January 28, 2017

We made it to a new county.  We banded in Kissimmee in Osceloa county.  What a great experience as so many of our sessions are.

We banded 21 Painted Buntings and surprisingly most were adult and many were male.  Thirteen were male, 5 were female, and 3 were born last year so undetermined (young and green).

Painted Bunting, male

Though we cannot band hummingbirds, if one is caught in the net we (of course) extract them.  We saw evidence of at least 4 birds:  Two immature males with varying amounts of red, one molting tail feathers, and one adult male.  We had moved feeders to prevent them being in the path of the net but the birds were accustomed to flying that way anyway.  They quickly learned to not do that!  The photo isn't as red as is sometimes seen but that is only due to the angle of the photograph.  It was red. 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (adult male)

We also had 16 incidental captures:  6 Northern Cardinals, 3 Blue Jays, 3 Chipping Sparrows, 1 Ovenbird, 1 Carolina Wren, 1 American Goldfinch, and 1 Tufted Titmouse!!  The Tufted Titmouse was a new bird for me to band (113).

Tufted Titmouse

For the Carolina Wren, is interesting to note that the barred pattern is only on half of each wing feather.  When the wing folds, the unmarked portion is under the neighboring feather.  

Carolina Wren

Ovenbird

We are still planning on a February 14 start to the "spring" season at Possum Long.  Details will follow soon.

January 24, 2017

It is a little late but HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Possum Long Banding is still on vacation but we hope to resume on February 14.  Keep watching this site for updates and times.

Painted Bunting banding took a short break but we are back underway.  We banded at PB 59 but though we saw the Painted Buntings there, we just didn't catch any.  This sometimes happens.  We did band 2 Common Grackles.

Sunday, January 22, we visited a new host (PB 66) on the west coast of Florida.  We had high hopes of our first bunting from "out west" but once again they were seen but not captured.  We did band 10 Red-winged Blackbirds and a Common Grackles.  The blackbirds gave us a great opportunity to age this species.

Red-winged Blackbird (ASY) male

Red-winged Blackbird

(l) SY female, (r) ASY female

Today we were much more fortunate when we revisited PB 32 and banded 2 male and one green Painted Buntings.  Also there were quite a few Indigo Buntings at this site.  We banded 5 and recaptured one that had been banded at this site last year.  The male Indigos are turning more blue every day but a lot of it is still hidden until we spread the wings.  We also banded an Ovenbird, a Northern Mockingbird, 3 Northern Cardinals, and a Mourning Dove.

Ovenbird

Indigo Bunting (male)

Indigo Bunting (female)

I will be giving a lecture at the Blake Library (2351 SE Monterey Rd. Stuart, FL) on February 2, from 6-7 pm.  I will be giving an overview of our research project from basics to results.  Hope to see you there.