February 24, 26, 28, and March 1, 2017, 2017

On March 24, we went back to PB 3 as they had a few unbanded birds plus one bird that had returned but was apparently not a combination from this location.  We did band 2 more here and we did recapture the suspect bird.  It turns out that it was banded at Possum Long in April, 2016.  The young lady of the household lent us her special bunting for company!

our bunting mascot

Painted Bunting

Photo by Pete Grannis

On the 26th we went to Sebastian and revisited PB 40.  It was a very birdy day - we saw our first Swallow-tailed Kite of the season.

We banded 8 new Painted Buntings and had 17 incidental birds:  Two American Goldfinch, 7 Indigo Buntings, 3 Brown-headed Cowbirds, 3 Northern Cardinals, 1 Common Ground-Dove, and a Common Grackle.  

Painted Bunting 

male

Indigo Bunting

molting and wearing into blue colors for spring

American Goldfinch

On February 28 we cancelled our regularly scheduled Possum Long banding due to rain.  Bird safety comes first and wet nets are not safe for birds.  

March 1 was a great session.  We banded at DuPuis (PB 6) which is one of our few sites with public access. This is a good location for observing buntings.  We only used a trap in the caged feeder that is there. It kept us quite busy.  We banded 5 new buntings and recaptured 6 more.  We saw quite a few strange colors including one green bunting with red feathers on its face.  These were not molting in. The cheek area is typically blue on a male so it is just that they got colored red as they grew in.  We recaptured a male that had been banded in Season 1.  This means the bird is a least 6 years old.  We also had 5 incidental captures of 3 Chipping Sparrows and 2 Indigo Buntings.  

Painted Bunting with strange red face feathers

Indigo Bunting 

molting and wearing into its blue colors for spring

Painted Bunting

older female with rosy breast

Next scheduled banding at Possum Long will be on Tuesday, March 6.  Nets go up at 6:30.