There is the agony of indecision. Yesterday was very windy and the forecast was for more high winds. Could we band?? It seemed to calm down overnight but it is not good to band in the wind as nets can be seen, birds can be injured, and tree limbs or debris may fall on the team. So I sent out texts and emails stating we would likely not band but I would go see what conditions were like at sunrise. Should I cancel? Who would show up? Well, Jane has the longest drive and she showed up and in the cover of the trees it was not too windy. We waited for sunrise to see if we heard birds. We did. We set up 5 nets. First run: 6 Gray Catbirds! It did not stop after that. Didn't have time to even call folks to tell them what we up to! George arrived and he is as always gracious enough to stand guard over our gear while we check nets. It was very good to see Marko and Roy who came to visit; I thank both of them and Jane for taking photos. (Roy's will be on the Painted Buntings - Season 3 page)
By noon we had banded 15 Gray Catbirds, 1 Swainson's Thrush, 1 American Redstart, 1 Ovenbird and we ended the session with a green Painted Bunting. We also recaptured an Ovenbird that was originally banded this September and a Gray Catbird originally banded as an adult bird in April, 2013. We had recaptured this bird on December 9, 2014 so it has now been on the property during 3 different years.
Not bad for a day that we were "likely not banding". Photos follow.........
Gray Catbird - one of 15!
Photo by Jane Wiewora
American Redstart
Photo by Jane Wiewora
Recaptured Gray Catbird
(looks like the rest of them except its band is no longer shiny)
Photo by Jane Wiewora
Gray Catbird - with unusually gray undertail coverts
Photo by Marco Sillanpaa
Swainson's Thrush
Photo by Jane Wiewora
Next banding: Tuesday, October 27. Nets go up at 7 am.
Great day! With so many migrants having arrived in the past week do you think the windy weather held them in place? Possum Long has some good dense protective cover.
ReplyDeleteLikely. Some of the birds had lots of fat and could have kept going. I also think it drove them into the lushest cover and that's where we placed the nets.
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