Bicknell's Thrush Update

Stratton Mountain and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science continue the Bicknell's thrush habitat study this summer. Stratton provides a unique opportunity for studying this threatened migratory bird.

A reminder to our guests: Please be aware that if you are hiking up the trails, there may be thrush nests on edge.

2007 Field Season Update

Our four crew members had another week of mostly good weather (until yesterday), a far cry from last year at this time! The undisputed highlight was our mist net capture of a 12 year-old male Bicknell's Thrush, the granddaddy of all time, setting a new longevity record for the species. We originally banded the bird as a yearling in 1997 (our first year on Stratton), and we have captured him in every year since, with the exception of 2003. Assuming he has spent winters in the Dominican Republic or Haiti (we believe about 90% of the global Bicknell's Thrush population winters in the two countries), we conservatively estimate that he has traveled 40,000 miles between Stratton in 11 years between VT and Hispaniola!

Overall, we have mist-netted 25 Bicknell's Thrushes in our first two weeks, so we're off to an excellent start. About 10 of those have been birds from previous years. We've also banded good numbers of our other four target species: Swainson's Thrush, Blackpoll Warbler, Yellow-rumped warbler, and White-throated Sparrow. The crew primarily focused on the ski area plot (we call it "Stratton B") and has just moved over to the south peak ("Stratton A" plot), where they'll concentrate activities the week after next.

They will be on our two other study peaks (Mt. Mansfield and East Mt.) next week, then back to Stratton for the week of June 11.

Other avian highlights this week included the capture of a female White-winged Crossbill in full breeding condition, indicating an active nest somewhere on the mountain. This is our first confirmation of breeding on Stratton (or any other VT mountain) by this species and only the second confirmation statewide during our current Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas project, which is in its fifth and final year. We also mist-netted an adult Northern Saw-whet Owl this week, but it was not in obvious breeding condition, though we suspect they nest somewhere on the mountain. - Chris Rimmer, VINS -