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.