Migrants continue to pass right over as the winds are not too favorable for them to stop. We console ourselves with knowing it is better that they fly on. The grounds are eerily silent. Today we observed 2 Blackpoll Warblers and one female Black-throated Blue Warbler. We caught and banded another warbler species - a Common Yellowthroat.
Common Yellowthroat
Photo by Pete Grannis
Our visitors were about to leave when we had a very strange thing happen. A Blue Jay was in the net as was something that looked like a hummingbird. It turned out to be a very large moth, likely a Sphinx Moth. Never had that happen before! The moth was extracted and released. (Pete got the moth identified as a Fig Sphinx Moth.) The Blue Jay was a recapture. Was the Blue Jay pursuing the moth when they got caught??
Blue Jay
Photo by Pete Grannis
Fig Sphinx Moth
We also recaptured a Great Crested Flycatcher. We did a few training sessions last week and had recaptured the same bird. It was banded in the spring of 2013 and it is still coming to Possum Long. We don't often catch Great Crested Flycatchers so it is good to have this long history on this bird.
Great Crested Flycatcher
Photo by Wendy Allen
Thanks to a site discovered by Jane, Pete has been taking some slow-motion videos of birds we release. Below are the links to his Flickr page. Hope you enjoy this new photography as much as we do. Hopefully the birds from today will be on his site soon!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98416076@N07/26430438700/in/datetaken/
Next banding session: Tuesday, May 10. Nets go up at 6:15.
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