October 13 & 14, 2014

Sometimes I read other banding blogs and cannot fathom the numbers they band and some of the birds they process.  But then again, I am thankful that we have a "quiet" station that has had a great variety of species, some real surprises, and a chance to study what we band.  The volunteers at this station are so utterly fantastic.  We have fun and we learn a lot.

Monday started out with a true squeal!  It was still mostly dark and there was noise at one of the nets.  I swear the net jumped out at us.  In the net was our second Chuck-will's widow!  This bird was born this year.  The tail feathers only have a small buffy tip.  I love the coloration of the wing and tail.  The last one banded was on January 29, 2013.

Chuck-will's widow

Photo by Nancy Price

Chuck-will's widow

Photo by Nancy Price

We also caught an American Redstart, an Ovenbird, and 3 Northern Cardinals.  The next excitement was a Veery.  This bird is reddish head to tail on the back and lacks the eyering of a Swainson's Thrush.  Only the third we have gotten, this one was special because it was a hatch year bird.  This is told by the presence of buffy tips on the wing coverts.

Veery

Photo by Nancy Price

Veery

Photo by Nancy Price 

Tuesday didn't bring a lot of other birds but the two we got were different from yesterday's bunch.  Also, recaptures gave us some nice data.  

The Northern Waterthrush we captured was quite yellow which is known in this species but not seen on most birds.  This tint is most evident in the second photo.  Also visible is the dark center feather of the undertail coverts.  This is not present on a similar species, Louisiana Waterthrush.

Northern Waterthrush

Photos by Georgia Binderow

I had fun with the next species.  We banded one and recaptured another.  White-eyed Vireos have a definite stare, much like that of a parent or teacher, due to their eye color.  They mean business!  The recapture was from February, 2013 which demonstrates site fidelity in this species.  Another recaptured Worm-eating Warbler had been more recently banded but showed an increase in fat which demonstrates the importance of stopover feeding locations for migrating birds.  

White-eyed Vireo

Photo by Georgia Binderow 

Next scheduled banding session will be October 21.  Nets go up by 6:45 am.