A 6-year record productivity

We were sad that our oldest male did not come back this year. However, this 2017 nesting season, which has come to an end this past Thursday, we broke an all-time record productivity for our trail, with 697 chicks produced! This represents a 31% increase from last year's productivity!

Below I report some quick statistics for the last three years during which we monitored the same number of nest boxes (148). Numbers for previous years are in an older post.

First egg date:

2017: March 23

2016: March 18

2015: March 28

Last Fledging date:

2017: Sept. 7

2016: Sept. 18

2015: Sept. 2

Number of chicks banded (day13):

2017: 697

2016: 531

2015: 424

Number of clutches produced with chicks reared to day13:

2017: 167

2016: 131

2015: 107

Number of parent/pair who reared FOUR broods to at least day 13:

2017: 1 (1 male with two mates)

2016: 4 (2 pairs)

2015: 0

Number of boxes in which chicks were produced:

2017: 128

2016: 84

2015: 107

Number of recaptured birds:

2017: 45 birds who were born in 2016 + 67 birds who were already adults in 2016

2016: 27 birds who were born in 2015 + 62 birds who were already adults in 2015

2015: 36 birds who were born in 2014 + 50 birds who were already adults in 2014

Number of new adults:

2017: 75

2016: 53

2015: 43