October 29, 2013

It looks like we are heading for quieter banding sessions.  Today we banded five birds but also had two recaptures.  We did not see the Western Tanager that was present and banded on Saturday.

Gray Catbirds are the birds of "winter" that we can fairly reliably catch and band.  We banded three today.  Some of the other over-wintering birds have yet to return.  We will be looking for Yellow-rumped Warblers, Eastern Phoebes, and more species to return by the end of the year.

Gray Catbird

Photo by Crystal Conway

Warbler numbers are on the decline.  A single Northern Parula was banded.  We saw Black-and-white and  Pine Warblers but did not capture any.   

Northern Parula

Photo by Bill Eaton

Northern Parula

Photo by Bill Eaton

Palm Warblers spend the winter in fairly large numbers in our area.  Possum Long gets a few most days.  We banded one today.  It took a long time to finally get this species.  This time last year we did not have as many nets and there did not seem to be as many around.  We have also determined where to place nets to maximize captures.  We are now in our second year of banding and from this time last year to the end of the year we only banded 13 birds.  It has been a terrific year.

Palm Warbler

Photo by Bill Eaton

Recaptures are an important part of any banding project.  We see Northern Cardinals and Blue Jays each session.  Recapturing them tells us which birds have remained on or returned to the property.  Today we recaptured one of each.  So far it seems that Gray Catbirds have a larger roaming range and do not necessarily stay at Possum Long since we have banded many but recaptured only a few of the recently banded ones.  We also know from recaptures that some Gray Catbirds have returned to Possum Long after a breeding season away.

Also important to this effort are the volunteers.  My thanks to everyone who takes photos, records data, puts nets up and takes them down, carries gear, moves tables, and lends a hand for whatever needs doing.  This project is only possible with your service.  I am grateful.

Next banding session:  November  5, 2013.  Nets go up at 6:30 am.  Meeting time "earlier" due to time change.

October 26, 2013 Utterly amazing

Bill was available to help with banding and since this doesn't happen very often, we ran another session.  For the most part it was busy early on and then it was so quiet.  We banded a total of nine birds - the expected Gray Catbirds (4), Blue Jay (1), Black-throated Blue Warbler (1) and then the amazing.  The first excitement was banding our first Palm Warbler.  They were both the "Western" type; not super yellow except on the undertail coverts and very little rust color on the head.

Palm Warbler

We were closing nets when Nancy Price let us know there were two birds in the net in the Butterfly Garden.  One was a second Palm Warbler. Yesterday, Crystal told me she saw a bird that looked like a tanager or a goldfinch.  I never dreamed the next day we would capture the bird and have it be a WESTERN TANAGER!!!

Western Tanager

Photo by Nancy Price

Western Tanager

Photo by Nancy Price

Western Tanager

Photo by Nancy Price

Western Tanagers are rare in Florida but do occur almost annually with 1 or 2 making an appearance somewhere in the state.  Note the small tooth like projection on the edge of the bill, best seen in the second picture.  This is characteristic of tanager bills.  Some have larger ones than the Westerns do.  Also in that picture you can see that one wingbar is yellow and the other is white.  Ironically, I have banded this species before.  My new one for the day was the Palm Warbler.

Next regularly scheduled banding:  October 29.  Nets going up at 7 am.

October 25, 2013 - school visit

Today we had the second group of students from the Sonshine Homeschool Group.  They toured the Audubon property, looked for butterflies, made bird feeders, and participating in the banding.  Unfortunately we only caught 1 Gray Catbird while they were there but at least they all got to see it.  They experimented with color banding a "bird's leg" stick using sections of colored drinking straws.  Prior to their arrival we banded 3 Gray Catbirds and 3 Black-throated Blue Warblers.  After they left we caught another Gray Catbird.

One of the Gray Catbirds was a hatch year bird that was still quite young.  Though it had migrated, it still showed signs of being a young bird.  The gape, a fleshy part of a young bird's bill, was still present.  The mouth was still very pink with almost no black showing.

Gray Catbird

Photo by Nancy Price

Gray Catbird

Photo by Nancy Price

We caught two female and one male Black-throated Blue Warblers.  The male was a hatch-year bird evidenced by a tint of green to the head and back feathers and a trace of white on the throat.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

Next banding session is October 29 with nets going up at 7 am.

October 19 and 22, 2013

We did a quick banding session on Saturday and then our regular session today.  Red-eyed Vireos were the birds of both days; we've now banded four.  All of them have been hatch-year birds.  I discovered how to make the photographs a bit bigger.  Enjoy all of the photos by our expert photographers!

Red-eyed Vireo

Photo by Bill Eaton

Sunday we also got an American Redstart.  It was a hatch-year male as can be seen with the orange-yellow feathers just under the wing.  

American Redstart

Photo by Nancy Price

Jane wanted to make sure that readers found out that Northern Cardinal females have quite a bit of red under their wings.  Bill obliged with a photo.

Northern Cardinal

Photo by Bill Eaton

We have gotten a few interesting recaptures.  Today we got another White-eyed Vireo that was originally banded in February.  Also a Gray Catbird originally banded on March 19.  The catbird had definitely left the property and has now returned.  Also "28" the Northern Cardinal we recapture from time to time was caught today.

White-eyed Vireo

Photo by Bill Eaton

Totals for the past two sessions were 10 birds.  Remember you can see day totals on the pages part of this blog.  Red-eyed Vireo 3, Northern Cardinal 2, Gray Catbird 4, and the American Redstart.  George visited the banding station and got to release one of the catbirds.

George releasing a Gray Catbird

Photo by Nancy Price

Sometimes the fun pictures are not birds we banded.  Today an American Kestrel tried to claim the Osprey pole as a perch.  I think it had delusions of grandeur.  Also a photo of a Northern Mockingbird showing off its bling.

American Kestrel

Photo by Jane Wiewora

Northern Mockingbird

Photo by Crystal Conway

Crystal also photographed a Palm Warbler.  We are all hoping for one to eventually find its way into a net.

Palm Warbler

Photo by Crystal Conway

We will be banding on Friday, October 25 when a classroom visits Possum Long.  The next scheduled weekly banding will be Tuesday, October 29.  Nets up at 7 am.

October 16, 2013 School visit - excitement plus!

At yesterday's regularly scheduled banding session Crystal reminded me that we we going to have a school visiting Possum Long today (Thanks Crystal, Sorry Linda!)  I had said I would talk about bird banding.  Last night Nancy Price suggested we put up nets and if we got birds it would be a great experience for the students.   Having done this at my former job, I have wanted to do this since the station opened but this was our first opportunity and Nancy's encouragement and willingness to monitor the nets made it happen.  Nancy was a pro at extracting birds today and the warblers kept both of us really busy.  If we had not had birds to share we had planned a hands-on task of banding "birds legs" (sticks) with "color bands" (slit pieces of drinking straws).  Most students got to do both.  It is always great to see people experience birds and bird banding up close.

I'd like to thank the students and parents of the Sonshine Christian School for their visit, enthusiasm, and total cooperation.  It was my honor to share this project with you.

We banded a total of  14 birds today; 12 of them were warblers (second highest count of warblers in a day):  6 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 4 Ovenbirds, 1 Common Yellowthroat and a first-for-the-station Magnolia Warbler.  I was very pleased to have the Magnolia show up in time to show the students.  It is only the second Magnolia Warbler we have seen on the property and the first one I have ever banded.

Magnolia Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

Magnolia Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

The small white dot on the almost middle feather (R2) indicated that this was a hatch year bird (born this year).  

Common Yellowthroat

Photo by Nancy Price 

The other two birds were banded after the school group left and were a Blue Jay and a Swainson's Thrush.

Swainson's Thrush

Photo by Nancy Price

Swainson's Thrush

Photo by Nancy Price

The row of light dots near the bend (wrist) of the wing indicated that this was also a hatch-year bird.

Also of great excitement was almost catching a Pileated Woodpecker.  It hit the net and we (cautiously) had hands on it but it managed to escape out of the end of the net.  We will order a band big enough for this woodpecker in case we ever catch one again.

Attempting to take the Pileated Woodpecker out of the net

Photo by Crystal Conway

Pileated Woodpecker after escape

Photo by Crystal Conway

Next scheduled banding is October 22 at 7 am.

October 15, 2013 - Early rain but worth the wait

Early morning rain held us up for a brief time but not long after opening we had three birds in one net and one in another.  We banded a total of 9 birds and had 1 recapture.

It is actually the recapture that was quite exciting.  It was a White-eyed Vireo we banded on February 5.  There is no proof that it left Possum Long to nest however it might have done just that and then returned to  the property once more.  Interestingly there were no White-eyed Vireo sightings on the property during the 25 sessions between February 12 to September 19.

White-eyed Vireo

Photo by Bill Eaton

Today we banded 4 Gray Catbirds, 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler, 1 Northern Cardinal, 1 Blue Jay, and 2 Ovenbirds.

Gray Catbird

Three Photos by Bill Eaton

I've wondered just how many Gray Catbird pictures can be taken and still show a new aspect of that species.  Bill has managed to capture some different poses.  The last pictures shows the pink interior of a Gray Catbird born this season (hatch-year).

Black-throated Blue Warbler - female - checking fat under breast feathers

Photo by Bill Eaton

Northern Cardinal - hatch year - note dark patches in bill

Photo by Nancy Price

Northern Cardinal with arrow indicating new feather growing in

Photo by Jane Wiewora

I am forever grateful to the people who make this research project happen especially the recent hard work of Nancy Price, Jane Wiewora, Crystal Conway, Bill Eaton, and Linda Wishney.  It takes talents of all kinds to make this work.  Thank you for donating your time and efforts.

Next scheduled banding October 22, 2013 with nets going up at 7:00 am.

October 10, 2013 "Emergency" banding day sets new record

Well, Tuesday left us disappointed so when the weather changed, we hoped that there would be birds moving.  We called an "emergency" banding session.  (The emergency part comes from some fun we had on Tuesday - Jane was tickled when I suggested an emergency banding session instead of "unscheduled" or "impromptu" banding later in the week).  It turned out to be a record setting day with 18 newly banded birds (8 species) and one recapture.  The recapture was a Gray Catbird originally banded at the end of August (which was an early return time).

We started with Ovenbirds and Gray Catbirds - I think we may be very glad that catbirds are back.  They make good teaching birds.  Not too bite-y and big enough to practice holding.

Ovenbird

Gray Catbird - hard to take pictures of your own hand!

Then the fun began, we had a very good variety of birds:

Common Yellowthroat

The color underneath threw me for awhile.  Common Yellowthroats in the western US aren't as colorful underneath.

Black-and-white Warbler

Jane was present for this next bird.  It was a new species for me to band.  By noting the hook on the bill you may guess it is a vireo.  The eye isn't as red as it will be.  This indicated a hatch-year bird.  The photograph actually shows a bit more red than was present in reality.  This one did bite and I could feel the hook but it did not pierce.

Red-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Photo by Nancy Price

Jane had to leave and we had some thoughts of  deciding when we should close but the birds kept coming.    Our next bird was also a new species for me to band and new for the property list.  Though it looks female in appearance there are indications that this is a hatch-year male.  The newest coverts on the wing are black, there are tiny red feathers starting to appear on the chest.  One nice thing about a bird in hand is that you can see things that are not always apparent on a bird in a tree.  I love the color of the underwing.  This one bit hard!

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Photo by Nancy Price

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Photo by Nancy Price

Black-throated Blue Warbler - female

Blue Jay

Nancy Price was almost certain she saw a cuckoo on the property and that would have been a new property species.  In reality we will count Yellow-billed Cuckoo as Nancy also found a wing of one (likely a left over from a Cooper's Hawk meal).  The rusty color was stand out.

wing of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo

It was an amazing day.  

Next scheduled banding is October 15, nets to go up at 7 am.

October 8, 2013

Although we saw Northern Parula and Yellow-throated Warbler today and the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were still around, we did not band any birds today.

It looks like migration may be winding down unless weather changes or some winter birds start arriving.

We will continue our regular Tuesday sessions for a bit longer and we will watch the weather and bird radar.

Next scheduled banding will be October 15 with nets up at 7 am.  Please contact me if you wish to be included if there are any "emergency" banding sessions.

October 1, 2013

Some catch up to start with today.  Volunteer Bill Eaton has joined our effort.  I have added three of his photographs to the previous post.  Welcome and thank you Bill.

We have had a series of net problems including a squirrel, a foot (mine - whoops), and a mango.  Just how many banders can say their net was torn by falling fruit?  I could smell the mango as I mended the two large and two small holes.

Torn - partially mended

Repaired

The goal is to join squares until no more than a double space is left.  Each knot is triple tied.  The finished job should be fairly flat (no puckers).  This is a tedious process and 3 nets were out of commission.  Now just one more to fix......

We banded on September 30 but the whole property was fairly quiet.  We banded a Northern Mockingbird and an Ovenbird.

Today look was also a bit slow but the good news is there were more migrants on the property.  They did not make it to the nets.  We saw Prairie Warbler, Northern Parula, Great Crested Flycatcher, and several Red-eyed Vireos.  We banded one Northern Cardinal.  We also recaptured an Ovenbird that was originally banded on September 23.  It had no fat a week ago and we saw a trace today.  It really needs to fatten up to continue its journey or maybe it will spend the winter with us.

Ovenbird

Photo by Bill Eaton

We keep track of all the birds we see during the time we are banding/waiting.  Today we saw a Cooper's Hawk with a dove for its dinner.  Crystal spotted this Downy Woodpecker.  If it had moved its right leg a tiny bit to the right we might have seen if it was one we banded.  It's not the one from last week.  That one was a male.

Downy Woodpecker

Photo by Crystal Conway

Next planned banding session will be October 8.  Nets going up around 7 am.  Hope to see you there.