September 22 & 23, 2014

Well, I didn't believe that history would repeat itself but it did - twice.  We did an impromptu banding yesterday and banded one bird - another Swainson's Warbler!!  There were quite a few migrants around so we had high hopes for today's regular session.

Swainson's Warbler

Photo by Nancy LaFramboise

Today we caught the third Swainson's Warbler this fall; you'd think they were a common bird. Actually the timing is right and the weather has caused a lot of birds to stop here instead of flying right through.  We have been fortunate that we have dodged the rain these past few weeks.  There has certainly been a lot of it.

 Swainson's Warblers

Photo by Jane Wiewora

photo by Nancy LaFramboise

We also captured two Worm-eating Warblers today.  Though they are superficially similar, this composite shows the striping differences of these two warblers. 

Top- Swainson's Warbler
Bottom - Worm-eating Warbler

Photo by Jane Wiewora

There were quite a few migrants on the property the past two days including Common Yellowthroats, Summer Tanagers, Black-throated Blue Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos, Eastern Wood-Pewee, American Redstarts, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and a Merlin.

We caught the first thrush of the season and hope for at least a few more.  Today's thrush was a Veery.  It is identified by its overall reddish color on the back and the wash through the spots.  This species was also banded almost exactly 1 year ago!

Veery

Photos by Nancy Price

And last but not least (well maybe in size), we had a Northern Parula today.  This small warbler weighed in at 6 grams!  This lovely close-up shows the tiny amount of red on this bird's chest and also shows the light underside of the bill.  Adult males have a full black and rusty red breast band.  

Northern Parula

Photo by Jane Wiewora

Next regular session will be on September 30.  Nets go up at 6:45.  Hope to see you then.