2011 has kicked off with its first casualty, an ASY male Northern Cardinal. The bird is in beautiful condition with fat = 1 and a very bright plumage with deep red-orange bill. It lasted at least one night exposed to scavengers in a conspicuous location on the main north entrance of the NRC.
I’m declaring the grasshopper sparrow and yellow-billed cuckoo carcasses “no longer apparent.”
Here is just a quick summary of casualties at the Noble Research Center from July through December 2010:
Very fat Mourning Warbler that never made it to the wintering grounds.
I detected 25 individuals of at least 16 species among the casualties. The complete list:
grasshopper sparrow – 4
ruby-throated hummingbird – 2
mourning warbler – 2
song sparrow – 2
Lincoln’s sparrow – 2
unidentified passerine (1 warbler, 1 sparrow) – 2
black-and-white warbler – 1
Carolina wren – 1
mourning dove (juv) – 1
least flycatcher – 1
common yellowthroat – 1
black-throated green warbler – 1
brown thrasher – 1
house wren – 1
red-breasted nuthatch – 1
white-throated sparrow – 1
field sparrow – 1
Because I was able to get to the NRC earlier each day during autumn than practical in 2009, I encountered more individuals that were stunned and “trapped” by the building for some time period without obvious mortal injury. Most of these birds are presumed to have eventually moved on, but it is quite likely that the house wren and one of the Lincoln’s sparrows on the “stunned” list were unsuccessful in their respective bids to escape from the confusion of the NRC, and are listed above. The bat represents the first mammalian “capture” by the NRC:
Lincoln’s sparrow – 5 (4 in one flock)
house wren – 1
common yellowthroat – 1
Nashville warbler – 1
grasshopper sparrow – 1
dark-eyed junco – 1
It’s dark when migrants like this Lincoln’s sparrow drop out of the sky and try to find a good spot in which to rest for the day. I’m beginning to think that most collisions are occurring in that last hour before sunrise.
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,400 times in 2010. That’s about 3 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 179 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 234 posts. There were 80 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 27mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was November 10th with 86 views. The most popular post that day was Bonus Ag Hall casualty – 8 November 2010.
The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, mail.yahoo.com, alphainventions.com, mail.live.com, and eatmorecookies.wordpress.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for house wren, dead sparrow, two birds dying, bird feathers, and collided bird.
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Bonus Ag Hall casualty – 8 November 2010 November 2010
1 comment
A Year in the Death – Aug. 2009–Aug. 2010 September 2010
1 comment
23 March 2010 – Sprague’s Pipit March 2010
5 comments
About September 2009
10 June 2010 – two surprises June 2010
Bird-Window Collisions at OK State 