May 14, 2013

And the season is winding down....summer resident birds are nesting or soon to fledge.  The tail end of migrants are passing through.  The grounds were quieter this morning but we still managed to catch a few birds.

First up was a female Black-throated Blue Warbler.  BT Blues (to make it easier to type!) are told by the small white patch at the base of the primaries (outer flight feathers).

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

When the wing is spread you can see how individual white markings make up the patch.  The size of this patch indicates that this bird was born last summer (second-year bird).

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

Next we caught another female BT Blue and a female American Redstart.  We watched a lot of birds on the property and wondered why none had made their way into the nets.  Sometimes the birds are high fliers and go right over.  Sometimes they are escape artists like a Northern Cardinal that flew into and right back out of a net.  And sometimes we get a whole bunch.  Today our bunch was a third BT Blue and TWO Great Crested Flycatchers all in one net.

Great Crested Flycatcher

Photo by Linda Wishney

Great Crested Flycatcher

Photo by Crystal Conway

We were able to determine that the first one we processed was a male because the wing was longer than the measurements for a female.  The second one was in mid-range for either male or female.  We could tell that the birds were adults by the shape of the outer tail feather.  

Great Crested Flycatcher

Photo by Linda Wishney

Next banding will be May 21.