Ortego Birds Intro

This website will cover bird related activities of the Ortego Family living within Texas. Banding activities with The Texas Bird Banding Team, Christmas Bird Counts and Breeding Bird Surveys will make up most of the activities.

Our team of banders will be visiting cooperating landowners with mega feeding stations during the breeding season again this year. We will be visiting our good friends Bob & Sudie Burditt near Leakey in Real County, Annie & Corky Matter and Egon & Sue Widenfeld near Comfort in Kendall County once each month. We will also be visiting Dan and Cathy Brown’s Hummer House in Tom Green County during June. Our main focus will be continuing research on Black-chinned Hummingbird site fidelity and breeding success. We will also be banding songbirds at these sites and at other conservation areas.

Our first trip was made by Brent & Sue Ortego from 12-13 April 2008. Temperature ranged from 40-75 during each day with 15-25 mph north winds. We conducted 4-hour banding sessions at each ranch which is what is usually done each year. We used 2 modified Russell Traps at Burditt Ranch, 1 modified Russell & 1 Hall Trap and 2 6-meter nets at Matter Ranch, and 2 modified Russell & 1 Hall Trap, and 1 6-meter net at Widenfeld Ranch.

We caught:

BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDS

Artied and Hanna Richard originally banded at these ranches from 2000 - 2002 and we are still recapturing some of the birds they originally banded. Our research started in 2004.

One exciting band return during this trip was a female originally banded at Matter Ranch in 2006, recaptured there in 2007 and recaptured this year at Burditt Ranch which is about 50 miles SW of Comfort. We will be looking for this female to determine if she stayed at Burditt or continued her migration to Matter.

Burditt Ranch

We banded 99 males and recaptured 25 from previous years, and banded 50 females and recaptured 27 females during the morning. Female return rates are consistently higher than males and this ranch is feeding almost 2 gallons of sugar water per day.

Matter Ranch

We banded 54 males and recaptured 17, and banded 29 females and recaptured 16 in the afternoon. This ranch is feeding about ½ gallon per day.

Wiedenfeld Ranch

We banded 49 males and recaptured 22, and banded 31 females and recaptured 34 in the morning. This ranch is feeding about ½ gallon per day.

RECAPTURES

About the same number of birds are banded each year and number recaptured gives us an indication of survival and site fidelity at each of the ranches. Survival of Black-chins by studies like this one at mega feeding stations are showing that small hummingbirds survive much longer than previously believed. Banding results from this first trip of the season was very similar to 2007. There is a noticeable reduction in recaptures at every ranch during the 2^nd year following banding which is either mortality or dispersal related.

We again would like to thank our Ranch Host for their providing food and lodging during our trip, their management of our hummingbird resources and their special friendship.

The 2007-2008 winter season finished with the lowest number of captured hummingbirds since the winter of 2000-2001 (Land of Ortego/Zalk Winter Hummingbirds/); a year when we only maintained 50 feeders. Today, we manage 75 hummingbird feeders during winter and consistently net 9 times during each winter to capture hummers and other wintering birds. Thanks are extended to Susan Heath, Sue Ortego, Bron Rorex and Suzie Ross who assisted with banding.

Buff-bellied Hummingbirds continued to be the most abundant species at the banding station with 51 individuals captured which is close to normal levels. Rufous was the 2^nd most abundant with 19 which is about the normal number for a bad winter and about ½ of what is expected during good winters. There were 6 Black-chins which is well below average, 5 Ruby-throats which is below average, and 4 Allen’s & Broad-tails which is what is expected.

Buff-bellies had 18 new birds for the yard and 33 returning veterans. Eight were originally banded during 2006, 12 from 2005, 5 from 2004, 3 from 2003 and 5 from 2002 or earlier. Our most frequently captured Buff-bellied (band # R57800) continued on his habit of being captured by visiting the banding table 7 of the 9 netting sessions. Y44101 who is the “Old Man” (11 years old) of the yard during winter made an appearance in September and October, but was not captured since. The banding station appears to be saturated with Buff-bellies during winter.

Rufous was the 2^nd most abundant with 11 new birds and 8 veterans. This is the 4^th most we have had during winter and is well below expected numbers, but not part of an apparent long term decline for this site. Two veterans were from 2006, 3 from 2005, 2 from 2004 and 1 from 2003.

Only 6 Black-chins were captured and this is well below expected numbers. This is the 2^nd winter in a row of below average numbers for this species. Only 1 bird was new for the yard, and 5 were veterans; 1 from 2006, 3 from 2005 and 1 from 2002. Our team bands significant numbers of Black-chins in the Texas Hill Country during summer and there is no apparent lack of reproduction from this population. The only foreign Black-chinned recapture we have during winter on the Texas Coast is from a population in the Rocky Mountains and we wonder if this is the source for our winter birds. One bander, Susan Wethington, noted below average reproduction for western Black-chins this summer.

Five new Ruby-throats were banded this winter. We have never had a returning winter Ruby-throat at this site. In general, there was a more westward migration of Ruby-throats this fall and the migration at the Land of OZ finished earlier than expected. A Ruby-throat for only the 2^nd time was known to survive the winter here.

We caught 5 Allen’s with one being a veteran from last year. This is the expected number for this species.

We caught 4 Broad-tails with two originally banded in 2006 and one in 2005. This is twice the number nearly captured at this site.

We did not capture any Calliope or Anna’s Hummingbirds this winter which was very disappointing. A few Anna’s were reported along the Coast, but Calliope’s were extremely rare this winter.

The banding station continues to be a very significant site for wintering hummingbirds in the eastern United States. Data on returning species provide information on their life history.

So, why did we have lower numbers? The winter had about the same number of freezing days as in past years, but was generally warmer. We maintained 75 feeders as in the past, and the habitat did not significantly change in our area. We do not believe weather was a factor. Our best guess is that the populations supporting our winter grounds had poor reproduction last summer. Our returning veteran numbers are about the same as past years. Further banding and research may reveal the answer.

Winter banding data since we started maintaining at least 70 feeders occurs below. First Number = total individuals captured; Second Number = total returning veterans.

BIRDS BANDED ON PERMITS OF ROSS DAWKINS, TERRY MAXWELL & BRENT ORTEGO

1974 through 2007

Order follows AOU Check-List, 7^th ed., 1998, as supplemented:

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MATAGORDA COUNTY - MAD ISLAND MARSH CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT

17 December 2007

Our Team of 113 very dedicated birders reported 235 species during the 15^th running of our CBC. This is our 4^th highest tally and is a very good total for this “down year” for total species. Guadalupe River Delta reported 225, Dan Diego, CA, 215 and Freeport 203 species.

BEST BIRD

Our section leaders had a very close vote for the Best Bird. OLIVE SPARROW won by one vote over Green-tailed Towhee. There seemed to be a consensus that they would prefer seeing an Aplomado Falcon next year on the t-shirt. Does anybody have a good photo of an Aplomado with an Olive Sparrow in its talons?

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