October 1, 2013

Some catch up to start with today.  Volunteer Bill Eaton has joined our effort.  I have added three of his photographs to the previous post.  Welcome and thank you Bill.

We have had a series of net problems including a squirrel, a foot (mine - whoops), and a mango.  Just how many banders can say their net was torn by falling fruit?  I could smell the mango as I mended the two large and two small holes.

Torn - partially mended

Repaired

The goal is to join squares until no more than a double space is left.  Each knot is triple tied.  The finished job should be fairly flat (no puckers).  This is a tedious process and 3 nets were out of commission.  Now just one more to fix......

We banded on September 30 but the whole property was fairly quiet.  We banded a Northern Mockingbird and an Ovenbird.

Today look was also a bit slow but the good news is there were more migrants on the property.  They did not make it to the nets.  We saw Prairie Warbler, Northern Parula, Great Crested Flycatcher, and several Red-eyed Vireos.  We banded one Northern Cardinal.  We also recaptured an Ovenbird that was originally banded on September 23.  It had no fat a week ago and we saw a trace today.  It really needs to fatten up to continue its journey or maybe it will spend the winter with us.

Ovenbird

Photo by Bill Eaton

We keep track of all the birds we see during the time we are banding/waiting.  Today we saw a Cooper's Hawk with a dove for its dinner.  Crystal spotted this Downy Woodpecker.  If it had moved its right leg a tiny bit to the right we might have seen if it was one we banded.  It's not the one from last week.  That one was a male.

Downy Woodpecker

Photo by Crystal Conway

Next planned banding session will be October 8.  Nets going up around 7 am.  Hope to see you there.