Monthly Archives: March 2015
30 March 2015 – no casualties
29 March 2015 – no casualties
26–27 March 2015 – no casualties
25 March 2015 – no casualties
24 March 2015 – no casualties
23 March 2015 – no casualties
22 March 2015 – trapped Northern Cardinal
In the first action at the NRC since a trapped Orange-crowned Warbler way back on Oct. 28, I found this Northern Cardinal in the southwest alcove this morning. He let me grab him but judging from his squawking and the strength with which he flew away he’s just fine.
21 March 2015 – no casualties
20 March 2015 – no casualties
16–18 March – no casualties
Despite a massive push of northbound migrants on the 17th, we’ve managed to avoid collisions at the NRC.
13–15 March 2015 – no casualties
12 March 2015 – kinda sorta trapped Song Sparrow
Well, our first decent flight for spring developed overnight, and here’s how the birds looked on radar a little after 2:00 am:
Those signatures suggested to me that there was a high likelihood that some unfortunate traveler had met its end at the Noble Research Center. I was half-right: I found a Song Sparrow at the North Entrance – continuing the odd examples of birds on the “wrong” side of the building for the prevailing direction of migration. This is the first example of any bird seeming in the slightest distress around the building since last October. In this case, however, I can’t even consider the bird to have been trapped. I found it in the vegetation right next to the windows on the east side of the North Entrance, where it was fluttering around and actively chimp!-ing. I even watched it bump into the window before turning tail and perching in a tree at the seating area. I managed just this shot before the bird took off, up and over the building heading southeast.
So we were close to our first casualty for 2015, but I won’t even count this bird as trapped.
10–11 March 2015 – no casualties
Pretty good flight last night in the Southeast, but those birds hit a wall in the Mid-Atlantic:
Right now we’ve got a pretty powerful system along the Texas Coast – could be in for a fallout tomorrow afternoon – but things look clear tonight in the Plains for a big push of northbound migrants.
Radar source showing avian migrants.
Update from 7:45 am on 3/12: Yes indeed, there was a big flight in the central US last night!
Bird-Window Collisions at OK State 