Banding station near Florence, CO-11-6-05

I put up 8 nets (22.67 net hours) from 10:30 to 13:30 today in Pinyon-Juniper country. Day was partly cloudy but variable, wind light at 10:30, strong by 13:00; 56-63 F.

Pink-sided Junco = 4 banded
Oregon Junco = 9 banded
Slate-colored Junco = 5 banded
Gray-headed Junco = 5 banded
Unknown Junco (Pink-sided or Oregon) = 1 banded

at my nearby feeders I had 45+ Pine Siskin, 30+ Junco, 5+ House Finch, 2 Western Scrub Jay, 1 Lesser Goldfinch, 2 House Sparrow, at least one rock squirrel and several cottontails.

Although I am new to the area it appears to me to be a poor year (at least in this area) for Pinyon nuts and Juniper berries. Associated with this appears to be low numbers of Townsend's Solitaires and American Robins in the general area. I saw more of these two species when I visited this area last winter.

Pat Gould
ca. 8 mi. SSW of Florence