October 31, 2012

This banding day turned out to be fairly quiet but looking on the good side of things, it gave us a chance to practice net setting and to become more efficient at all of the tasks.  We are starting to notice the return of some birds to Possum Long.  It was very nice to hear Eastern Phoebes on the property even though we did not capture one.

Eastern Phoebe photograph by Nancy Price

Our one capture was a Hermit Thrush.  Its red tail was very obvious but we were careful to observe the rest of the field marks.

Hermit Thrush  photograph by Nancy Price

The first wing feathers are called primaries and are counted from the outside toward the body.  P10 is small so P9 is the first feather one can really see in the photograph.  Counting inward, one can see that P9 is shorter than P6 (at fingertip).  This confirms Hermit Thrush.  Also the wing feather shape is visible in this photograph.  The bumps on the upper edges of P6, P7, and P8 is called emargination and is used to differentiate some species.

evaluating wing feathers of Hermit Thrush

photograph by Nancy Price

Hermit Thrushes are birds that skulk in the understory and are frequently undetected.  I have not heard call notes the way I have in other locations.  Catching one is a great data point for the information we are gathering for Possum Long.

We are working on finding bird movement patterns on the property and to find more net locations to test.  Progress!