Date: 9/4/26 5:07 pm From: Barbara Volkle <barb620...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] West Hill Dam banding trip - 9/12
Thanks to Strickland Wheelock for this post.
Barbara Volkle Northborough, MA <barb620...>
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Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2026 19:10:58 +0000 (UTC) From: Strickland Wheelock <skwheelock...> Subject: West Hill Dam banding trip - 9/12
One of the exciting trips of the season from Drumlin Farm is coming out to West Hill Dam in Uxbridge to my bird banding station. Our 1st days were Aug 29th & 30th - now 9/4 - 9/6th to catch the early part of fall migration. Overall, the captures have mostly been local species with a mixture of some fall migrants - several E Phoebes, Am Redstart, N Waterthrush, C Yellowthroat, Warbling Vireo, Field Sparrows mixed with many Gray Catbirds, Pine Warb= lers, N Cardinals, House & Carolina Wrens, Song Sparrows, etc. in 3 days - today we flushed a Ruffed Grouse [major surprise] & caught a hummingbird. Higher up in the trees, we have spotted several migrant warbler species that need to drop lower. The frustrating challenge is that we normally don't have time to check out all those migrants on our net runs given we need to keep up with all the new captures - for example, 2 yrs back in the fall, 1 net had 17 captures after having just checked it 25 mins early - what a mixture of several warbler species, vireos, flycatchers, sparrows, buntings, thrushes! Still singing/calling are the Scarlet Tanagers, Yellow-thr Vireos, Rose-br Grosbeaks, various woodpeckers, etc around us - shortly the flood of migrants should be on the way where each net run we expect multiple captures keeping us non-stop aging, sexing & banding these birds before we head out for another run - an amazing learning experience looking at molt, eye color & other key ID features.Following banding & lunch, we will bird a few other top birding locations in Uxbridge - River Bend Farm & the Uxbridge Community Gardens [sparrow heaven] to locate more migrants to add to the list for the day.If interested, you can contact this site as the 12th is coming soon - love to show you what we lovingly do most mornings. https://www.massaudubon.org/programs/drumlin-farm/104321-bird-banding-at-west-hill
