October 13 and 16, 2016

We did two more impromptu sessions this week and it was really worth it.  This fall has been spectacular for birds.  On Thursday we banded TWENTY-FIVE birds including our first Painted Buntings of the season.  We have dark green bands again so we adorned this green (born this summer, sex unknown) with one.  We also banded a second young green Painted Bunting.  (Only 79 to go to break the 1000 mark!)  On Sunday we added 11 more birds to the banded list (6 species).

Painted Bunting (young bird, sex unknown)

We banded a whopping 10 Gray Catbirds on Thursday and 2 on Sunday.  

Gray Catbird - one of twelve!!!

We had a one day high of 4 White-eyed Vireos.  Good comparison of the differences in the eye color. We did remember to check the "brown-eyed" young one in case in might possibly be a Thick-billed Vireo but it was clearly a young White-eyed. 

White-eyed Vireo (adult)

White-eyed Vireo - born this summer

Warblers were quite numerous but diversity is down somewhat.  We banded (adding both days) 14 birds of 5 species.  One Northern Parula, 5 American Redstarts, 6 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 1   Ovenbird and 1 Hooded Warbler.  We also saw Prairie, Pine, Black-and-white, and Yellow-throated Warblers.  

Northern Parula

Hooded Warbler - male

Black-throated Blue Warbler - young male

Ovenbird stare down

Other birds banded were a Veery, 1 Swainson's Thrush, 1 Blue Jay, and 1 Indigo Bunting.  Robin saw a banded Indigo Bunting by the pond on Sunday and observed a band.  She also found a great bird for the day. This Rose-breasted Grosbeak is a young male.  It was devouring some Beautyberry.  What a great food source this plant is.  We have seen so many species feeding on the fruit and insects.  Can you find the Grosbeak's companion?

young male Rose-breasted Grosbeak feasting on the Beautyberry

Rose-breasted Grosbeak in Beautyberry with a Gray Catbird

As in the last post the next scheduled banding is Tuesday, October 18.  Nets go up at 7:00 am.  

October 9, 2016 and a bit from October 2

October 11 Banding cancelled  -See you on October 18


Last post I forgot to include some photos from our previous weekend session.  On October 2, we caught five birds.  Most exciting was our first Eastern Screech-Owl.  We had one in the net previously but did not have the proper band.  This time we were ready.  The bird was a red morph and was recently born.  It's feathers were still early ones, not downy but still fluffy.  This gave our bird a "stuffed animal" look.

Eastern Screech-Owl

Had it not been for the owl, our top bird would have been a Hooded Warbler.  Unfortunately we only got wing and tail shots of this species.  Other birds caught were a Veery, a Gray-cheeked Thrush and an Ovenbird.  The Veery was quite interesting with some white feathers in both wings and a lost tail.  We recaptured this same Veery on 10/9 and the tail was growing in.  The white feathers were on both wings so not from some type of injury.

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Veery

October 9 was quite exciting,  We recaptured a Painted Bunting that was banded as a young, green bird in March and now shows its male colors.  We also saw a banded green.  The buntings are returning!!!

We banded a total of 14 birds and had 4 recaptures (the Painted Bunting, the Veery, and 2 Ovenbirds).  

The Gray Catbirds are back!  We banded three.  We also banded 2 of their close relatives - Northern Mockingbirds.  The photo below is of a young mocker.  Its eyes are not yet intensely yellow.  We suspect the beautyberry near one net is now ripe.  We haven't had mockingbirds recently.  We also caught a third mockingbird but released it unbanded.  It was not a healthy bird, possibly having avian pox.  

Northern Mockingbird

Two White-eyed Vireos were exciting and a great comparison of eye color.  The young one was still more gray than white-eyed.  

White-eyed Vireo

We also had another Northern Cardinal, also young as were most of the recent birds.  They must have had a great nesting season.  

Northern Cardinal

In the warbler category we did quite well.  We banded two  Ovenbirds, a Common Yellowthroat, two Black-throated blue Warblers, and a first for the property, Blue-winged Warbler!

Blue-winged Warbler

Next banding session: To be determined, hopefully October 18.  Do not park on Hibiscus.  The dead pine tree has been dropping branches.  High winds may also cancel this session.

April 19, 2016

Some leftover news from while I was away.  Molly Bartels  (see April 5) revisited the station on April 12 and her article and video on our continuing efforts were published.  I don't know how long this link will work but the update article on our banding was front page above the fold!  So many thanks to Molly and The Stuart News.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/martin-county/migrating-birds-passing-through-stuart-site-get-checked--banded-then-sent-on-way-photos-video-2fafd0-375623071.html

Our day started with a lot of excitement.  We got a very large bird in the net. Nancy gave a call out so we could see and deal with our catch.  We released a Red-shouldered Hawk!!  I cannot band raptors and the safest thing for this bird was to open the fold and let it out.  The net squares were too small to snag this magnificent bird.  In all the excitement, we failed to photograph the event.

Soon after we started catching Gray Catbirds.  Much like last year, the migrants are slowly making their way through.  We saw only a few but we also caught them!  If last year's pattern holds this year, the next two weeks could be busy and interesting.

Soon we had our first warbler and it was exciting.  We banded a Hooded Warbler.  This wasn't the first time but it is always an event!  I called Jim to come see what we were banding and he said, "But there's a Hooded Warbler in the 'woods' net"  (our net locations are described with titles not numbers as in some stations).   Two Hooded Warblers in one day!

Hooded Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

More Gray Catbirds for a total of nine! And then we caught the second warbler species - an Ovenbird.  This species should become more numerous in the next two weeks.  

Ovenbird

Photo by Nancy LaFramboise

Next scheduled banding:  April 26.  Nets go up at 6:15.

October 6 & 7, 2014

I have had some people ask, so here's the scoop.  We typically band on every Tuesday until the birds take their winter break sometime in December.  While we are still getting migrants, we may add other days. Recently it has been on Mondays.  If you come to the property and we are not at the parking lot on 7th, continue down 7th and turn left on Hibiscus.  We sometimes work from there.

Migration has slowed but we are still getting great captures and recaptures.  On both days we captured 5 new birds.  Monday we had the first Gray Catbird of the season and we expect many more.  Funny how we are now excited about this species.  Another 100 catbirds from now this may diminish.  Other birds were a Black-and-white Warbler, a male Painted Bunting, and 2 Black-throated Blue Warblers.

Black-and-white Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price 

The tiny bit of buffy color below the gray on the face indicates that this is a hatch-year bird.  

Hopefully I can add a few more photos from Monday but one of our photographers is having camera and computer issues.

Tuesday's birds were a tad more exciting and a different variety of species.  We caught a Swainson's Thrush - our second thrush of the fall. This one can be identified by its buffy eye ring and background color of the spots.  It was an adult bird aged from the lack of light spots on the wing coverts.

Swainson's Thrush

Photo by Georgia Binderow

We also caught our third ever Hooded Warbler.  This is such a distinctly marked bird.  Awesome to have in hand.  All three birds have been male.  Maybe sometime we will get a female or hatch year one.

Hooded Warbler

Photo by Georgia Binderow

Black-throated Blue Warblers continue to find our nets.  Our visitor, Danny, was able to see a female and he released it.  

Black-throated Blue Warbler - female

Photo by Georgia Binderow

Black-throated Blue Warbler - male

Photo by Georgia Binderow

Recaptures can be a great source of information as well as a bit of excitement.  Tuesday we recaptured the first ever White-eyed Vireo we banded.  It was banded on February 15, 2013.  We do not detect the presence of this species during breeding so likely this bird had left the property and returned for the winter TWICE!  We also recaptured this bird on December 3, 2013.

White-eyed Vireo

Photo by Georgia Binderow

It too has decided to express its opinion of the bander.  

Next Tuesday banding - October 14, 2014.  Nets up between 6:45 to 7 am.

September 24, 2013

One of the biggest challenges of banding in south Florida is dodging the rain.  Another is having tall trees and species that like the treetops.  We have been anticipating more birds (for days) and today it happened only to be rained out and/or some of the birds of the early morning decided to move on.

We were only open about two hours but in that short time we banded six birds.  When we first arrived the chip/call notes of warblers seemed to be everywhere.  We saw at least 4 Cape May Warblers but that species still eludes banding here.  Our first two birds were warblers: a Hooded Warbler and Ovenbird.  I really need to find out how Andrew takes such good pictures of birds in his own hand!

Hooded Warbler

The next bird completed the thrush family.  Last fall and this spring we had all the others (Swainson's, Hermit, Bicknell's, and Gray-cheeked) but we were missing Veery.  Now this species is on the Possum Long property list and my banding life list (#75).

Veery

Photo by Nancy Price

Veery

Photo by Nancy Price

You can see the reddish color surrounding the spotting indicating Veery.  The spots on the coverts lets us age this bird as a hatch year.  

We got a second Ovenbird and as we were about to release it two birds hit the net near us.  A Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Mourning Dove.  Both are big birds and capable of escaping the nets before getting truly caught.  Though they are fairly common on the property this is only the second Red-bellied and third Mourning Dove we have banded.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

both photos by Jane Wiewora

Sometimes not evident in the field, you can see the red belly when the bird is in hand.  

We will attempt to have a few nets out tomorrow.  We will meet at 7 am.

August 27, 2013 And so it begins......

Today gave us our first captures of fall migrants.  Slowly but surely, we will be seeing more new birds for the Possum Long Banding Station.

Today started with a Wild Turkey rodeo.  There were two birds under the large feeder just past the Strangler Fig.  We don't want them entangled in the nets so we walked either side of them and they moseyed on toward the pond where we had no nets today.

Wild Turkey (photo from August 6)

First off we recaptured "28" the female Northern Cardinal originally banded in March and recaptured last week and the week before.  She had molted/lost almost her entire tail last week and it was just beginning to grow in.  The tail feathers were a bit longer this week.  We finally photographed her!  You can see part of her band number in the original of this photograph  - the last 2 digits which are 28.

Northern Cardinal

Photo by Nancy Price

Then we had our first warbler of the day.  Prior to this banding station, all of my banding was done in the Pacific Northwest so hearing the call "warbler in the net" is music to my ears.  Two years ago I heard that a Hooded Warbler had been seen at Possum Long but I did not get to see it.  Now we have banded one!

Hooded Warbler
Photo by Nancy Price

We caught and banded another female Northern Cardinal and soon after a brief rain surprised us so we shut down for a short time.  After it cleared we shook out the nets but left them open to dry.  A male Northern Cardinal was caught but he was molting so much and he was a bit damp, so in the interest of his well being we released him unbanded.

Northern Cardinal

Photo by Nancy Price

Next we caught a Worm-eating Warbler.  He bit and chipped the entire time we banded and took data and even later we could hear its calls in the undergrowth.  Luckily for me it doesn't bite nearly as hard as the cardinals.

Worm-eating Warbler
Photo by Nancy Price

Last but not least was another Northern Cardinal.  This one was born this summer told by the new red feathering that was growing in and his black bill.  There were a few small black feathers starting to show around the base of the bill.

Northern Cardinal (hatch year male)

Photo by Nancy Price

Not much diversity today but we can't complain with the two warbler species we did get!  Barn Swallow and Hooded Warbler were new for the 2013 year list.

Next banding session:  September 3, nets open at 6:30.  Come see if we get more migrants.