April 16, 2013

It is evident that summer is quickly approaching.  A large thunderstorm late yesterday afternoon gave us high hopes that migrants would be present if the rain kept at least some birds from moving north.  I had hoped to possibly see and document some of the species we saw farther south this weekend (Blackpoll and Cape May Warblers) but maybe they are still on their way.  Today was warm and muggy.  We added Eastern Screech-Owl to the year list today.  One was hooting when we arrived.

It looks like Gray Catbirds are still on the move.  We haven't seen any previously banded ones in a while and we banded four new ones today.  Some birds were showing some fat while others were either depleted or not yet fattened up.

We had a wonderful lesson on American Redstart plumage today.  We caught a second-year male.  It had no fat so possibly it was stopping for a bit of food.

American Redstart

Photo by Crystal Conway

Male American Redstarts take two years to acquire their full color (see after-second-year male on January 22).  Today's bird resembled a female restart (like the one on March 19) but there were black feathers starting to appear on its face and the color of the sides was much more red-orange.

American Redstart

Photo by Nancy Price

American Redstart female from March 19

We also got to see the subtle difference in the rump color of this male (darker, more black) versus the female (same as back color).  The tail feathers are also a bit more orange but not as deep red-orange as an after-second-year bird.

American Redstart second-year male

Photo by Nancy Price

 American Redstart female from March 19

We will continue banding while we are still getting at least a few birds and the next session will be on April 23.