October 21, 28 & 29, 2017

Tuesday was very quiet compared to other migration days.  It turns out that Wednesday would have been ideal but we were unable to band.  Likely from now on things will be quieter but maybe we will still have some surprises in store.  The weekend had a few!

At Possum Long we banded three birds.  A Black-throated Blue Warbler, a Red-eyed and a White-eyed Vireo.  Those birds made it a good day.  We also saw the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher again and were very surprised it was still present.  Happiness all around.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Photo by Pete Grannis (welcome back!)

Red-eyed Vireo

Photo by Pete Grannis

White-eyed Vireo

On Saturday, we returned to PB 46.  We banded a total of 9 Painted Buntings and had a recapture from a previous season.  These recaptures are giving us very good longevity and site fidelity data.  

Painted Bunting

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

For incidental captures there we were surprised to have a Magnolia Warbler.  There have been more of this species captured this season than any other.  We also had a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and a Blue Jay.

Magnolia Warbler

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

On Sunday we returned to PB 61.  We banded a total of 11 Painted Buntings and recaptured 3.  All three had been banded in March, 2016.  This means that they had flown up to their breeding places and back two times since being banded!  

Painted Bunting

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

Incidental captures gave us another Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  This is one of the smallest birds we band.  They weigh just over the weight of a nickel.  We also banded a Cape May Warbler.  Third for this season and only the fourth ever!  Note gray cheek with pale area under it.

Cape May Warbler

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

Our season total of Painted Buntings now stands at 32.  

Next banding session is Tuesday, October 31.  Nets open at 7:30.

October 7 & 8, 2017

Sometimes, especially during migration, we elect to band on days that are not at the regularly scheduled time.  We banded on both Saturday and Sunday this week and it was well worth it.  We are at the peak arrival for some of the birds.  Saturday was warbler day.  We banded 22 individuals representing 8 species of warblers.  The expected American Redstarts (3), Ovenbirds (2), and Black-throated Blue Warblers (9) did not disappoint.  We even caught one each of two less commonly caught warblers - Northern Parula and Black-and-white Warbler.  But then there were 3 highlights!!

American Redstart

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

Northern Parula

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

Highlight One was catching more than one Magnolia Warbler!  We have never caught three in one session before.

Magnolia Warbler

Photo by Laura Karg

Magnolia Warbler

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

Highlight Two was catching a first for Possum Long Banding.  Though Yellow-throated warblers are sometimes seen on the property, we had never banded one there.  

Yellow-throated Warbler

Highlight Three was catching not one but TWO Cape May Warblers.  In all of the other years we have banded we had only caught one of these.  Two on one day is pretty awesome.  Cape May Warblers are also typically too high in the trees to catch them.  In areas where there are not tall trees, these bird can be seen down low but they prefer the upper areas in the trees of Possum Long.

Two Cape May Warblers!!

So in addition to the 22 warblers on Saturday we also banded two Painted Buntings and a Red-eyed Vireo.  The vireo was an adult with a really red eye as opposed to the two younger birds we caught recently that had dark eyes.  

Red-eyed Vireo

On Sunday we caught half the number we did on Saturday and the bird diversity on the property was much different, yet it was still a productive session.  There were still Summer and Scarlet Tanagers around and several Red-eyed Vireos.  The surprise was seeing THREE Baltimore Orioles.  We did not catch those but once again, Black-throated Blue Warblers (4) were the majority of the birds caught.   

Black-throated Blue Warbler (female)

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

Other birds caught were 2 American Redstarts, a Black-and-white Warbler, a White-eyed Vireo, an Ovenbird, 2 Swainson's Thrushes, and a Gray Catbird.  Gray Catbird numbers should be increasing in the next few weeks.  

White-eyed Vireo

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

Black-and-white Warbler

Photo by Laura Karg

Swainson's Thrush

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

Gray Catbird

Photo by Bill LaFramboise

Thirty-seven birds in two days!

The next regularly scheduled session as announced on the previous post is on October 10, 2017.  Nets go up at 7:15 am.

September 26, 2017 Opening day was hot!

Yes, opening day was hot both in terms of weather and birds.  Thankfully the thunderstorm skirted our area.  We banded a total of 20 birds (11 species).  Some ever faithful volunteers as well as some new ones were there and kept very busy.  My thanks to all of you.

We started off with a bang as our first bird was a Swainson's Warbler our fifth ever.  We really didn't expect to catch a second one later in the day!

Swainson's Warbler

After that we had a few more typical species a Northern Cardinal and our first of the season Gray Catbird. Many birds including the catbird had fat which means they still have reserves to go farther.

 Northern Cardinal

Gray Catbird

After these birds more kept coming.  We banded 1 male Painted Bunting (first one of Season 5!), 2 American Redstarts, 1 Black-throated Blue Warbler, 3 Black-and-white Warblers, a Common Yellowthroat, a White-eyed Vireo, 6 Ovenbirds, and what I consider the bird of the day.  I do think others may disagree but it was pretty good in my opinion.

Common Yellowthroat

Ovenbird

Black-and-white Warbler

Painted Bunting

Black-throated Blue Warbler

American Redstart

There were a few other migrants present on the property today including Red-eyed Vireos, a Scarlet Tanager, and Northern Parulas.  

So what I consider the bird of the day I had only banded one other of this species before and have seen under 10 of these in Florida!  We had a Chestnut-sided Warbler today.  The unique yellow-green color and chestnut sides were exciting to see up close.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Photo by Robin Potvin

Quite the opening day.  Things should continue to be busy (we hope) for the next few weeks.  The next session will be on October 3.  Nets go up around 7 am.  

October 13 and 16, 2016

We did two more impromptu sessions this week and it was really worth it.  This fall has been spectacular for birds.  On Thursday we banded TWENTY-FIVE birds including our first Painted Buntings of the season.  We have dark green bands again so we adorned this green (born this summer, sex unknown) with one.  We also banded a second young green Painted Bunting.  (Only 79 to go to break the 1000 mark!)  On Sunday we added 11 more birds to the banded list (6 species).

Painted Bunting (young bird, sex unknown)

We banded a whopping 10 Gray Catbirds on Thursday and 2 on Sunday.  

Gray Catbird - one of twelve!!!

We had a one day high of 4 White-eyed Vireos.  Good comparison of the differences in the eye color. We did remember to check the "brown-eyed" young one in case in might possibly be a Thick-billed Vireo but it was clearly a young White-eyed. 

White-eyed Vireo (adult)

White-eyed Vireo - born this summer

Warblers were quite numerous but diversity is down somewhat.  We banded (adding both days) 14 birds of 5 species.  One Northern Parula, 5 American Redstarts, 6 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 1   Ovenbird and 1 Hooded Warbler.  We also saw Prairie, Pine, Black-and-white, and Yellow-throated Warblers.  

Northern Parula

Hooded Warbler - male

Black-throated Blue Warbler - young male

Ovenbird stare down

Other birds banded were a Veery, 1 Swainson's Thrush, 1 Blue Jay, and 1 Indigo Bunting.  Robin saw a banded Indigo Bunting by the pond on Sunday and observed a band.  She also found a great bird for the day. This Rose-breasted Grosbeak is a young male.  It was devouring some Beautyberry.  What a great food source this plant is.  We have seen so many species feeding on the fruit and insects.  Can you find the Grosbeak's companion?

young male Rose-breasted Grosbeak feasting on the Beautyberry

Rose-breasted Grosbeak in Beautyberry with a Gray Catbird

As in the last post the next scheduled banding is Tuesday, October 18.  Nets go up at 7:00 am.  

October 9, 2016 and a bit from October 2

October 11 Banding cancelled  -See you on October 18


Last post I forgot to include some photos from our previous weekend session.  On October 2, we caught five birds.  Most exciting was our first Eastern Screech-Owl.  We had one in the net previously but did not have the proper band.  This time we were ready.  The bird was a red morph and was recently born.  It's feathers were still early ones, not downy but still fluffy.  This gave our bird a "stuffed animal" look.

Eastern Screech-Owl

Had it not been for the owl, our top bird would have been a Hooded Warbler.  Unfortunately we only got wing and tail shots of this species.  Other birds caught were a Veery, a Gray-cheeked Thrush and an Ovenbird.  The Veery was quite interesting with some white feathers in both wings and a lost tail.  We recaptured this same Veery on 10/9 and the tail was growing in.  The white feathers were on both wings so not from some type of injury.

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Veery

October 9 was quite exciting,  We recaptured a Painted Bunting that was banded as a young, green bird in March and now shows its male colors.  We also saw a banded green.  The buntings are returning!!!

We banded a total of 14 birds and had 4 recaptures (the Painted Bunting, the Veery, and 2 Ovenbirds).  

The Gray Catbirds are back!  We banded three.  We also banded 2 of their close relatives - Northern Mockingbirds.  The photo below is of a young mocker.  Its eyes are not yet intensely yellow.  We suspect the beautyberry near one net is now ripe.  We haven't had mockingbirds recently.  We also caught a third mockingbird but released it unbanded.  It was not a healthy bird, possibly having avian pox.  

Northern Mockingbird

Two White-eyed Vireos were exciting and a great comparison of eye color.  The young one was still more gray than white-eyed.  

White-eyed Vireo

We also had another Northern Cardinal, also young as were most of the recent birds.  They must have had a great nesting season.  

Northern Cardinal

In the warbler category we did quite well.  We banded two  Ovenbirds, a Common Yellowthroat, two Black-throated blue Warblers, and a first for the property, Blue-winged Warbler!

Blue-winged Warbler

Next banding session: To be determined, hopefully October 18.  Do not park on Hibiscus.  The dead pine tree has been dropping branches.  High winds may also cancel this session.

October 1, 2016 Migration bliss

Due to approaching weather (Hurricane Matthew), multitudes of great migrant reports, and many good birds at Possum Long yesterday, I decided to run a session today.  Well worth it!  We saw 27 species (many migrants including a bunch of Cape May Warblers) and banded 14 birds (8 species) and recaptured 2 more.

Once again we banded Swainson's Thrush - three of them.  There were more unbanded ones viewed.

Swainson's Thrush

We also banded three more Ovenbirds.

Ovenbird

One of the species banded early in the morning was a Northern Parula.  This is a young bird with the typical red and/or slate breast band are not developed.  The wing bars and yellow lower bill are visible.  

Northern Parula

Photo by Robin Potvin

A very big surprise was a Swainson's Warbler.  The previous ones (only 3!) we banded were in September.  Upon returning home I read that there was one banded in Georgia today so maybe more will be coming through.  

Swainson's Warbler

Photo by Robin Potvin

The Worm-eating Warbler we banded was a good species to compare with the Swainson's Warbler. The central crown stripe and bill size look quite different.

Worm-eating Warbler

Today was a "three species of thrushes" day.  In addition to the Swainson's Thrush above, we banded a Veery and a Gray-cheeked Thrush.  The Gray-cheeked measured beyond a doubt to be well out of the range of Bicknell's Thrush.  The Veery, below, shows the classic red/rufous color of this species.  

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Veery

The last species banded was Black-throated Blue Warbler.  Banding three of them made for nice age and subspecies comparisons.  Two of the birds were adult males, the other was a young bird.  Two were the Appalachian subspecies (black marking on the back) and one was from the non-Appalachian population.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Appalachian subspecies

Photos by Robin Potvin

Our recaptures were exciting.  Both had been banded in September, 2013 as hatch-year birds.  So both are three years old.

White-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay

Next banding:  Tuesday, October 4, but Hurricane Matthew may cancel this session.  Email keepbirding2@yahoo.com if you want to be notified of session status.  If clear, nets go up at 6:45 am.