Special Visitors to SpruceHaven

19 August 2018

     Regular readers of my blog will know that I do a weekly avian survey, spring and fall, at the University of Waterloo, for Professor Michael Drescher. In fact, I am now into my fourth year of this work.

     As we have chatted over the time I have been associated with Michael he has shared tidbits about his family, with an overwhelming sense of pride in his children, about whom he speaks in the doting tones one would expect from a dedicated father.

     Michael had told me earlier this spring that he was looking forward to a visit from his mother who lives in Germany and his sister from Australia. We both agreed that a visit to our banding operation at SpruceHaven would be interesting for everyone.

     Thus it was with great pleasure that we welcomed Michael and his family to SpruceHaven on Sunday morning.

     Going from left to right in the above picture are Andrea, (Michael's sister), Pippa, Michael, Allie, Anna and Marlies, (Michael's mother). In the foreground are Ross Dickson and Heather Polan, members of our crew.

     There was not a whole lot of activity at the nets, but the enthusiasm of our guests was not diminished and even though I had forgotten to advise them to wear rubber boots, they had no hesitation in risking wet feet to tour the nets with us.

     As you can see Pippa was entrusted with the important task of carrying one of the birds back to our banding table, and she performed like a true professional. She was very careful not to swing the bag at all and delivered her precious charge in a tranquil state. I think we have an ornithologist in the making!

     Heather, as always, was engaging and involved everyone in what she was doing, young and old alike. Ross, ever the teacher, described every organism we encountered!

     You can see the fascination on the faces of Pippa and Allie as Heather shows them the finer points of a hatch-year Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis).

     Adults peered in too, all witnessing bird banding for the first time.

     All of the members of the Drescher family were the stars of the day, with Pippa and Allie attaining superstar status. But in the interests of illustrating why we get up long before the sun rises in the sky, here are a few pictures of some of the birds we banded.

Tennessee Warbler (Leiothlypis peregrina)

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica)

Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus)

 

     It was also interesting to be able to show our guests the caterpillar of a Milkweed Tussock Moth (Euchaetes egle), bristly and threatening like a creature from the underworld.

     This large moth was on the silo and we believe it to be a Bride Underwing (Catocala neogama), sometime referred to as simply The Bride, but we are awaiting confirmation on this identification - not always easy with moths!

     Michael and Anna, Pippa and Allie, Marlies and Andrea, what a pleasure it was to have you visit. Please come back any time. The welcome mat at SpruceHaven will always be spread out for you.

All birds banded 19 August: House Wren (2), Grey Catbird (1 new, 1 retrap), Swainson's Thrush (1), Americn Goldfinch (1), Tennessee Warbler (1), Common Yellowthroat (1 new, 1 retrap), Chestnut-sided Warbler (1), Song Sparrow (2), Northern Cardinal (1).  Total: 13 birds of 9 species.