April 10 and 11, 2018

During migration in Florida, seeing and catching birds to band depends on the weather.  It is hard to wish for bad weather as that means birds have a very hard time getting where they need to go.  However, if it is bad, we can take advantage of the situation.

Weather forecast for Monday night was rain with winds coming from the west.  This can be ideal for seeing migrants at Possum Long.  We banded on our regular Tuesday as well as Wednesday.  Though winds stayed a little too strong for ideal capturing, we did manage to band 19 birds on Tuesday.

Very early on we caught a Swainson's Warbler - only our fifth.  These are pretty secretive birds so it is always a pleasure to get one.  This was our first during spring migration, the other four were banded in September or October.

Swainson's Warbler

Photo by Pete Grannis

We also banded a lot of Worm-eating Warblers - our highest day total of this species.  Our highest year total was 5 and we tied that this day.  Although these two species are similar in appearance, in hand one can readily see the different crowns and the much larger bill of the Swainson's.  

Worm-eating Warbler

Photo by Jan Stanard

Twelve species of warblers were seen and 8 of those we banded.  The others banded were 2 Northern Parula, 1 American Redstart, 2 Black-and-white Warblers, 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler, 2 Ovenbirds, and 1 Palm Warbler.  Others seen were Black-throated Green, Cape May, Prairie and Yellow-throated.  

American Redstart

Photo by Jan Stanard

Northern Parula

Photo by Jan Stanard

Black-and-white Warbler

Photo by Pete Grannis

Pretty much it was a warbler day with the other species banded being 2 Painted Buntings and 2 Gray Catbirds.  We also recaptured 2 Blue Jays, 2 Painted Buntings, and a House Wren.  

Wednesday was less of a warbler day but we did add another species.  We banded a Northern Waterthrush.  We added 3 more Worm-eating Warblers to break the year total.  We banded a total of 11 birds - the above and 1 Painted Bunting, 1 American Redstart, 1 Northern Parula, 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler, 2 Ovenbirds, and a Blue-headed Vireo.   Thirty birds in two sessions - a really good two day total.

Northern Waterthrush

Photos by Bill LaFramboise

Blue-headed Vireo

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

October 1, 2016 Migration bliss

Due to approaching weather (Hurricane Matthew), multitudes of great migrant reports, and many good birds at Possum Long yesterday, I decided to run a session today.  Well worth it!  We saw 27 species (many migrants including a bunch of Cape May Warblers) and banded 14 birds (8 species) and recaptured 2 more.

Once again we banded Swainson's Thrush - three of them.  There were more unbanded ones viewed.

Swainson's Thrush

We also banded three more Ovenbirds.

Ovenbird

One of the species banded early in the morning was a Northern Parula.  This is a young bird with the typical red and/or slate breast band are not developed.  The wing bars and yellow lower bill are visible.  

Northern Parula

Photo by Robin Potvin

A very big surprise was a Swainson's Warbler.  The previous ones (only 3!) we banded were in September.  Upon returning home I read that there was one banded in Georgia today so maybe more will be coming through.  

Swainson's Warbler

Photo by Robin Potvin

The Worm-eating Warbler we banded was a good species to compare with the Swainson's Warbler. The central crown stripe and bill size look quite different.

Worm-eating Warbler

Today was a "three species of thrushes" day.  In addition to the Swainson's Thrush above, we banded a Veery and a Gray-cheeked Thrush.  The Gray-cheeked measured beyond a doubt to be well out of the range of Bicknell's Thrush.  The Veery, below, shows the classic red/rufous color of this species.  

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Veery

The last species banded was Black-throated Blue Warbler.  Banding three of them made for nice age and subspecies comparisons.  Two of the birds were adult males, the other was a young bird.  Two were the Appalachian subspecies (black marking on the back) and one was from the non-Appalachian population.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Appalachian subspecies

Photos by Robin Potvin

Our recaptures were exciting.  Both had been banded in September, 2013 as hatch-year birds.  So both are three years old.

White-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay

Next banding:  Tuesday, October 4, but Hurricane Matthew may cancel this session.  Email keepbirding2@yahoo.com if you want to be notified of session status.  If clear, nets go up at 6:45 am.  

September 17 & 18

We had a pretty good session on Saturday.  It was good enough to prompt us to retry on Sunday.  Saturday won.  We banded 8 birds - 3 Ovenbirds, 3 Northern Cardinals,  a Worm-eating Warbler and finally, the new to the property, Carolina Wren.  On Sunday we banded 2 Ovenbirds and a Northern Cardinal.  Most of the cardinals have been young birds.  Here's a few of photos to show the range of maturity.  There were many differences in molt also.

young male Northern Cardinal not much left of juvenal appearance

female Northern Cardinal - young but mostly changed

Young male Northern Cardinal - younger than the first photo

The Ovenbirds have been consistent.  We have passed the total of Ovenbirds banded in the spring but that was quite easy as we had banded so few birds.

Ovenbird

We banded a Worm-eating Warbler which was the only one since last fall.  Love the warm tan color of this warbler.

Worm-eating Warbler

And finally we banded the Carolina Wren that has been seen and heard on the property recently.  As mentioned before, this is a first for the property since we have been banding there.  It is a little ragged from molting.

Carolina Wren

Next banding is our regularly scheduled Tuesday session barring heavy rain.  Nets go up at 6:45.

September 21 & 22, 2015

We banded Monday and Tuesday this week and caught 6 birds each day.  At first light the day started out with a bit of chasing - not us looking for a rarity but first we saw a Barred Owl chasing an immature Red-shouldered Hawk.  Then the hawk was mobbed by Blue Jays with some chasing by the hawk.  Soon after a squirrel chased the hawk away.  Maybe that one should have been the other way around??

immature Red-shouldered Hawk

Photo by Nancy LaFramboise

Soon we had birds.  We caught a total of 3 Ovenbirds, a Blue Jay, and a Worm-eating Warbler.

Worm-eating Warbler

Photo b Nancy LaFramboise

The sixth bird was a Red-bellied Woodpecker and it was a hatch year bird.  The red on the nape was just coming in.  Adult males have full  red at the back of the head from the bill to the nape; females have more limited red from the back of the head to the nape.  Hopefully you can see the ends of the new red feathers and see the sheaths that cover newly growing feathers.

Red-bellied Woodpecker (back of head)

Photo by Nancy Price.

On Tuesday we also caught six birds - 4 Ovenbirds, another Blue Jay, and most exciting was a Veery; the first thrush of the season.  This bird had a good load of fat and no doubt will be on its way soon.

Veery

Photo by Jane Wiewora

We also recaptured a White-eyed Vireo which was originally banded as a hatch year bird on September 23. 2013.  It was recapured a little more than a year later on October 21, 2014.  This kind of site fidelity is one of the things we are documenting as part of the banding project.

White-eyed Vireo

Photo by Nancy LaFramboise

Though I don't understand the need to plant cactus at the Possum Long property, it was quite beautiful to see one of the large ones blooming.  

Next banding session:  September 29.  Nets go up at 6:30 am.

September 8, 2015 Finally four!

After banding on Monday at a Painted Bunting site (see Painted Buntings - Season 3 in the Pages section) and only getting Northern Cardinals I just had to wonder if we would catch something other than cardinals.  Migrants were showing up in larger numbers but sometimes they are hard to catch. We ended up with 4 birds and 4 species banded.

First up was an American Redstart.  It was somewhat camera shy but at least we got a photo!  The true colors aren't well represented in the early morning light but you can see the lighter tail "starts" and some color in the underwing.  In real life these were yellow and this bird was aged and sexed as an adult female.

American Redstart

Photo by Jane Wiewora

Next up was an Ovenbird.  At first we had only detected these 2 warbler species so it was great to have them in the net. The Ovenbird was born this past summer.  The light tips on the wing coverts indicate this.  All birds should have tiny arrows to show these key features!

Ovenbird

Photo by Jane Wiewora

We had a bit of a wait but soon we had a Black-throated Blue Warbler.  This bird was aged/sexed as a young male based on the colors and the fact that the black throat had some white speckles instead of being solid black.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Photo by Jane Wiewora

Lastly we caught a Worm-eating Warbler.  I don't think I can ever again think of this species without remembering a typo I saw that labeled one as a Work-eating Warbler.  So fun to imagine!!  This bird cannot be sexed but was aged as an adult bird.  

Worm-eating Warbler

Photo by Jane Wiewora

Also on the property were 2 Summer Tanagers, 1 Scarlet Tanager, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and a Great Crested Flycatcher.  Come on migrants!

I expect that the next few weeks will bring us more migrants.  Come visit.  Nets go up early and most birds are caught pretty early but come when you can.  

Next session:  September 15.  Nets go up at 6:30.

April 21 and 22, 2015 WARBLERS!

FINALLY!  Today started out hot and humid but also with the sounds of many chipping birds.  A thunderstorm yesterday and a shift of winds and we had warblers to see and band.

Today was record breaking - we banded 26 birds and all of them were warblers.  There were 11 species noted on the property and we managed to catch 7 of them.

First it was a run of Ovenbirds.  We eventually banded 8.  The second photo shows the lighter tips indicating a bird that was born last year.

Ovenbird

Photo by Pete Grannis

Ovenbird

Photo by Pete Grannis

The birds kept coming and coming.  We caught a Common Yellowthroat and a Black-and-white Warbler at the same time.  Currently I do not have a photo of the Common Yellowthroat from today. It was a male.  We eventually banded 4 Black-and-white Warblers.

Black-and-white Warbler

Photo by Pete Grannis

It seemed like most of the Ovenbirds took off or at least found a place to hide.  We started getting Worm-eating Warblers and Black-throated Blue Warblers.  All this time, between bandings, we were seeing many warblers in all of the ficus/strangler fig trees as well as in the oaks.  Frustrating to have so many birds so high.  We banded 3 Worm-eating and 7 Black-throated Blue Warblers.

Worm-eating Warbler

Photo by Crystal Conway

Worm-eating Warbler

Photo by Bill Eaton

Black-throated Blue Warbler (male)

Photo by Bill Eaton

Black-throated Blue Warbler (female)

Photo by Bill Eaton

At times it seemed like birds were flying in.  We started to see a few more American Redstarts.  We banded 2.  

American Redstart (male)

Photo by Georgia Binderow

The bird that topped it all off for me was finally (in our third spring) catching a Cape May Warbler and a stunning male at that!  This is the 99th species I have banded.  

Cape May Warbler (male)

Photo by Pete Grannis

The other 4 warbler species present on the property today were Blackpoll, Prairie, Palm, and Northern Parula.  Only the Blackpoll is a species I have yet to band.

If weather/time/personnel permits we will band for a while tomorrow.  Hopefully the birds will stay and fatten up before continuing their journey.

(UPDATE 4/22:  It seemed about half of the birds had moved between yesterday and today but we still had a good day. We banded 3 American Redstarts, 4 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 1 Common Yellowthroat, and 4 Ovenbirds.  That would usually be a great day.  We also noted 2 migrants on the property that we had not seen yet this season - A Scarlet Tanager and a Red-eyed Vireo.  Also present was a Black-throated Green Warbler, bringing the two day warbler total to 12.

Next regularly scheduled banding will be April 28.  Nets go up at 6 am.

September 30, 2014

We have been very fortunate managing to band despite the rain in the last few weeks.  I think the amount of rain has resulted in a few more birds being around a bit longer.  More on that as we go on.

We banded on Monday and Tuesday this week.  Both days kept us running.  We banded 13 on Monday and 9 on Tuesday.  Tuesday also had many recaptures due to heavy rain yesterday that likely kept birds from flying on last night.  In addition they may have remained just in order to eat to build up more fat stores. Some birds were well stocked while others had virtually no fat on board.

Monday we caught a lot of Ovenbirds (6) and Black-throated Blue Warblers (4).  Most of the Ovenbirds were adults.  This Black-throated Blue Warbler was born this summer.  We tell this by the few white feathers still showing in the black throat.

Black-throated Blue Warbler (male)

Photo by Nancy LaFramboise

Black-throated Blue Warbler (male)

Photo by Nancy Price

Two others were American Redstarts.  One loved us so much it was reluctant to leave after weighing! (It was not being held back).

American Redstart

Photo by Nancy LaFramboise

American Redstart

Photo by Nancy LaFramboise

So saving the best for last, we banded our first Chestnut-sided Warbler.  This one was a first-year male. This bird is obviously not named for its fall plumage.  There was a very small tinge of chestnut on its sides but that may not be quite visible in this photo.  

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Photo by Nancy LaFramboise

We also recaptured a Worm-eating Warbler that we banded two weeks ago.  At that time it had very little fat; upon recapture it was full and looked ready to move on.  

Tuesday brought the return of the Ovenbirds.  Of the 6 we banded on Monday we recaptured 4 of them. We recaptured a Northern Cardinal that was banded a few weeks ago.  It was born this summer and is almost finished molting in its fresh plumage.  You can still see some symmetric molt on the tail and one of the wing feathers growing in (see the gap?).  

Northern Cardinal

Photo by Georgia Binderow

We also recaptured a bird from last August.  Typically we never see Brown Thrashers on the property.  Last year in August I had just said that when one made it into the net.  Today we recaptured that bird.  Last year the bird was still molting; this time its plumage was quite fresh.  

Brown Thrasher

Photo by Nancy LaFramboise

One of the new Ovenbirds from today was born this past summer.  We tell this by the lighter tips on some of the wing feathers.  

Ovenbird

Photo by Georgia Binderow

We also captured a Worm-eating Warbler today.  You might call this revenge of the birds.  I'm glad it wasn't the cardinal!!

Worm-eating Warbler (Bander-eating Warbler)

Photo by Georgia Binderow

The next few weeks should also be productive.

Next scheduled session Tuesday, October 7. 2014.  Nets open at 6:45.  Hope to see you!