Claudia Dorn, Jerry Gips, Jimmy Jackson, Brent Ortego and Bron Rorex mist-netted birds at the Dobie Ranch in Live Oak County from 24-26 October 2008. This is the 4^th year in a row mist-netting has been used to survey the avifauna of this ranch in late October. Weather was very nice with nights dropping into the low 50′s and highs in the 80′s with relatively light winds. 28 species and 246 birds were captured and are both records for the ranch.

2007 was a fairly wet year leading into a very dry 2008 making for a fairly dense, but dry herbaceous community. 5 water features provided by the landowner has made a major positive difference in the abundance of select species (GKIS, GREJ & NOCA) on the ranch to thrive in drought conditions.

Red-shouldered Hawk, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Black-and-White Warbler and White-crowned Sparrow were new species banded on the ranch. Neither of these are surprising captures, but are just hard to catch at this site.

Com. Ground-Dove, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Green Jay, N. Mockingbird, Long-billed Thrasher, Orange-crowned Warbler, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia and Audubon’s Oriole were call caught at well above average rates.

A list of species captured are provided below:

In addition to individuals captured, a number of additional species were observed on the ranch that were potentially available for capture:

Brent Ortego

The Texas Bird Banding Team

At Ortego – Zalk

We had a busy fall at the banding station in Victoria County.  Weather was generally dry and warmer than normal.  Hurricanes threatened the area twice to the north and once from the south.  We were fortunate those major storms missed us, but weather patterns were extremely dry.

Feeder birds occurred in numbers above average because of dry conditions, but my hernia surgery at the peak of Ruby-throat migration in mid September caused capture of much lower numbers of this species than expected.

We caught much higher numbers of Red-eyed Vireos and Empids than previous years.  Many of these individuals were concentrating on fruits of swamp dogwood at the station.

Western hummingbirds only showed up in light numbers.  We had two Rufous and 1 Allen’s from past years show up in August.  We were also delighted with the capture of a Calliope.  The Calliope migration to the area varies from year to year.  Most years they seem to not stray south of I-10 and we miss out seeing these tiny birds.  In other years we will get several to over-winter.  This Calliope arrived at an early August date and did not stay.  This was not surprising since most western hummers arriving early are still searching for their perceived winter ground.

We had a nice surprise when a young Allen’s I banded on 9/30/8 was captured by banding team member Charlie Brower at his home on 10/6/8.  The rest of the Team had a variety of foreign recaptures of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds this fall.  Jim Renfro banding in Houston County caught birds originally banded in Illinoies and Missouri.  Bron Rorex banding in Rockport caught a bird originally banded in North Carolina 10 days earlier, and we received a report of a banded bird found by a home owner near Sugarland that was originally banded at LeCompte, LA.

I would like to thank Sue Ortego, Bron Rorex and Susan Beree for assistance with the banding this Fall.

TOTAL BANDED = 1928 with 919 RECAPTURE EVENTS

INDO              3

YBCU             1

BUFH              95

RTHU              1370

BCHU             15

RUHU             4

ALHU              2

CAHU             1

YBFL              6

ACFL              1

WIFL               4

ALFL               35

TRFL               81

LEFL               7

EAPH              2

GCFL              2

WEVI              24

REVI               13

WAVI              1

BHVI               1

CARW            6

HOWR            12

ETTI                0

CACH             8

RCKI               1

BGGN             4

HETH              1

GRCA             3

NOMO            3

LBTH              3

NAWA            23

OCWA            2

YWAR            4

BAWW           1

MOWA           10

HOWA            1

WIWA             31

CAWA            1

COYE             7

YBCH             28

SUTA              3

CHSP              1

LISP                8

NOCA             70

BLGR              1

INBU               16

PABU              7

OROR             3

BAOR             2

19-23 June

Sue and I left Victoria at 3:30 a.m to meet Ann Lemon at her ranch near Segovia to sample her hummers. We enjoyed visiting with Ann and catching Black-chins with a hill top view. Many Painted Buntings and other seed eaters visited her grain feeders while we worked the hummers. Our sample goal was 100 which we achieved by 10 a.m. Her population appeared to have slowed down in breeding for the season because only 26 of 57 adults were male. The normal sex ratio is 1:1 and males tend to leave when they do not get enough attention. 67% of adult females showed tail wear indicating they probably fed young and 17% of our sample was comprised of young birds. 13 of the adults captured had been banded during previous trips. We ate a nice breakfast at one of the best Junction restaurants and watched a waitress balance raw eggs on their ends which is reported as to be only possible during the summer solstice.

We continued our travel to check-in with Dan and Cathy Brown at their “Hummer House” Ranch for the next day’s big banding event. We set up our gear and visited with Dan/Cathy and the group already assembling. We next met with Bernie Beck at his ranch along the S. Concho River which was about ½ mile down the road. We netted there for 3 hours with Ross Dawkins in the afternoon and caught another 100 hummers. This very shaded river bottom ranch had lots of hummers, but it appeared breeding was almost finished. We handled 5 adult male and 80 adult female Black-chins. We also caught 18 young of the year.

Rain/thunder rolled through the Concho Valley during the night and deposited about 1 inch of rain. We started catching birds at dawn just after the last shower using about 10 mist-nets near the spring, a dozen nets in the backyard, 2 Russell (mist-net tents) traps, and 3 cage traps. We set up the crew into 3 banding teams. Bob Sargent/Kelly Bryan banded hummers at the guest cottages. Charles Floyd/Ross Dawkins/ Austin & Christian Walker, etc. banded songbirds and Susan Beree & I banded hummers near the residence. Sue Oliver, Sue Ortego, Debra Dawkins, Nancy Floyd, Connie Armstrong, etc. coordinated bird capture and data tallying. Hummingbirds initially came fairly quickly to nets/traps because of recent rains, seed eating birds worked the scattered grain as well and they kept banding crews very busy until noon. The spring nets did not catch many birds early in the morning and it was expected because it primarily attracts birds needing water. The recent rains deposited water everywhere and kept temperatures lower than normal. Bird activity near the buildings dropped off fairly quickly after lunch when it starting getting hot. Cathy/Dan and crew again provided an excellent lunch for the banding crews.

The birds of the day were a male Lucifer’s Hummingbird which was the first record for the Concho Valley, and a very photogenic Red-shouldered Hawk that was caught in a mist-net.

We shut down catching activity at 5:00 p.m. and met goals of processing 1,000 birds during the day and getting a fair assessment of bird populations using the Brown’s mega-feeding stations.

We caught:

We caught 636 Black-chinned Hummingbirds on 20 June 2008 at the Brown Ranch. This was the 2^nd highest hummingbird catch for the Ranch. Songbirds were much lower than normal (<400) and their scarcity allowed banders to focus more intensively on catching hummers. We recaptured about 88 hummers from previous years. This was the 3rd year in a row of lower than expected production of young. There was a severe hail storm during spring 2006 that probably killed birds, there was a major freeze in early April 2007 that probably destroyed all nesting attempts at the time. 2008 had much lower rainfall than normal which should lead to lower production and higher dependency of birds on feeders. Adult male to female sex ratios was about 45% male which is about normal for this site and date. It contrasts greatly with ratios from neighboring ranches and shows the significance of this property by being able to support reproduction of high densities of birds late into the season. Win and Beck ranches nearby feeders had a much higher percent of adult females and indicates that breeding is finishing up for the season earlier at these sites than at the Hummer House.

BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD PRODUCTION

BROWN (HUMMER HOUSE) RANCH

CHRISTOVAL, TX

THE END

Chandler Ranch

21 – 23 JUNE 2008

After banding at Dan & Cathy Brown’s Hummer House on 20 June, Ross Dawkins and I continued our expedition by traveling to the Chandler Ranch in Terrell County. We netted on the south side of Independence Creek near its confluence with the Pecos River. Conditions were hot and very dry. There was still a good clear flow in the creek. We focused netting near the “slab” on the first day having to keep most nets in total shade because of 100+ degree temperatures. The 2^nd day, we shifted unproductive nets and all nets near the river westward towards the “shady grove” area. We caught about 300 individuals of 30 species. Yellow-breasted Chat, Painted Bunting, Blue Grosbeak and Bell’s Vireo were the dominant species in the baccharis dominated riparian zone. Black-capped Vireo and Green Kingfisher occurred in relatively high numbers. We caught a Black-capped Vireo that was banded during an earlier study that was at least 8 years old.

Brent Ortego

Near Raisin, TX

We finished our last banding run of the season during late June in the eastern Hill Country with the Burditt Ranch feeding 3.7 gallons of sugar water per day, Matter Ranch 1 gallon per day and Wiedenfeld Ranch 2 gallons per day. The breeding season is starting to show signs of winding down with adult males starting to leave the mega feeding stations. Reproduction looked good for the season with all ranches showing about 50% young during the last check and ¾’s of the adult females showing some tail wear which is normally indicative of having fed young. Total capture of birds this season was below those of the record year of 2007 and collectively at least as high as the other previous years. We had one day of strong winds which lowered catch and tallies for the year.

The last round of the season netted two very interesting birds. The first was a male that was banded as a hatch year at Dan Brown’s Hummer House Ranch near Christoval in 2004. It was caught again at that ranch in 2006 and 2007. However, this year they did not catch it at Dan’s, and we caught it at the Burditt Ranch in late June. Our data has shown over the years that males are more prone to switch breeding areas and we suspect this bird did this. The 2^nd bird was banded as an adult female at my Victoria County banding station in October of 2006 and was caught at the Matter Ranch in late June. She was apparently en route to her winter ground when she was caught near the Coast.

BCHU HUMMINGBIRD ANNUAL SUMMARY

One of our goals when starting this project was to study reproduction, survival & site fidelity of a large population of hummingbirds until we stopped capturing birds from the beginning. Art & Hanna Richard banded at these 3 ranches in 2001 and 2002. We started our follow up study with annual banding beginning in 2004. We recaptured several of the Richard’s banded birds annually, including 2008, and it looks like we will be continuing this research for at least one more year

We would like to thank the landowners Bob & Sudie Burditt, Annie & Corky Matter, and Sue & Egon Wiedenfeld for managing the birds and inviting us to share this wonderful resource. We thank their friends and family who participated in the banding for showing great interest and love for the hummingbirds. We also thank our banding team which included Susan Beree, Bron Rorex, and Jeff & Suzie Ross.

Brent & Sue Ortego

Banders: Brent & Sue Ortego, and Bron Rorex

This is our 3^rd trip of our 5^th season banding hummingbirds in the Texas Hill Country. We make 4 monthly trips during each breeding season. We caught hummingbirds and songbirds for 4 hours at each of 3 ranches during the weekend 7-8 June 2008

Winds ranging from 15-25 mph all weekend made capturing hummingbirds and songbirds very difficult. Capture rates of hummingbirds were very low this trip as compared to past years, and likely much of this was due to the weather. However, not all differences to past years can be explained by the weather.

We did not recapture enough birds from previous trips to be able to make reasonable estimates of the population this month.

Burditt Ranch, Leakey

Caught 239 in June 2006, 200 in June 2007, and 354 in May 2008. We caught 162 Black-chinned Hummingbirds on this trip: 32 adult and 45 immature males, and 59 adult and 26 immature females. We had 44% of the birds as young with only 28% in 2007 and 22% in 2006. Only 35% of the adults were male this month as compared to 54% in 2007 and 42% in 2006.

46% of adult females showed evidence of having nested while 75% did in 2007 and 85% in 2006.

Ranch fed 3.86 gallons per day the week prior to banding in June.

Matter Ranch, Comfort

Caught 65 in June 2006, 104 in June 2007, and 136 in May 2008. We caught 52 Black-chins on this trip: 21 adult and 8 immature males and 22 adult and 1 immature female. We had 17% of the hummingbirds as young with only 4% in 2006 and 2007. 49% of the adults were male this month as compared to 50% in 2006 and 2007.

55% of the adult females showed evidence of having nested while 90% did in 2007 and 74% in 2006.

Ranch fed 1.75 gallons per day the week before banding in June.

Wiedenfeld Ranch, Comfort

Caught 102 in June 2006, 310 in June 2007, and 332 in May 2008. We caught 44 Black-chins on this trip: 5 adult and 10 immature males, and 25 adult and 4 immature females. We had 32% of the hummingbirds as young with only 3% young in 2007. Males represented only 17% of the adults as compared to 44% in 2007 and 35% in 2006.

64% of the adult females showed evidence of having nested while 64% did in 2007 and 92% did in 2006.

Ranch fed 1.88 gallons per day the week before June banding.

Summary:

With low catches caused by the weather, we can only guess as to what is happening and likely will have to wait until our last banding session at the end of June to make any conclusions on production in 2008.

Evidence of nesting females were considerably lower than past years, but percent young higher than normal. Adult males appeared to already be leaving for the year. We did notice a few adult males and one adult females already going through body molt indicating the breeding season for these birds was done and they were getting ready for migration. Some individual hummingbirds molt before migrating south while others will wait until they get to the winter grounds.

While there might have been other factors affecting catch rate, our story will be that the weather caused the low catch.

SONGBIRDS

We spent more time catching songbirds this trip because of low numbers of hummers being brought to the banding tables.

We banded 23 songbirds at the Wiedenfeld Ranch and 121 at the Matter Ranch. Young birds made up a high percentage of the catch indicating nesting was going well for them.

Of particular interest were the 23 Purple Martins we banded at the Matter Ranch. These birds were individually banded with color bands that are readable with spotting scopes. This allows us to identify the birds without having to capture them again and should make it easier for us to learn more about the martins. This martin banding is part of a larger study sponsored by the Purple Martin Conservation Association where attempts are made to band 2,000 Purple Martins per year in Texas with the same protocol.

We spent a good part of Sunday morning watching the young martins in the picture above that left the nest early being fed by the parents.

There is obviously much more to these trips than just the banding. We are participating with some very wildlife conscious landowners that treat their guests very well with their time, food and facilities.

We used 2 Russell Traps (mist-net tent) at the Burditt Ranch and caught 354 BCHU.  They are feeding 4 gallons of sugar water per day with a large bee population consuming an unknown portion of the food.  We estimated the population at this site to be 2500 based on the ratio of recaptures to new birds.

We used 1 Russell Trap, 1 Hall Trap (drop trap), and 2 passive 6-meter mist-nets at Matter Ranch and caught 137 hummers and 64 songbirds.  They are providing 1 gallon of sugar water per day and we estimate they are feeding about 800 hummingbirds.

We used 2 Russells and 1 Hall trap at the Wiedenfeld Ranch and caught 333 hummers while they were feeding 2 gallons of sugar water per day.  We estimate they are feeding about 1350 Black-chins.

Many females (40%) had worn tail tips from feeding young or eggs visible within their bodies.  Seven young hummers were caught which is just the beginning of this year’s crop of hummers.  Ruby-throats were passing through in small numbers.

We caught a hummingbird wearing somebody else’s band at the Burditt Ranch and we are checking to determine its history.  We also caught one of Sue Wiedenfeld’s birds taking advantage of the hummer resources on the Matter Ranch which is about 7 miles across the hills.

SPECIES                                                BURDITT              MATTER              WIEDENFELD

BCHU male                                            190                          82                            149

BCHU female                                        164                          54                            183

Ruby-throat                                          0                              1                              1

Golden-fronted Woodpecker                 0                              1                              0

Ladder-backed Woodpecker                 0                              1                              0

B-c Titmouse                                       0                              4                              0

Chipping Sparrow                                0                              3                              0

Field Sparrow                                      0                              5                              0

Lark Sparrow                                      0                              2                              0

N. Cardinal                                          0                              8                              0

Painted Bunting                                  0                              9                              0

House Finch                                       0                              15                            0

Lesser Goldfinch                                0                              20                            0
 
 
Brent Ortego
near Raisin, TX

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.

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.