April 23, 2013

Migration, even when it is slow, can be magical.  With better weather today we did not have a lot of birds on the property but we discovered some species had left and new birds were around.  We were pleased to see a Merlin fly over the property adding another species to the year list for Possum Long.  We did not see any remaining Cape May or Blackpoll Warblers.

We enjoyed seeing a female Wood Duck in attendance at her nest box.  Surely new Wood Ducks will arrive soon.

Wood Duck

We banded two Gray Catbirds today and then had a bit of quiet time.  We recaptured one of the Black-throated Blue Warblers from yesterday.  Neither of yesterday's birds had fat so maybe this one was hanging around to eat.

During one net run we had the best birds of the day.  Ryan extracted a male American Redstart and also discovered a Black-and-white Warbler in another net.

American Redstart

Photo by Nancy Price

I extracted and banded the Black-and-white Warbler which was a new species for me to band.

Black-and-white Warbler being released from the net

Photo by Nancy Price

Black-and-white Warbler (left) and American Redstart (right)
Photo by Nancy Price

                    Black-and-white Warbler

Next banding April 30, 2013