BBBO, our protocol specifies that we use black nylon nets with a mesh size of 30mm to target warblers and other small passerines. Most of our nets are 12 meters long and 2.6 meters tall, with four panels of netting. Four of our nets are six meters long, and 12 of the nets are part of our “aerial” system, consisting of two 12-meter nets stacked on top of each other to create an array more than five meters tall. Counting the way banders count (one 12-meter net or the equivalent is “one”), we use 32 nets in our normal operating protocol. In the fall, we add an additional five nets, and our Bander Training Classes often add two “experimental” nets as part of an exercise focusing on how net-site selection influences captures. Our nets pass through a second-growth habitat consisting of a field, shrubby hedgerows dominated by dogwood and honeysuckle, and a young forest.Although our nets are all on a fairly small loop, differences in type of vegetation, amount of cover, height of the canopy, and even directional orientation translate into differences in the type and number of birds captured. We’ve looked at numbers over the last ten years from 2005-2014, and here are some of our most unique nets!

Net Number 5Net 5 is located just between a tall hedgerow and a brushy clump of dogwood. A field stretches out behind the dogwood for the length of a football field before it hits the forest, and so the dogwood stands like an island between the tall trees. This net has all the advantages of a perfect location, and it shows! In the category of “Most Birds Captured,” Net 5 far outperformed every other net. Between 2005 and 2014, BBBO banded 78,107 new birds. Net 5 captured 5,313 birds (6.8% of the total), besting its nearest competitor by 711 birds and exceeding the mean by more than double.Although it shares the title with the bottom half of aerial-net 40, Net 5 also won the category of “Most Species Captured.” BBBO has banded 127 species in the last ten years. At 94 species each, these two nets outpace their nearest rival by 6 species. Net 5 has caught one of our two American Kestrels, one of our five Tree Swallows, and one of our five White-eyed Vireos. It has also had one big disappointment, however. In 2011, a Sora was lurking just behind the net. We could see it in the brush, but it stayed just out of reach!

The Swamp Nets: 18 and 19There are actually 3.5 nets in what we call “the swamp,” but nets 18 and 19 are closest to the water. The surrounding vegetation is mostly tall trees with a light understory of ferns and shrubs. Many times of the year, these nets seem to be unproductive and disappointing. So what makes them unique? They are specialists! These two nets are the nets “Most Dominated by a Single Species.” 25% of the birds captured by Net 18 and 26.5% of the birds captured by Net 19 were White-throated Sparrows. That’s pretty lopsided, when you consider that White-throated Sparrows accounted for only 10.9% of the total new birds banded! Net 18 also holds the unfortunate distinction of being the net that has captured the least number of birds (831) and the least number of species (59). In a stroke of irony, this swamp net is also the only net never to have captured a Swamp Sparrow.

Left page: BBBO volunteers Andrea Patterson, Cindy Marino and Marilyn Guenther take chickadees out of net 5 during an irruption year, as Kathleen Dalton watches. Photo by Kathy Habgood.Right page: Left - Betsy Brooks, Marilyn Guenther, Ryan Kayhart, Ann Nash, Pat Martin and Mark Catlin pose after successfully de-leafing Net 18. Photo by Gayle Lazoration. Right - Net 70, one of the back aerial nets. Photo by Andrea Patterson.

The Back AerialsThe first aerial net at BBBO was something in the way of an experiment. Mike Lanzone (at that time still in high school!) erected two tall arms in the field, suspended a large rectangular frame between them, and strung nets on the frame. In order to remove birds at the top of the net, the entire frame had to be turned upside-down so that the top panel was nearest the ground. We soon developed a more compact design and deployed six aerial arrays in 1999-2000. Three of those arrays are “the back aerials.” Why do we love the back aerials? They get good numbers of birds in a wide variety of species, it’s a lovely walk back to the trees, and it’s peaceful far away from the bustle of the banding station. But . . . I think the real reason we love them is because they have a knack for catching entire flocks of birds!In 2010 and 2011, we could have renamed these nets “the 6-Rusties.” In those two years, the back aerials caught six Rusty Blackbirds five different times (each on a single net run)! In 2012, they caught 21 European Starlings on a single run. In 2014, they caught 61 Pine Siskins on a single run. And if you want Cedar Waxwings, there are no nets better! On 27 Jun 2012 they caught 36 waxwings on a single run, and they frequently catch a half dozen or more at a time.

The AlphabetFall is a special time at BBBO. The weather is crisp and refreshing, the ground is typically dry, and there are (usually!) very few mosquitoes. We take advantage of the excellent conditions to add a string of five nets to our normal

operating protocol. These nets form a line off of our regular loop, and they are referred to as “The Alphabet.”Once stretching to net M and beyond, the Alphabet wanders along the narrow and occasionally overgrown path heading to Rose’s Marsh. Threading its way through tall trees, this line of nets enjoys protection from both the sun and the wind. These nets get a typical fall mix of thrushes, sparrows and kinglets with just a speckling of warblers.Every fall, Betsy wonders aloud if we should put up the Alphabet. A few days later, Ryan asks “Hey Betsy! Are we going to put up the Alphabet?” The next thing you know, we are tramping out with poles in hand to set the line. The ritual is completed a couple of weeks later, when Marilyn sighs, “I love the Alphabet!” She’s not the only one who enjoys these cool, quiet nets.

25 Birds in One Square FootSo . . . what has one square foot of Net 5 captured since it was first set up? A single net is 336 square feet, and averaging the birds across the entire net, one square foot of Net 5 has captured three Ruby-crowned Kinglets; two Magnolia Warblers and White-throated Sparrows; and one each of Traill’s Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Swainson’s Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Gray Catbird, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Yellow Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Myrtle Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, Song Sparrow, Slate-colored Junco, and American Goldfinch. Not bad for a piece of netting no larger than the newsletter you are holding!

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T he twenty-ninth consecutive year of fall migration monitoring at the Kaiser-Manitou Beach Banding Station was carried out for 12 days between 20

Jul and 11 Aug, and 77 days between 20 Aug and 4 Nov, for a total of 89 days. We lost one day in October and one day in November due to inclement weather. 4778 birds of 89 species and one hybrid form were banded, exceeding Fall 2013’s total by 266 birds. 12 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are included in the list of banded birds, and an additional 22 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were released unbanded. There were no new species for the fall list; the fall cumulative total remains at 129 forms. A total of 16,562 net hours of banding resulted in a capture rate of 28.9 birds per 100 net hours, compared with 29.5 birds per 100 net hours in Fall 201 and 37.8 birds per 100 net hours in 2012.The busiest day was 12 Oct when 356 birds of 20 species were banded. On that day, the predominant species was Ruby-crowned Kinglet with 111 banded (31.2% of the total). The second best day was 19 Oct with 221 birds banded of 24 species. The predominant species that day was Slate-colored Junco with 85 banded (38.5% of the total). There were 8 additional 100+ bird days. The greatest species diversity occurred on 24 and 26 Sep when 27 species were banded on each day. 94.9% of the newly banded birds were able to be aged; of those, 86.1% were hatch-year birds. We recaptured 1371 previously banded birds. Of these recaptures, 64 returned from a previous season at the main Kaiser-Manitou Beach banding station or the K-MB MAPS station. The oldest of these birds were a Black-capped Chickadee and an American Robin both in their 8th years; a Gray Catbird and a Yellow Warbler in their seventh years; an American Redstart and a Yellow Warbler both in their sixth years; and a Warbling Vireo, a Red-eyed Vireo, a Black-capped Chickadee, a Gray Catbird,

and a Common Yellowthroat all in their fifth years. The 8th-year Black-capped Chickadee was originally banded by Bob McKinney, and the 8th-year American Robin by Jon Dombrowski. Neither had been seen since 2008, until their recaptures this fall.Most birds that return from previous seasons are local birds that summer or winter in the area. Seldom do we recapture a bird that we are certain migrated through the area, stopping at BBBO only briefly. However, this season we recaptured a Blackpoll Warbler originally banded at our station in September 2012.There were record-high numbers banded of 6 species including 36 Traill’s Flycatcher (previous record high 33), 8 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (6), 11 Wood Thrush (10), 8 Chipping Sparrow (4), 193 Slate-colored Junco (187), and 12 Rose-breasted Grosbeak (6). Eastern Towhee was missing for the first time since 1998, and Carolina Wren was missing for the first time since 1999. Rusty Blackbird was also missing, after being banded in 23 of the last 28 years.

Recoveries of Banded BirdsA Black-capped Chickadee banded on 29 Apr 2013 as an AHY-U was captured 11 days later (on 10 May 2013) by Martha Caskey, 1.7 miles NNW of Shirleys Bay, Ontario (near Ottawa). A White-throated Sparrow banded on 19 Oct 2014 as a HY-U was found in a building and released alive on 17 Feb 2015 by Rodney Furr in Richfield, North Carolina (45 miles NW of Charlotte). Two adult Gray Catbirds and an adult Yellow Warbler were found dead within 3 miles of the banding station during 2014, and a Yellow Warbler banded as an adult in 2011 was found dead in the city of Rochester in July 2014.

Education and EventsCharlene Burke (Rochester, NY), Amanda Pachomski (Syracuse, NY), Jed Pitre (Thibodoux, LA), Bethany Rottner (Shoreham, NY), and Chris Townsend (Victor, NY) completed our Summer 2014 Bander Training Class. Peg Ackerson (Lyme, NH), Mary Beth Adler (Chester, VT), Liz Burton (Lincoln, MA), Zach Channic (Mokena, IL), Tom Kerr (Rochester, NY), Jim Saller (Rochester, NY),

and Andy Thiede (Berlin, CT) completed our Fall 2014 Bander Training Class. Student banders from Cornell University helped run the station on two days in October and three volunteers from the Appledore Island (Shoal’s Marine Lab) Banding Station came for the traditional “Appledore Weekend.”We welcomed Fred Beaudry’s Ornithology class from Alfred University, Katie Costanzo’s Field Ecology class from Canisius College, Caroline Manring’s “Avian Persuasion” Freshman Seminar from Hobart and William Smith, Kristi Hannam’s Animal Behavior class from SUNY Geneseo, Dave Holzman’s Vertebrate Biology class from SUNY Geneseo, and Jim Fry’s Natural History

Fall Banding 2014

Top 10 species banded during Fall 2014 With numbers captured during previous 10 fall seasons

class from the University of Rochester. Two classes from the Wayne Central Schools visited the station. We hosted visits from the Allyn’s Creek Garden Club, the Culture Book Club, and the Genesee Land Trust. People from 10 states signed our Visitor’s Book this fall, in addition to guests from Denmark, Scotland, and South Africa.

ResearchWe collected blood samples from thrushes for Dr. Susan Smith Pagano of R.I.T., who is using plasma indicators of fattening rates and diet to study the migration physiology and stopover site use of these birds. Meghan Oberkircher took blood samples from Gray Catbirds, Yellow Warblers and Song Sparrows to learn how chronic stress levels, as assessed by immunological function, vary between breeding, molt, and migration. Using data collected at BBBO, Meghan successfully defended her Master’s Thesis in the summer of 2015.The Mobile Avian Recording Studio (MARS) trailer was in

full operation again this fall after several seasons of technical difficulty. Two students from Canisius collected data on flight call behavior for Dr. Sara Morris.-Compiled by Betsy Brooks and Ryan Kayhart

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2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014White-throated Sparrow 1146 1516 674 1037 554 839 1459 551 785 843 947Ruby-crowned Kinglet 702 722 619 510 420 521 321 193 341 287 446Golden-crowned Kinglet 473 502 458 295 341 324 360 176 343 456 330Hermit Thrush 307 450 171 200 186 186 217 210 288 203 251Gray Catbird 102 175 138 236 266 157 230 164 290 273 233Magnolia Warbler 188 170 270 309 350 316 295 132 183 284 194Slate-colored Junco 173 125 90 62 77 80 89 55 77 119 193Blackpoll Warbler 47 78 65 162 343 52 280 760 575 182 189Yellow Warbler 49 123 31 142 180 157 321 30 126 162 179American Goldfinch 64 288 245 82 307 50 39 17 43 20 152

Left page: Summer Bander Training Class, from left to right: Jed, Charlene, Bethany, Amanda, and Chris. Photo by Andrea Patterson.Right page. Top: Blackburnian Warbler. Left: Fall Bander Training Class, from left to right: Andy, Jim, Betsy, MaryBeth, Peg, Andrea, Liz, Zach, and Tom. Photos by Ryan Kayhart. Above right: Amanda braves both Pyle and a Cardinal! Photo by Andrea Patterson.

*“Traill's” Flycatcher includes both Willow Flycatcher and Alder Flycatcher. These species are difficult to distinguish from one another except by their calls.

Above: Birds banded during Fall 2014 include Yellow-shafted Flicker, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Shrike, and Pine Siskin. Top two photos by Ryan Kayhart; bottom two photos by Andrea Patterson.

Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Blue-winged Warbler 1Mourning Dove 1 Brewster’s Warbler 2Northern Saw-whet Owl 1 Black-and-white Warbler 7Ruby-throated Hummingbird 12 Tennessee Warbler 15Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Orange-crowned Warbler 2Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 4 Nashville Warbler 35Downy Woodpecker 13 Connecticut Warbler 1Hairy Woodpecker 2 Mourning Warbler 8Yellow-shafted Flicker 9 Common Yellowthroat 97Eastern Wood-Pewee 4 Hooded Warbler 5Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 13 American Redstart 91Traill’s Flycatcher 36 Cape May Warbler 3Least Flycatcher 17 Northern Parula 8Eastern Phoebe 17 Magnolia Warbler 194Great-crested Flycatcher 1 Bay-breasted Warbler 22Northern Shrike 1 Blackburnian Warbler 3Blue-headed Vireo 11 Yellow Warbler 179Warbling Vireo 9 Chestnut-sided Warbler 11Philadelphia Vireo 8 Blackpoll Warbler 189Red-eyed Vireo 68 Black-throated Blue Warbler 37Blue Jay 9 Western Palm Warbler 6Black-capped Chickadee 110 Yellow-rumped Warbler 11Tufted Titmouse 12 Black-throated Green Warbler 14Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Canada Warbler 5White-breasted Nuthatch 6 Wilson’s Warbler 42Brown Creeper 90 American Tree Sparrow 5House Wren 11 Chipping Sparrow 8Winter Wren 67 Field Sparrow 5Marsh Wren 1 Fox Sparrow 5Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 8 Song Sparrow 64Golden-crowned Kinglet 330 Lincoln’s Sparrow 11Ruby-crowned Kinglet 446 Swamp Sparrow 27Veery 15 White-throated Sparrow 947Gray-cheeked Thrush 79 White-crowned Sparrow 13Gray-cheeked/Bicknell’s Thrush 32 Dark-eyed Junco 193Swainson’s Thrush 130 Scarlet Tanager 2Hermit Thrush 251 Northern Cardinal 34Wood Thrush 11 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 12American Robin 22 Indigo Bunting 1Gray Catbird 233 Common Grackle 1Brown Thrasher 3 Baltimore Oriole 4European Starling 5 Purple Finch 6Cedar Waxwing 35 House Finch 1Ovenbird 19 Pine Siskin 115Northern Waterthrush 27 American Goldfinch 152

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Right: Birds banded during Spring 2015 include Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Cape May Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, a leucistic Black-capped Chickadee, and White-throated Sparrow. Top two photos by Ryan Kayhart; bottom three photos by Andrea Patterson.

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Sharp-shinned Hawk 9 Prothonotary Warbler 1Mourning Dove 2 Tennessee Warbler 53Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1 Orange-crowned Warbler 18Black-billed Cuckoo 3 Nashville Warbler 56Ruby-throated Hummingbird 53 Mourning Warbler 37Downy Woodpecker 1 Common Yellowthroat 177Hairy Woodpecker 1 Hooded Warbler 19Yellow-shafted Flicker 3 American Redstart 246Pileated Woodpecker 1 Cape May Warbler 3Eastern Wood-Pewee 4 Northern Parula 14Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 54 Magnolia Warbler 369Traill’s Flycatcher 165 Bay-breasted Warbler 10Least Flycatcher 57 Blackburnian Warbler 8Eastern Phoebe 2 Yellow Warbler 165Great-crested Flycatcher 13 Chestnut-sided Warbler 77Blue-headed Vireo 7 Blackpoll Warbler 51Warbling Vireo 5 Black-throated Blue Warbler 93Philadelphia Vireo 8 Western Palm Warbler 138Red-eyed Vireo 68 Yellow Palm Warbler 1Blue Jay 54 Yellow-rumped Warbler 135Black-capped Chickadee 100 Black-throated Green Warbler 21Tufted Titmouse 1 Canada Warbler 46White-breasted Nuthatch 2 Wilson’s Warbler 118Brown Creeper 19 Eastern Towhee 2House Wren 36 American Tree Sparrow 1Winter Wren 9 Chipping Sparrow 4Carolina Wren 2 Field Sparrow 21Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 31 Savannah Sparrow 1Golden-crowned Kinglet 25 Fox Sparrow 6Ruby-crowned Kinglet 366 Song Sparrow 34Veery 13 Lincoln’s Sparrow 59Gray-cheeked Thrush 11 Swamp Sparrow 18Gray-cheeked/Bicknell’s Thrush 1 White-throated Sparrow 114Swainson’s Thrush 116 White-crowned Sparrow 35Hermit Thrush 28 Dark-eyed Junco 16Wood Thrush 28 Scarlet Tanager 4American Robin 20 Northern Cardinal 17Gray Catbird 395 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 8Brown Thrasher 23 Indigo Bunting 23Cedar Waxwing 4 Red-winged Blackbird 6Ovenbird 20 Rusty Blackbird 1Northern Waterthrush 54 Common Grackle 11Golden-winged Warbler 3 Brown-headed Cowbird 1Blue-winged Warbler 12 House Finch 1Brewster’s Warbler 1 American Goldfinch 28 Black-and-white Warbler 23

Birds Banded Spring 2015

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T he thirtieth consecutive year of spring migration monitoring at the Kaiser-Manitou Beach Banding Station was carried out for 48 days beginning 18

Apr and ending on 6 Jun 2015; two days (31 May and 1 Jun) were lost to rain. 4121 birds of 90 species plus one additional hybrid form were banded, exceeding Spring 2014’s total by 330 birds. 53 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are included in the list of banded birds. There were no new species for the spring records, so the species total for all spring seasons remains at 144. A total of 8,891 net hours of banding resulted in a capture rate of 46.4 birds per 100 net hours, compared with 43.9 birds per 100 net hours in Spring 2014 and 53.25 birds per 100 net hours in Spring 2013. The net hour totals and capture rates do not include owl banding.The busiest day was 16 May when 309 birds of 38 species were banded. On that day, 19.4% of the total birds banded were Magnolia Warblers and 12.0% were American Redstarts. That day also saw five Orange-crowned Warblers (a single day record that also exceeds the numbers banded in 23 of the last 20 spring seasons) and 17 White-crowned Sparrows (also a one-day spring record). There were six additional 200+ bird days and eight additional 100+ bird days. The greatest species diversity occurred on 10 May, when 44 species were banded. 72.3% of the birds were able to be aged more specifically than AHY; of those birds, 73.9% were SY and 26.1% were ASY.We recaptured 631 previously banded birds. Of these recaptures, 92 returned from a previous season at K-MB or the Kaiser MAPS station. The oldest of these birds were a Gray Catbird and a Yellow Warbler in their 9th years; a Yellow Warbler in its 8th year; a Red-eyed Vireo in its 7th year; a Red-eyed Vireo, a Yellow Warbler, a Common Yellowthroat, two Common Grackles and a Baltimore Oriole in their 6th years; and a Red-eyed Vireo, two American Robins, two Gray Catbirds, a Northern

Cardinal, a Common Grackle, and a Baltimore Oriole all in their fifth years.There were record-high numbers banded of six species including two White-breasted Nuthatch (previous record high was one), 395 Gray Catbird (322), 23 Brown Thrasher (19), 18 Orange-crowned Warbler (13), 19 Hooded Warbler (15), and 22 Field Sparrow (19). We banded our second spring Pileated Woodpecker, our third and fourth spring White-breasted Nuthatches, and our third spring Prothonotary Warbler. European Starling was missing for the fourth spring in a row, after having been banded in 25 of the previous 26 springs. Although we recaptured several Baltimore Orioles, we failed to band any new birds for the first time in 30 spring seasons.

Recoveries of Banded BirdsA Brown Thrasher banded as an AHY on 19 May 2013 was caught and released from one of the nets at Braddock Bay Raptor Research’s Main Blind on 17 May 2015. A Brown Thrasher banded on 16 Jun 2014 as an ASY was found dead on 1 May 2015 near Sigel, Pennsylvania. A Gray Catbird banded on 23 May 2012 as an SY was found dead on 21 May 2015 in Tully, New York. A Slate-colored Junco banded on 20 Oct 2013 as an HY was found dead on 27 Apr 2015 at Georgian Beach, Ontario.

Education and EventsTyler Breen (Honeoye Falls, NY), Kathleen Farley (East Rutherford, NJ), Kyle Kennedy (Lake City, MN), Norma Kinney (Norwich, NY), Tristan Luxner (Powhutan, VA), Jeff Robinson (Albany, CA), and Julia Whittle (Campbell Hall, NY) completed our Spring 2015 Bander Training Class. Student banders from Cornell University helped run the station on two days in early May.We welcomed Sara Morris’ Ornithology class from Canisius College, Eli Knapp’s Ornithology class from Houghton College, Alan Belford’s Field Ornithology Class from SUNY ESF, Kristi Hannam’s Animal Behavior class from SUNY Geneseo, Rodney Olsen’s science class from the Hannaford Career Center in Middlebury Vermont, and Cornell University’s Spring Field Ornithology class. We hosted visits from the Braddock Bay Raptor

Research’s Bird of Prey Days, the Bedford Audubon Society, the Chemung Valley Audubon Society, the Kirkland Bird Club, the Rochester Birding Association, the GCSC hiking group from Greece, the Chili Senior Citizens, the Hickok Center for Brain Injury, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Weather-or-not Garden Club, and Temple Sinai. In addition, we enjoyed a visit from Cuban birder Arturo Kirkconnell. More than 545 people visited the station this season, and visitors from 9 states, Cuba, Japan, and the United Kingdom signed our visitor’s book.Several BBBO volunteers represented BBBO at the Braddock Bay Raptor Research’s Bird of Prey Days, and Pat Lovallo represented us

Spring Banding 2015

Top 10 species banded during spring 2015 With numbers captured during previous 10 spring seasons

at the Cool Kid’s Ecofest in Batavia.Peggy Keller gave a brown bag lecture on the Birds of Ecuador and Columbia in the EWB Center. On May 27, we held our annual picnic and memorial garden ceremony, this year remembering Bob Reed and Donna Traver.

ResearchThe Mobile Avian Recording Studio (MARS) trailer was kept exceptionally busy as Canisius students Katie Little and Stephanie Schelble tested the flight call behavior of warblers under the guidance of Dr. Sara Morris. Current projects include investigating how much variation in flight calling responses exist both within and among species, how energetic condition of birds affects calling rate, how season (spring v. fall) affects rates and types of responses, and how different calling rates affects response.We collected blood samples from thrushes for Dr. Susan Smith Pagano of R.I.T., who is using plasma indicators of fattening rates and diet to study the migration physiology and stopover site use of these birds. We also collected blood samples from several species or passerines for Dr. Greg Cunningham of St. John Fisher College, who is collaborating with scientists in France to explore the diversity of telomere length in Passeriformes. Eventually, this groundwork research may help us understand how telomere length is related to life history traits in birds.- Compiled by Betsy Brooks and Ryan Kayhart

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2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015Gray Catbird 192 306 309 225 253 302 190 232 282 300 395Magnolia Warbler 160 298 453 290 297 335 488 466 282 379 369Ruby-crowned Kinglet 409 524 564 367 567 293 253 437 446 287 366American Redstart 112 231 212 159 284 244 344 213 267 219 246Common Yellowthroat 130 241 201 165 171 151 193 135 181 162 177Traill’s Flycatcher 97 120 151 133 141 155 200 163 154 97 165Yellow Warbler 230 261 196 205 166 321 221 166 128 154 165Western Palm Warbler 84 26 30 147 83 117 68 84 89 155 138Yellow-rumped Warbler 96 80 152 137 179 122 80 91 90 209 135Swainson’s Thrush 35 73 141 61 113 71 86 110 76 54 116

Left page: Spring Bander Training Class, from left to right: Tyler, Kathleen, Tristan, Norma, Andrea, Julia, Betsy, Jeff, and Kyle. Photo by Ryan Kayhart.

Right page. Top: Scarlet Tanagers. Right: Red-eyed Vireo. Photos by Ryan Kayhart.

Over the years, many people have adopted birds through our Adopt-a-Bird program. Now, you can support BBBO’s mission of research, education and conservation by adopting an entire net!Each 12-meter net in use at BBBO costs $70, and they have a limited lifespan. We typically have 32 nets on the property, and that number swells to 37 or more during the fall season. In addition, we supply 8 nets to the K-MB MAPS station every summer.

To a d o p t a n e t , s i m p l y v i s i t o u r w e b s i t e a t <braddockbaybirdobservatory.wordpress.com/donate>. We have a map and descriptions of the nets online to aid your selection (or we will gladly choose one for you). You can opt to adopt an entire 12-meter net at $70, or a half-net at $35. At the end of the year, you will receive a report on your net, including totals of all species caught and details of any highlights and special birds. Nets are essential to our operations, so take advantage of this neat way to support BBBO!

Adopt a Net!A new way to support Braddock Bay Bird Observatory!!

Thank you to our volunteers!The students . . . learned how imperative it is to have a reliable and knowledgeable staff of volunteers as part of the team. Volunteers are incorporated into every aspect of the operation including opening the nets, extracting birds, processing them, and scribing. Without such a well-rounded and experienced staff Braddock Bay Bird Observatory would not exist, so appreciating them for what they do is one of the most valuable lessons the students could have learned. ~Tristan Luxner

Tristan was a student in our spring 2015 Bander Training Class. His peers elected him to be Bander-in-Charge the day the class ran the station, and his words could not be more true. Our volunteers definitely are the heart of our operation! They come to us from different backgrounds, and they each bring unique skills and ideas to the table. Below we list our corps of volunteers for the fall of 2014 and the spring of 2015. We appreciate the contributions of each and every one! Thanks to Steve Maley for mowing and home maintenance, Jim Gilette for mowing the field and grading the driveway, and Tom Muller for mowing paths; to Sue Dougherty, Lyn Jacobs, Willie Norton, Rosemary Reilly, and Doug Smith for their help with habitat maintenance; to Allen Nash for spreading woodchips on our trails and to John Boettcher for completing several “handyman” projects at the banding lab; to Tom Klotzbach for helping with the new computer; and to Jeanne Verhulst for helping with data entry.Much appreciation goes to all our faithful volunteers who scribe and tend the nets: Bob Ames, John Boettcher, Brandon Bonter, Jane Capellupo, Mark Catlin, Andrea Celano, Kim Denise, Hannah Elsinghorst, Jeanine Ferrence, Barb French, Marilyn Guenther, Kathy Habgood, Ann Hauser, Gary Herbert, Shayna Hettler, Julie Kleinhans, Matthew Laframboise, Aidan and Maddie MaKinster, Chita McKinney, Charmaine Merchant, Shirley Meston, Nancy Murty, Willie Norton, Lauren Parker, Terry Perry, the Podulka family, Karl Reinhold, Sonya Rooney, Rachel Saless, Stephanie Schelble, Lee Schofield, Judy Snell, Ruth Stork, Alice VandeMoere, Tom Verhulst, and Willem Windig. Banding was done by licensed banders Ann Adams, David Bonter, Elizabeth Brooks, Greg Cunninghm, Mark Deutschlander, Jon Dombrowski, Erin Karnatz, Ryan Kayhart, Peggy Keller, Marian Klik, Tom Klotzbach, Cindy Marino, Dave Mathiason, Rodney Olsen, Susan Smith Pagano, Andrea Patterson, Emily Patterson, Doug Smith, and John Waud. Banding assistants were Claire Ashton, Alan Belford, Claire Buck, Virginia Duffy, Kevin Eckert, Laura Evans, Jenna Holzschuh, Kyle Kennedy, Tom Kerr, Greg Lawrence, Gayle Lazoration, Katie Little, Pat Lovallo, Maggie MacNeil, Pat Martin, Danica Metlay, Ann Nash, Meghan Oberkircher, Jim Saller, Rick Sherman, Chris Townsend, Leanna Twohig, Alison Van Keuren, Barb Wagner, Bella Weber, Cici Weber, Aggie Windig, two BBBO Bander Training Classes, and two groups of banding students from Cornell.Ryan Kayhart was our Research Assistant for both seasons, Jenna Holzschuh our Field Assistant for Fall 2014, and Kyle Kennedy our Field Assistant for Spring 2015.A special thank you goes to Bill Kaiser, Nancy Britton and The Genesee Land Trust for permission to band on their land.

Donor Spotlight:John and Sue Gregoire

T ucked into the hills at the south end of Seneca Lake sits Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory, a 60-acre sanctuary for birds and other wildlife. John

and Sue Gregoire founded the sanctuary in 1986 and it is now protected as a perpetual wildlife habitat. In addition to restoring native plantings, establishing ponds, and providing nestboxes, the Gregoires actively monitor wildlife on the property including dragonflies and damselflies, butterflies, and - of course - birds. These dedicated field ornithologists have banded more than 80,000 birds of 145 forms, and have contributed data to the Atlantic Flyway Review, Project Owlnet, and the federal banding database; and have published in several newsletters and journals including the North American Bird Bander.Recently, the Gregoires retired from passerine banding, and they were faced with a dilemma . . . what do you do with nets you no longer need? Their solution was to contact Betsy Brooks and say that we could have them for the price of “come and get them!” On a sunny afternoon, we visited Kestrel Haven to pick up an astonishing 256 nets! Black nets, brown nets, green nets, white nets, blue nets, long nets, short nets, big mesh, small mesh . . . almost everything you could imagine! Some of the nets were lovingly folded in handmade cloth bags, others carefully stored in bread bags, and still others were in their original packaging.We are currently in the process of sorting through the nets. One by one, we unfurl them, measure the length and mesh size, assess the material and quality, and put them carefully in bags with a precise label.We will use as many of the nets as we can in our daily operations and in our owl banding projects, and we will try to find suitable homes for the rest. Three nets have already found their way to a local raptor-banding organization, and we hope that many more will be able to help new and underfunded banders start their own stations and conduct their own projects.BBBO sends a huge Thank You! to John and Sue Gregoire for their generous donation. We look forward to seeing the nets in action!

Left: Peggy Keller with a Pileated Woodpecker. Photo by Ryan Kayhart. Top and right: nets donated by John and Sue Gregoire. Photos by Andrea Patterson. Some information for this page is from Kestrel Haven’s website. You can visit them at <http://www.empacc.net/~kestrelhaven/>.

Braddock Bay Bird ObservatoryA non-profit (501(c)(3)) organization dedicated to ornithological research, education, and conservation. The organization is operated entirely by volunteers, and financially supported by our members.

BBBO Officers and Advisers:President David Mathiason; Vice-President Susan Smith Pagano; Treasurer Chita McKinney; Secretary vacant; Directors Matthew Belanger, David Bonter, Elizabeth Brooks, Mark Deutschlander, Richard Marx, Andrea Patterson, and John Waud. For a complete list of committees and committee memberships, visit our web site.

Photo of Prothonotary Warbler (cover) by Ryan Kayhart amd Mourning Warbler (below) by Andrea Patterson. Newsletter editing by Andrea Patterson.

The Marsh WrenBraddock Bay Bird ObservatoryPO Box 12876Rochester, NY 14612

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