Oldest Kentucky Warbler Ever
June 29, 2009
Vicki McDonald found (and captured and photographed) a male Kentucky warbler that tied for the oldest known Kentucky warbler. The previous record was also one of hers, from about 12 years ago. He’s at least 7 years old.
Note the colored bands on his leg, this allows him to be identified without having to re-catch him.
Vicki banded him as an adult in 2003 about 400 meters from where he was re-caught on June 28, 2009. He’s been back every year in between, too, but this is the first time she’s re-caught him.
Kentucky Warbler fledgling sired by the record-setting male
His nest was preyed upon the night prior to his being caught and photographed on Sunday morning. 2 of his fledglings left the nest while the other 2 presumably got eaten. On Sunday morning Vicki found both of the fledgies and caught and banded them (the pic was taken of the first before banding), and then caught dad.
He was/is a very protective father, nearly attacking Vicki as she hunted down his kids. All of this sounds like cutesy fun, but it’s not always–it took nearly 3 hours to figure out the situation and find and catch the kids, and then dad, and involved literally crawling on hands and knees through blackberry brambles, but that’s what Vicki does in order to get her data.
The mother was most likely killed on the nest, due to feathers around it and her not having seen her at all in the subsequent days. Thus, he is a single dad, working hard to care for his 2 fledgies. Due to the predation event, they had force-fledged 1 day early, and the second (not the pictured one) was what one could call “premature,” yet he has survived through yesterday evening. (We haven’t checked the nest/fledging area today; we try to minimize disturbance.) So the old dad is not only single, but also attempting to raise a “handicapped” kid.
Neighborhood Nestwatch on NPR
June 22, 2009
Pete Marra was the first guest on the first show of the new NPR/WAMU program, Animal House, discussing Neighborhood Nestwatch.
Bird of the Month
June 19, 2009
On Jan 15, 2009 a US Airways plane took off from New Yorks LaGuardia Airport, colliding with a flock of geese approximately 2,900 feet above the ground, extensively damaging both engines five miles from the airport. The pilot was able to conduct an emergency landing in the Hudson River—all 155 people on board survived with few serious injuries.
Investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board later sent feathers and tissue extracted from the planes engines to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., for analysis. Carla Dove, scientist at the Smithsonian Feather Identification Lab at the National Museum of Natural History and Peter Marra, scientist at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center at the National Zoo, worked together to determine that it was Canada geese that caused the crash and that the population was migratory and not resident.
Coffee CEO Tribute
June 2, 2009
John Sacharok, co-owner and CEO of Golden Valley Farms Roasting in PA, which sells Bird Friendly® coffee, is featured in a website as a concerned businessman. It provides a nice example of his attitudes and values.
Golden Valley Farms
- 208 Carter Drive Suite 13B
West Chester, PA 19382 - Contact: John Sacharok (President)
- 610-719-0232 (Work)
- 610-719-0320 (Fax)
- sales@goldenvalleyfarms.com
- http://www.goldenvalleyfarms.com/
