How do you tell an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk from a immature Sharp-shinned Hawk?

Adult Sharpies (some birder lingo for you) have a dark almost blue back and cap with a striking red eye. Immature Sharpies will be a mottled brown over their whole body and a yellow eye. This year we had several adult Sharpies, this one among them!

#ornithology #cmmn #birdbanding #raptors #raptorbanding #sharpshinnedhawk #sharpie #birdobservatory #birdringing #migration #migrationmonitoring #scicomm ...

Although we cannot band them as they are a game bird (a bird commonly hunted in Ontario and elsewhere), Ruffed Grouse still are amazing to catch.

What we do with the grouse is we cut a small notch in one of the tail feathers. This way if we ever recapture the same individual we can tell who it is. It’s similar to mark-recapture although not as elaborate as banding and we can’t be for certain which individual is which, it still offers some idea of population around the observatory.

We captured two Ruffed Grouse this fall. I’m always amazed by the complexity of their plumage, they are very good at hiding and often try and stay as still as they can of they think they might be seen by a predator.

That being said, they can erupt from the understory quite violently when you had no idea they were there at all.

#bb_canada #bb_global #grouse #gamebird #ornithology #cmmn #migration #migrationmonitoring #birdbandingstation #birdbandinglaboratory #birdobservatory #scicomm #ecology #peptbo ...

🍁 Fall mood 🍁

The species composition we’re seeing at the point has been shifting in the last couple of days. More late migrants have shown up, including this stunning male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus).

If you’ve ever lived in areas where these guys breed, you’ll know they can be quite defensive. They can chase away predators several times their size, including Bald Eagles and Red-tailed Hawks (albeit not always successfully)!

Currently they can be observed in larger murmurations alongside Common Grackle and the occasional Starling down at the point.

#migration #migrationmonitoring #birdobservatory #kings_birds #ebird #birdbandinglaboratory #birdbandingstation #bb_global #princeedwardpoint #ontariobirds #ssji #southshorejointinitiative #birdringing #ornithology #scicomm #ecology #cmmn #birdresearch #visitthecounty #birdsofinstagram ...

Guess what has arrived at the point this morning? ☀️

We have seen one or two Fox Sparrows 🦊 around traverse woods a week or two back but this morning we were lucky enough to have this later migrant drop in.

Fox Sparrows are known to have several subspecies, the one most commonly found in Ontario is the Red variant of Fox Sparrow, the specific subspecies we caught this morning was Passerella iliaca iliaca. These birds breed on the northernmost part of the boreal forest, in an ecosystem known as Taiga🌲.

This bird likely doesn’t have too much farther to go for its migration, as they winter in southern Ontario and in the northern half of the states.

Good to watch your feeders for this visitor as well as any American Tree Sparrows that have recently shown up in the county! 👍🏻

#scicomm #birdsofinstagram #birdbandingstation #birdbandinglaboratory #birdbanding #ringingstation #birdringing #ornithology #cmmn #birdscanada #migration #migrationmonitoring #princeedwardpointbirdobservatory #peptbo #birdobservatory #visitthecounty #bb_global #sparrowsofinstagram #sparrowappreciationsociety ...