August 13, 2013 - Lucky 13th

When we decided to end the summer break we were not sure of the timing of returning birds.  We hoped that we would catch local resident birds or with the reports of moving American Redstarts and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers there would be something to band.  If not, there would be pictures of the property like this:

Beautyberry

I first saw this plant in Lisa's garden in Washington (state) and have come to know it as a spot of color and a good fruiting shrub for birds.  

We did however catch 3 birds today so we were lucky.  The first bird was a female Northern Cardinal recapture.  She was originally banded in March.  Somehow we did not manage to take a picture of her.

Zebra Heliconia

We were watching the many Zebra Heliconia at the Firebush when Crystal noticed a bird.  She said she thought it was a Brown Thrasher.  Major excitement ensued as we had never documented one on the property in the last year.  We located the bird and not long after it was in the net.

Brown Thrasher

Photo by Jane Wiewora

This great event welcomed new volunteer Jane Wiewora to the banding team.  I had just mentioned to Jane that we had yet to have Brown Thrasher or Carolina Wrens on the property.  The bird had major molting going on.  A Brown Thrasher is a fairly large bird and because it spends a lot of time scratching on the ground, in the leaf litter, it has large legs.

Brown Thrasher

Photo by Crystal Conway

You can see the uneven tail in this overall shot of the thrasher and also in the back view.

Brown Thrasher

Photo by Crystal Conway

Two other species on the property were noteworthy.  We had a Gray Catbird like last week, likely the same bird.  We also had a Great Crested Flycatcher which we had not had on the property in the last few visits.  No way to tell if this one had been there all along or was one moving through.

Next we caught a male Northern Cardinal that was also heavily molting.  After a few major nips from the bird we got a band on it, took our data, and got photos of his newly emerging head feathers.

Northern Cardinal

Photo by Nancy Price

You can see how skimpy his crest is and the darker (unfaded) red feathers coming in around the black face. You can also see a few white sheaths that cover new feathers in the black feathers just below his bill.

I am thankful that my volunteers are such good photographers so we can share what is happening as we band at Possum Long.  THANK YOU!

And just because it was so packed, we have to show you the new occupants of one of the Wood Duck boxes!

Bee covered Wood Duck box

Next banding session will be August 20 with nets going up at 6:30 am.  Hope to see you there.