![Tags Keep Coming on Mansfield, and from Quebec](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Master-BITH-GPS-track-map-17Jun22-280x200.png)
Tags Keep Coming on Mansfield, and from Quebec
VCE’s ground-breaking study of GPS-tagged Bicknell’s Thrush yielded more exciting results on 14-15 June, with the recovery of an additional 5 backpacks from Mt. Mansfield, and the addition of 3 tags retrieved in Quebec.
![Backpacking Thrushes Return to Mansfield](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/5_BITH_Car-280x200.png)
Backpacking Thrushes Return to Mansfield
VCE’s first Mansfield banding session of 2022 exceeded all expectations, as we recovered 5 of 36 GPS tags that we affixed to adult Bicknell’s Thrush last summer. Preliminary data from these birds–all males–show that 4 individuals overwintered in the Dominican Republic, 1 on Cuba, and that 3 birds undertook early spring movements of 25-185 km prior to northward migration.
![Kinglets Rain on Mansfield Ridgeline as VCE Wraps Season #30](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Mansfield-bird-bags-on-line-20Sep21-280x200.jpg)
Kinglets Rain on Mansfield Ridgeline as VCE Wraps Season #30
Tiny feathered gems–Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets–filled VCE’s mist nets and ushered in the autumnal equinox on Mt. Mansfield to conclude our 30th field season on the ridgeline. Among 222 birds captured and banded over 3 days, kinglets accounted for 101, but they weren’t the only notable migrants we encountered.
![Birds, Bees, and Trees: A Summer Working for VCE](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Eileen-Fitzgerald-sugarbush-e1630677187959-280x200.jpg)
Birds, Bees, and Trees: A Summer Working for VCE
From long days spent in wooded hillsides to early mornings on top of Mt. Mansfield, it was a busy—but exciting—summer for VCE’s 2021 Alexander Dickey Conservation Intern.
![Non-locals Light Up VCE Nets on Mansfield](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BLBWx2-BTBW-4Aug21-280x200.jpg)
Non-locals Light Up VCE Nets on Mansfield
VCE’s final summer banding session on Mt. Mansfield featured a striking–and puzzling–absence of locally-breeding birds but a strong showing by non-local warblers and our first-ever Northern Flicker.
![A Deluge of Juncos and a Surprise Boreal Visitor on Mansfield](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/BBWA-male-Mans-15Julk21-MS-280x200.jpg)
A Deluge of Juncos and a Surprise Boreal Visitor on Mansfield
Week 7 of VCE’s 2021 banding season on Mt. Mansfield featured a plethora of juvenile juncos and an unexpected, dapper male Bay-breasted Warbler.
![Seasonal Changes Emerging on Mt. Mansfield](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Jennie-wBLPW-collage-280x200.jpg)
Seasonal Changes Emerging on Mt. Mansfield
Free-flying juveniles. Molting adults. Regressing brood patches. Subdued, sporadic song. Seasonal changes that signal summer’s inevitable transition were in evidence during VCE’s Week 6 banding session on Mt. Mansfield.
![A Bicknell's Thrush Storm on Mansfield](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Bicknells-Thrush-GPS-Tag-280x200.jpg)
A Bicknell’s Thrush Storm on Mansfield
Mansfield’s breeding birds proved far hardier than the ornithologists studying them during VCE’s Week 4 banding session on Mt. Mansfield. Despite challenging weather, mist captures were solid, and Bicknell’s Thrushes dominated, with a single-visit record of 17 individuals.
![Mansfield Ridgeline Quiet During VCE Week 3 Visit](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Sharp-shinned-Hawk-01-280x200.jpg)
Mansfield Ridgeline Quiet During VCE Week 3 Visit
VCE’s third banding session of 2021 on Mt. Mansfield was quieter than normal for mid-June, but featured a veteran female Bicknell’s Thrush (possibly the oldest on record) and a feisty Sharp-shinned Hawk.
![A Veteran Bicknell's Thrush Helps Launch New VCE Study](https://vtecostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/BITH-tagged_4_CMG4065-280x200.jpg)
A Veteran Bicknell’s Thrush Helps Launch New VCE Study
VCE’s second 2021 banding session on Mt. Mansfield netted a record-tying veteran 11 year-old Bicknell’s Thrush, who now wears a tiny GPS tag that will help elucidate late winter, pre-migratory movements on the species’ Caribbean wintering grounds.