November 17, 2015

You can tell things are quieting down.  Like last year, birds seem to be gathering in the vegetation around the pond overnight so its THE place to be first thing in the morning.  We banded 9 birds today:  6 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 1 Palm Warbler, 1 Gray Catbird, and 1 Indigo Bunting.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

You can see a few of the classic feathers for which this bird is named but the feathers we look at (upper tail coverts) are the ones right below the yellow.  These feathers frequently tell us age and sex.  This is an adult male.  The black centers of the feathers are broad and the edges are blue.

Indigo Bunting

Though it does not show very well, there is a tinge of blue right above Pete's thumb.  This is a young female bird, born this breeding season.  Not much blue on it at all.

Palm Warbler (eastern/yellow subspecies)

Typically we see "western" Palm Warblers at Possum Long and most of the surrounding area.  Once in a while there's a really yellow one of the "eastern" subspecies.  According to references, the western subspecies occupies much of the entire breeding range (most of Canada and some of the northern states).  The eastern/yellow subspecies occupies the eastern portion of the breeding range. Both subspecies winter in the southeastern US and Caribbean.    

Palm Warblers (both subspecies) taken at a sparrow banding session

Next scheduled banding:  November 24, 2015.  Nets go up at 6 am.