September 3, 2013

Today with 4 people participating we were able to run all 9 nets.  My thanks to Crystal Conway, Nancy Price, and Jane Wiewora for their hard work.  We keep hearing reports of birds to the north of us (and south) but today was still quiet.  We heard a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and maybe other chip notes but we only caught one migrant.

Jane learning photographers grip with Eddie our training bird

Photo by Crystal Conway

First off we got a new male Northern Cardinal.  He was born this year (hatch year) but had grown in most of his red feathers and his bill was mostly orange with some traces of black.  

Northern Cardinal
Photo by Jane Wiewora

We also caught and banded an Ovenbird.  It was an adult with beautiful fresh feathers and it still had some fat.  It may still have a way to go.

Ovenbird

Photo by Jane Wiewora

Lastly we recaptured "28".  She was originally banded in March and her band number ends in 28.  We have caught her the last 3 weeks.  She is fine despite this and shows good growth of the tail that had been molted.

Northern Cardinal "28"

Northern Cardinal ("28") - tail regrowth

We spend the slack time appreciating any nature we come across.  The butterflies are fantastic right now:  Giant Swallowtails, Gulf Fritillaries, Ruddy Daggerwings, Zebra Longwings, and more.  Spiders weave their webs much to our dislike as we have to walk through them in the morning.  Then again, sometimes they are quite beautiful.

Spider web in the trees

The Wild Turkeys were back.  They took a walk down the street, stopping at the stop sign!  Glad they stayed away from the nets.

Wild Turkey
Photo by Jane Wiewora

Next regular banding session will be September 10 with nets opening around 6:30 am.  If the birds start arriving we may do an impromptu session.  Please contact me if you want a phone call if we do this.