October 27, 2015 Bunting Busy

This will be short & sweet but I will add more later.

The caged feeders for the Painted Bunitngs appear to be working.  We banded 4 green (can't tell female or first-year male) Painted Buntings today.  Some were still loaded with fat and may move on and others were empty.  It will be interesting to have observations to see how long each individual stays.

We also banded another Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's Thrush.  This one had more data that supports Bicknell's but the wing chord was in the overlap range.  We will have to get more information so for now it is one of the two in the overlap range.

We also banded/recaptured 2 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 2 Ovenbirds, 1 Gray Catbird, and 1 Common Yellowthroat.

Above three photos are of a undetermined Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's Thrush

Photos 1 and 2 by Bob Ellis; Photo 3 by Jane Wiewora

Painted Bunting

Photo by Bob Ellis

Next banding:  Tuesday, November 3.  Nets open at 6 am - remember time change!

October 4, 5, & 6

I was very much hoping that a change in the weather would bring the migrants that most Florida birders are waiting for.  They seem to be held up in the north.  All three days were very quiet and likely we missed the rush by just a few days.

Sunday morning we banded at thrush that had the appearance of a Gray-cheeked Thrush.  Gray-cheeked Thrushes are virtually identical to Bicknell's Thrushes.  To tell them apart there are various measurements that have to be taken.  Bicknell's are the smaller of the two species (and this one seemed small) but there is some overlap in size.   As it turns out, the measurements were in the overlap range of these two species so we still cannot tell which species it is.  It was recorded as a GCBT; a banding code for birds in the overlap zone.

Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's Thrush

Photo by Nancy Price

Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's Thrush - studying the wing and taking measurements

Photo by Nancy Price

We managed to catch a few birds over the three days but most migrants that were around were quite high in the trees.  We are hoping to get a canopy net to use by next spring.

We banded the thrush, a Red-bellied Woodpecker (hatch-year male), 2 Gray Catbirds, and had 2 recaptured Ovenbirds and a recaptured Northern Cardinal.

Gray Catbird

Photo by Nancy LaFramboise

Northern Cardinal - recapture

Photo by Jane Wiewora

One exciting addition to the Possum Long property was a flyover Northern Harrier.  It is now the peak of raptor migration so it was great to see a new bird for the property.

Next regularly scheduled banding:  Tuesday, October 13.  Nets go up at 6:30 am.

November 8, 2012

Back in August, we visited another banding station at Lake Lotus near Orlando.  Andrew Boyle keeps a blog of their sessions and inspired and encouraged this blog.   http://wekivaband.blogspot.com/

Seeing thrushes on the Lake Lotus Blog and our recent thrush activity made us well prepared for more.  As Nancy Price and I set up nets, I saw a thrush go from the edge of the butterfly garden into cover.  On the 8:30 net run we had a thrush in the net.   This proved to be the "Catch of the Day" - a Bicknell's Thrush!

Bicknell's Thrush photograph by Nancy Price

Bicknell's and Gray-cheeked Thrush can be identified by voice or measurements so documenting a Bicknell's is a significant data point for Possum Long.  Wing measurements showed the smaller size of this bird.

Bicknell's Thrush wing measurement

photograph by Nancy Price

The 9:00 net run produced 2 birds: our first Northern Cardinal and our first female Black-throated Blue Warbler.  The cardinal was feisty as expected.  These birds tend to clamp down on skin so we offered her a stick which she kept clamped in her bill for a long time.  Better the stick than my hand!

female Northern Cardinal

photograph by Nancy Price

The female Black-throated Blue Warbler was easily identified by the white mark on her wing.  Volunteers and observers were happy to see or learn this field mark and to see how it is formed by the individual white patches on the wing feathers.

female Black-throated Blue Warbler

photograph by Nancy Price

Next on the roster was a male Northern Cardinal.  He certainly looked intimidating - Angry Bird??  Photographs by Nancy Price

We ended up not banding this bird due to the leg shape on this bird.  We are exploring to see if this is a variation or a deformity.

The last bird of the day was a Gray Catbird, also a hatch-year bird.  

I am very thankful to all of the volunteers who have been getting this program off the ground with manual labor, photography, support, encouragement, and even refreshments!