Pine Siskin/Redpollinvasion 1977--78 at Norristown, PA Raymond]. Midtilelon

Until this winter we had previouslybanded 108 other sectionsof the trap. Seven kestrelswere Pine $iskins (Spinuspinus), 60 of these in early banded and removed five miles or more from 1972. An AHY bird banded 10 March 1970 returned here; two returned a secondtime and were again 18 January 1972; another AHY bird banded 23 removed some distance away. January1972 was trapped and released 23 April Whenever the hawks appeared,the small birds 1972by JohnBuckalew. An AHY bird bandedhere scatteredwidely but, as I walked out, the hawks 8 April was found dead 18 May 1973at Winnipeg, flew off and the small birds soon returned to feed. Canada. Early on 3 March the flocksof birdswere here but The siskins came in flocks toward the end of 1977. a kestrel flew in and all scattered never to return By January's end we had banded 381. They in any large numbers,although some 15-20were remainedin smallernumbers until 29April at our noted for the remainder of the season. station but some were noted nearby for the next two weeks. We had banded 471 and had 368 Redpollswere last seenon 2 April (thiswas also the last date for 1960;1960 was the only otheryear repeats during this invasion. One foreign retrap in which we bandedredpolls--60). During January was taken--1470-86471. and February we had 2220 captures, 1153 new We had 2 bagsand 1 cylinder feeder hangingfrom birds,1054 repeats, and 13 returns. a tree limb near our back door; thesewere kept By May we had taken: filled with thistleseed. Directly under the feeders we had a Modesto trap and a Middleton thrush Foreign trap into which the seeds fell. A few feet away Species Returns Retraps Banded Repeats were two four-celledPotter and one drop trap, all CommonRedpoll 559 748 on postsfive feet from the ground.Sunflower seed, HoaryRedpoll 1 millet, and finely crackedcorn were used for bait. Amer Goldfinch 7 67 10 Pine Siskin 1 471 368 Somemillet wasplaced in theground traps. Three- PurpleFinch 2 114 22 quartersof the birds were taken in the two ground House Finch 7 52 traps. On I February the CommonRedpolls (Acanthus The seven House Finch (Carpodacusmexicanus) flammea) came in flocks. As the redpolls in- returns were from five birds banded in 1977 and creased, the Pine $iskins decreased. The first two banded in 1976. Five of the American redpoll appearedon 23 January.During February Goldfinch (Spinustristus) returns were banded in 481 were banded. A Hoary Redpoll (Acanthus 1977--an AHY bird banded in 1974 and an AHY M hornemanni),with a much whiter plumage and a banded in 1973. largewhite rump patch,was takenon 11 February. The two Purple Finch (Carpodacuspurpureus) From early January until mid-March we had a returnswere: an AHY M banded 31 January1973, deep snow cover and all traps around the at least seven years old; and an AHY, brown- perimeterof our yard were of no use.All redpolls, plumageat bandingon 22 March 1973,was in full Pine Siskins,goldfinches, and PurpleFinches were male coloring--probablysix years old. A Purple caught5-15 feet from our back door. Finch banded 23 March 1975 (//850-71754)was found dead 24 February in the southernpart of From 7 Januaryto 3 March we had problemswith Arkansas near the Louisiana border, in the town of hawks coming into the yard. With the fields Crosserr. coveredwith deep snow,the rodentswere hard to come by. One Cooper'sHawk (Accipiter cooperii) CommonRedpoll//1480-38531, banded 12 February 1978,was trapped and released--as an AHY F--at and one Sharp-shinnedHawk (Accipiter striatus) were seen in the trees. Nine times American Schenectady,NY on 9 April 1978 by Robert P. Yunick. q2 Kestrels(Falco sparverius) entered one sectionof the Pottertraps as they tried to get at a bird in the /$/North Whitehall Rd., Norristown, PA 19401.

Jul.-Sep.1978 NorthAmerican Bird Bander Page103