Banders & Birders, Warm, windy, and wet. That's the best description for this weekend's weather, and the explanation for our lowest number thus far this year. Typically, our numbers to drop off this time of year, and we close the station in mid-November (next weekend will be our last). This weekend I was unable to be at the station on Saturday, so our Master Bander Phil Roberts covered for me, and as expected pulled out a couple of interesting birds despite the low numbers. Among the nine birds banded Saturday included the first American Woodcock for the season, a species that we don't band every year, but have had up to three in a season. Finally, opening the nets in the dark paid off this year! The other highlight was a record late Cape May Warbler on Saturday. Oddly, this was also only our second Cape May Warbler of the season. Typically we band 5-6, though only 1 last year. Photos of both these birds will appear on the HBMO website (www.hbmo.org) but will be delayed a little since they were not taken with a digital camera. The highlight of the seven birds banded on Sunday was perhaps the Fox Sparrow, our seventh for the season which ties our record. American Tree Sparrows were first banded on Saturday, about two weeks later than normal, and we have yet to catch a Dark-eyed Junco, though they are in the area but in very low numbers still. Total species banded this fall stands at 70, with our record at 73. Summaries for the two days follows: November 9, 2002 (9-16 degrees C, cloudy, wind S at 15-30 mph) Open from 06:30 - 13:30 E.S.T. (7.0 hours, 70.00 Net Hours) Total Banded: 9, plus 5 recaptures American Woodcock - 1 (first for the season) Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1 (plus two recaptures, 1 banded 26-Oct-2002, 1 banded 2-Nov-2002) Cape May Warbler - 1 (record late date, and only our second of the season!) American Tree Sparrow - 1 (first for the season) Fox Sparrow - 1 (White-throated Sparrow - 3 recaptures, 2 banded 2-Nov-2002, 1 banded 3-Nov-2002) American Goldfinch - 4 Thank you to banders Phil Roberts, Bob Hall-Brooks, and Carl Pascoe, and to assistants Rachel Powless and Steve Greidanus. November 10, 2002 (10-13 degrees C, overcast, wind SSE at 5-7 mph) Open from 9:00 - 15:00 E.S.T. (6.0 hours, 60.00 Net Hours) (Rain delayed opening, and resumed again after closing) Total Banded: 7, plus 2 recaptures Hermit Thrush - 3 American Tree Sparrow - 1 Fox Sparrow - 1 (7th for season, ties record) White-throated Sparrow - 1 (plus one recapture, banded 3-Nov-2002) American Goldinch - 1 (plus one recapture, banded 9-Nov-2002) Thank you to banders Carl Pascoe and Steve Greidanus, and assistants Rachel Powless, Bob Hall-Brooks, Jason Sodergren, and JoAnn Grondon. Holiday Beach Migration Observatory (HBMO) is an organization devoted to monitoring migration at the Holiday Beach Conservation Area, Essex Co., Ontario, administered by the Essex Region Conservation Authority. In addition to a hawk-watch/passerine count that has been in operation since 1974, HBMO operates three banding stations, two for raptors (since 1987) and one for passerines and hummingbirds (since 1997). The Holiday Beach Conservation Area was designated an Important Bird Area by Conservation International in 2000. Lat: 42-01'54.1" Long: 083-02'41.6" For directions and information on our site, go to the HBMO website at: http://www.hbmo.org Allen Chartier amazilia1@comcast.net 1442 West River Park Drive Inkster, MI 48141 Website: http://www.amazilia.net Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet/index.htm Allen Chartier <amazilia1@comcast.net>