Free the ‘Dee

trapped Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapillus

White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis

juvenile American Robin Turdus migratorius

Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus with prey - they love those stink bugs

Black-throated Green Warbler Setophaga virens

Cape May Warbler Setophaga tigrina

  It’s been a while since I hit up the cemeteries, so I swung by today to soak up some last-minute Canada birds before abmigrating east. It/I was hot and sweaty. 

  In a quiet part of Mountain View I came upon what I thought was a dead Black-capped Chickadee, stuck in a clump of ditch-burs like a tragic ornament. When I got closer, it twitched. It’s aliiive! I dropped my gear and went into bander mode. I couldn’t use a bander’s grip (where the bird’s back/wings are tucked into your palm) because of the way the wing and head were entangled, so I went in with a photographer’s grip (securing the legs). I carefully freed the bird’s head, then worked on the breast and wing. After about a minute, the bird came free with the loss of just a single fluff, and a thank-you peck. Thankfully, the burs did not appear to have done any permanent damage to the ‘Dee, and it must not have been trapped for too long, judging from the vigour with which it flew off. Watching it bolt to freedom made me goofy happy. Reminds me of the racoon I liberated last year: https://snowyowllost.blogspot.com/2017/10/raccoon-rescue-report.html

  Bumped into Jean-Sebastien Mayer later, and we picked through a thin warbler wave. My legs are thrashed, they got soft and weak over the summer, like chickadee legs. Actually, that's not an apt comparison, as chickadees can hang from their legs to forage. So that's pretty strong. Good night.

Mount-Royal Cemetery, (Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery), September 13, 2018
Turkey Vulture-1
Cooper’s Hawk-1 up high, (1 down low)
Ring-billed Gull-20+ (6)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird-1 on Pine Hill Side
Downy Woodpecker-1 (1)
Hairy Woodpecker-2
Northern Flicker-7 (3)
Pileated Woodpecker-1
Great Crested Flycatcher-(1 heard)
Red-eyed Vireo-3 (2)
Blue Jay-(3)
American Crow-4
Common Raven-1 (1)
Black-capped Chickadee-20+ (10+)
White-breasted Nuthatch-2 (2)
Red-breasted Nuthatch-3 (1)
House Wren-2 (1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet-1
Eastern Bluebird-12+ (5+)...many being hounded by clots of admiring Chipping Sparrows, which seem to revere them as blue gods
Swainson’s Thrush-6 (5)
American Robin-2
Gray Catbird-2
Cedar Waxwing-10+ in F10
Tennessee Warbler-12+, with a few up on Mountain View, and several near-homogenous groups in F9-F10
Magnolia Warbler-4 (2)
Cape May Warbler-3 in F9-F10
Blackburnian Warbler-1 on Mountain View
Black-throated Blue Warbler-3 (1)
Black-throated Green Warbler-1
Yellow-rumped Warbler-1 in F9-F10
Blackpoll Warbler-6+ throughout...check for those pale legs!
American Redstart-4 (1)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak-1
Northern Cardinal-4 (2)
Chipping Sparrow-120+ (75+)
Song Sparrow-4 (4)
White-throated Sparrow-6 (4)
American Goldfinch-6+ (3)
Pine Siskin-1...good ear, Jean-Sebastien!