31 Mar:  Yellow-rumped Warbler.

28 Mar:  Red-shouldered Hawk.

27 Mar:  The first Eastern Phoebe and Pied-billed Grebe were found today.  A Northern Harrier flying over was one of only a handful of sightings.  Brown Creepers were singing in the area where they nested last year.  Four Ring-necked Ducks were unusual on Fairlane Lake, as they are more often seen at the Rouge Plant or on the river.  A single American Black Duck was on the lake, and three Herring Gulls found the spawning goldfish easy pickings! More Golden-crowned Kinglets and two more Hooded Mergansers were also seen.

26 Mar:  The first Golden-crowned Kinglet in the Craves yard today.  Also Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on campus.

22 Mar: Three Turkey Vultures, first of the year.

15 Mar: An American Woodcock was flushed today.  The old field area and organic garden are good places to see woodcock displaying in spring.

11 Mar: A female White-winged Crossbill was at the feeder of Natural Areas Dept. chief Orin Gelderloos.  A pair of Great Horned Owls is nesting at Greenfield Village. A pair of and Hooded Mergansers at Greenfield Village sets a new early date.

5 Mar: Two overwintering Red-breasted Nuthatches and at least one overwintering White-throated Sparrow are still around.

1 Mar: Song Sparrows (those that haven't overwintered) have returned.

22 Feb:  Still 33 Common Redpolls...now feeding away from Fairlane Lake as they've stripped the alder trees of their seeds.  Redpolls are also showing up at Dearborn feeders.

10 Feb:  Blackbirds have arrived! 40+, mostly Common Grackles, and a few Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds. Also Horned Lark at Greenfield Village.
 
4 Feb: The Hermit Thrush found on the Christmas Count was seen again in the same place on campus on 24 Jan.  A few White-throated Sparrows are still hanging in there, and the Common Redpoll flock has now grown to 40+.  The banded Fox Sparrow at my feeder made his monthly appearance on 2 Feb.

In other interesting bird news, RRBO has had another band recovery.  Only 35 Indigo Buntings have been banded since 1992, but a second-year male I banded on 13 May 1995 was found dead in Bowling Green, OH on 6 June 1997.

Only about 1% of small songbirds that are banded are ever recovered away from the area they were banded, and each recovery offers a little more insight and information.  One obvious thing we learn about is longevity.  At 5 years old, this bird wasn't near the record age of 9 years, 3 months for an Indigo Bunting, but not bad for a species that winters from south Florida to central Mexico, south to Panama, the Greater Antilles, and the Bahamas.

Another aspect of life history we learn about through banding recoveries pertains to site fidelity.  Interesting that this bird may have been looking for a territory here in 1995 (or passing through to an area even further north), but was found during breeding season 75 miles south of here a couple years later.  Generally, male birds tend to be more faithful to their breeding sites from year to year if they are successful.  Indigo Buntings have what is called "delayed plumage maturation," where second-year males have duller plumage than older males.  As a result, they are often less successful in finding a mate or gaining a good territory, and thus have lower nesting success than older males.  Perhaps this second-year bird was not successful during  his 1995 Michigan nesting season, and had better luck further south in later years.
Archived sightings are listed below 

Interested in receiving updates on the bird sightings at UM-Dearborn via e-mail? Contact Julie Craves . During migration, the e-mail list is posted more frequently than the Web page.