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Friday, August 3, 2007

Starr Ranch banding


Today I went banding at Starr Ranch, an Audubon wildlife sanctuary in Trabuco Canyon. The station is a MAPS station, and today was the last day of the season. The banding area is mostly vegetated with oaks, with a few sycamores, and also chaparral and coastal sage scrub. There is also a creek runoff from a nearby neighborhood. It was very slow... we banded only seven birds, the highlights being singles of Wrentit, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Oak Titmouse, and Bushtit. We also caught a couple Anna's Hummingbirds, but had to release them unbanded because the bander didn't have a hummer permit.


There were lots of other birds in the area, including Acorn Woodpecker, California Thrasher, Northern Flicker, California Gnatcatcher, Spotted Towhee, etc. Another very cool find was a tiiiinny Pacific Treefrog that Barry (?) found by the creek.

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