Jennifer Wilcox sends us regular updates from the bird-banding program at the Audubon Starr Ranch Sanctuary in Orange County. Here's her latest (photo of Band-tailed Pigeon by Tom Sheffield):

It felt like summer this week at Starr Ranch and the with the warm winds came a few surprises.  Our third MoSI banding pulse began on Thursday, January 17th.  Birds were scarce as the very high winds kept them hunkered down.  We only opened half of our nets to avoid injuries since high winds can be disadvantageous to little songbirds.  But even despite the fact that we processed only 5 birds, one of them was interesting enough to make-up for the lack in action.  Around 10 AM we detangled a California Towhee with a very strange band on its leg.  The USGS aluminum bands we presently use have a 9-digit code - this one had only 8 digits.  I checked our records this morning and discovered that the bird had, in fact, been banded at Starr Ranch, but the reason the band looked so strange was due to the fact that it was eight years old!  This California Towhee was banded as a hatch-year bird on September 13th, 2005.  It was recaptured in May of 2006 and hasn't been seen since.  The oldest California Towhee on record was 12 years and 10 months.  Not quite a record-breaker but none-the-less amazing!

This morning the winds were calmer and the trees were exploding with avian action.  We watched as a pair of Phainopeplas drove off a hungry flock of Cedar Waxwings from their highly prozed patches of mistletoe.  A pair of Scott's Orioles were heard singing from the tops of the sycamores, and at one point in the morning I thought I heard the distinctive "zzziiiiipp!" of a typically montane finch species, the Pine Siskin.  I was definitely a little weirded out and thought I was going crazy, but our guest, Ally Sheehy confirmed the presence of THREE Pine Siskins here at Starr Ranch.  A very cool bird indeed.  And last but not least, we banded a songster we only occasionally capture in our nets - a Chipping Sparrow.  Quite a week for birds!

See below for a complete list of the birds seen and heard this week:

Birds of the Week - January 18th, 2013

1. California Quail
2. Turkey Vulture
3. Cooper's Hawk
4. Red-shouldered Hawk
5. Red-tailed Hawk
6. Band-tailed Pigeon
7. Mourning Dove
8. Barn Owl
9. Western Screech-Owl
10. Great Horned Owl
11. Anna's Hummingbird
12. Acorn Woodpecker
13. Nuttall's Woodpecker
14. Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
15. American Kestrel
16. Black Phoebe
17. Say's Phoebe
18. Western Scrub-Jay
19. American Crow
20. Common Raven
21. Oak Titmouse
22. Bushtit
23. White-breasted Nuthatch
24. Bewick's Wren
25. Cactus Wren
26. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
27. CaliforniaGnatcatcher
28. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
29. Wrentit
30. Hermit Thrush
31. American Robin
32. Northern Mockingbird
33. CaliforniaThrasher
34. European Starling
35. Cedar Waxwing
36. Phainopepla
37. Orange-crowned Warbler (lutescens)
38. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)
39. Spotted Towhee
40. Rufous-crowned Sparrow
41. CaliforniaTowhee
42. Chipping Sparrow
43. Song Sparrow
44. White-crowned Sparrow
45. Golden-crowned Sparrow
46. Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
47. Western Meadowlark
48. Scott's Oriole
49. House Finch
50. Pine Siskin
51. Lesser Goldfinch