Notes from the Station

Species: Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Most recent capture date: 10/02/2022
​Sex: Female

Notes: Our first Ruby-crowned Kinglet of fall 2022!

Species: Song Sparrow
Most recent capture date: 10/01/2022
Age: less than seven months old

Notes: This bird is more reddish than our typical Song Sparrows; he is probably a different subspecies, having hatched elsewhere and migrated to CCFS. We don’t currently identify our Song Sparrows to subspecies, but it would be interesting to do so.

Species: California Scrub-jay
Most recent capture date: 10/02/2022
Earliest capture date: 07/26/2020
Age: two years old

Species: Song Sparrow
Most recent capture date: 9/29/2022
Earliest capture date: 09/16/2018
Age: four years old
​Sex: male

Notes: Based on this bird’s capture history – all the times we have caught him – it looks like he spent his first winter (’18-’19) here, then spent the breeding season elsewhere, then came back again for the winter (’19-’20) and stayed, breeding at CCFS in 2020 and 2021, then disappeared again for breeding season 2022 and returned for the winter. This might just mean that we don’t always catch him when he’s around, or it might reflect changing strategies as he seeks (and competes with other males for) the best breeding spots.

Species: Orange-crowned Warbler
Most recent capture date: 9/29/2022
Earliest capture date: 11/06/2016
Age: at least six years old
Sex: male

Notes: This bird has spent every winter since 2016 at CCFS. He has a choice – he migrates away every spring – but he keeps coming back.

 Species: Hooded Oriole
Most recent capture date: 9/4/2022
Age: less than 7 months old

Notes: It’s hard to tell whether Hooded Orioles are rare for us or not: between 2009-2019 we caught only five, but then in 2020 we caught 13! This juvenile bird was captured with another of the same age, and an older, worn-looking female: most likely its sibling and mom.

Species: Anna’s Hummingbird
Most recent capture date: 9/4/2022
Age: less than one year old
Sex: male

Notes: You can see the outermost tail feather here, R5, has a patch of white with a black spike pointing down through it. That black spike indicates that this not-very-pink Anna’s Hummingbird is a young male rather than a female. (You can also see a foot in this picture: hummingbirds do have legs and feet! They’re just very small.)

Species: Common Yellowthroat
Most recent capture date: 9/4/2022
Age: less than seven months old
Sex: male

Notes: The black mask says “male;” the speckles on the black mask say “baby.”

Species: Willow Flycatcher
Most recent capture date: 8/31/2022
Age: less than 7 months old

Notes: The Willow Flycatcher can be distinguished (on the west coast) from “Western” Flycatchers by their lack of an eyering. (“Western” Flycatchers are either Pacific-slope or Cordilleran Flycatchers, which are hard to tell apart.) East coast Willow Flycatchers are trickier, and closely resemble Alder Flycatchers to the point that those two species also have an umbrella name for the both of them, “Traill’s” Flycatcher, to use when you can’t distinguish them. There is a reason that Empidonax flycatchers have a reputation among birders…

Species: Bushtit
Most recent capture date: 8/31/2022
Age: at least 1 year old
Sex: female

Notes: We put birds in light cloth bags to transport them the short distance between the nets and where we take their data. The bags allow the birds to sit however they like; many cling to the fabric or climb up the inside of the bag. Bushtits tend to call to their flockmates from inside the bag, so if you catch a flock of Bushtits, you will have many bags all cheeping to each other.