June 4, 2013

We attempted a session today but the weather wasn't particularly pleasant and there were not many birds around.  We did see a fair number of Blue Jays mobbing a Cooper's Hawk but they are too smart to go in the nets very often.

We also saw a Least Tern flying over the property.  They should be feeding young soon if not already.

Birds observed on the Possum Long property can be viewed in eBird.  Go to http://ebird.org/ , click on Explore Data.  Click on Bar Charts and then choose Florida and Hotspots.  "Possum Long Banding Station" should be one of the choices (keep scrolling!).  You can set date limits to see a list birds we have observed on the property from a chosen time range.  Choose a particular day, the entire time span allowed, or any time frame in between.

We will continue to survey birds on the property and when numbers increase we will resume banding.  As of now we plan to restart some time in late August or early September.  If you want to be notified of the next date, subscribe to this blog.

Hope to see you when we return.

May 21, 2013

Today's session was canceled due to threat of rain.  We birded the property anyway and were lucky to find a flyover Least Tern which is a new species for this year.  We also found 3 previously banded birds; a Northern Mockingbird, a Blue Jay, and the only Downy Woodpecker we have banded so far.  It is nice to know that we have managed to band some of the summer residents.

The Wood Ducks continue on the pond.  The two young Osprey have grown so much.

We also found a Blue Jay and while checking for a band we watched it fly into an oak and land on its nest.  A baby bird was begging for food.  Hopefully we will get a few hatch-year birds if we can dodge the rain this late spring/summer.

Next scheduled session:  June 4, 2013.  We do not band in the rain so watch the forecasts.

May 14, 2013

And the season is winding down....summer resident birds are nesting or soon to fledge.  The tail end of migrants are passing through.  The grounds were quieter this morning but we still managed to catch a few birds.

First up was a female Black-throated Blue Warbler.  BT Blues (to make it easier to type!) are told by the small white patch at the base of the primaries (outer flight feathers).

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

When the wing is spread you can see how individual white markings make up the patch.  The size of this patch indicates that this bird was born last summer (second-year bird).

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Photo by Nancy Price

Next we caught another female BT Blue and a female American Redstart.  We watched a lot of birds on the property and wondered why none had made their way into the nets.  Sometimes the birds are high fliers and go right over.  Sometimes they are escape artists like a Northern Cardinal that flew into and right back out of a net.  And sometimes we get a whole bunch.  Today our bunch was a third BT Blue and TWO Great Crested Flycatchers all in one net.

Great Crested Flycatcher

Photo by Linda Wishney

Great Crested Flycatcher

Photo by Crystal Conway

We were able to determine that the first one we processed was a male because the wing was longer than the measurements for a female.  The second one was in mid-range for either male or female.  We could tell that the birds were adults by the shape of the outer tail feather.  

Great Crested Flycatcher

Photo by Linda Wishney

Next banding will be May 21.

May 9, 2013 - A Day of Records

After a walk last night with a lot of migrants around and news that the west winds would cease, Nancy Price and I decided to do another banding session.  We were hoping to catch the last big wave of spring migrants.  I'm sure more birds and maybe more species will be passing through but not likely in the large numbers we have had recently.

Today we had several milestones.  We broke the single day total with a whopping 17.   We also topped 100 for the year (107) and now have banded 120 birds since the station opened.

Today I got to band 3 species for the first time.  All pictures on today's post were taken by Nancy Price as I had my hands full of birds!  Many thanks to Nancy for being available, being a talented photographer, and for being such a hard worker.

Common Yellowthroat

Northern Waterthrush

Gray-cheeked Thrush

I thought that Gray Catbirds were gone but we caught and banded one today.  It had a good load of fat so it will have reserves to keep going north.

Ovenbirds were more numerous today - The four we banded doubled Tuesday's amount.

We thought we were going to band a male Northern Cardinal but this one also had deformed legs.  They weren't as bad as the previous bird but I chose to not put a band on in case the thickening of the skin continued.  The Northern Cardinal however was not shy about letting me know his displeasure at capture. 

You can see the beak bite mark on my finger.

Northern Cardinal

The three Common Yellowthroats we banded all went in one net together.  It was a bright display even though two were not as bright as the above male.

Common Yellowthroat

It is sometimes a challenge to identify waterthrushes in the field.  There are several field marks that indicate one over the other but in hand there is another clue - the pattern on the undertail covets is different and this one indicated and supported the identification as a Northern Waterthrush.

Northern Waterthrush from below

The flecked throat also indicated Northern Waterthrush.

Northern Waterthrush

The Gray-cheeked Thrush was fun to process as it was clearly bigger than the Bicknell's Thrush we caught last fall.  Bicknell's and Gray-cheeked Thrushes are very similarly marked but differ in size.  Wing measurements for this bird were too long for Bicknell's and in range for Gray-cheeked.  The emargination (indentations) on primaries (P8 and P7 as well as a small bit on P6) ruled out other thrush species.  

Gray-cheeked Thrush wing

We were so busy we did not get photographs of the American Redstarts, Ovenbirds, the female Black-throated Blue Warbler or the Gray Catbird.  There are photos of these birds on other entries.

Next scheduled banding:   May 14, 2013

May 7, 2013 Start the Oven

This might be a bit short today as I am running out of time.  Today was busy and we stayed open until after 2 pm.  I thought that the Gray Catbirds departing would leave a big hole but luckily the migrants came.  West winds pushed birds toward the east coast and we had lots of American Redstarts to band.  Here I'm extracting an after-second-year (not born last year) male.

American Redstart

Photo by Crystal Conway

In all we banded eight American Redstarts today.  Many were second-year males.  They look a bit like females but have a bit of the orange tinge to their "starts" (look just under the wing) and at least a few black feathers coming in on the head area.

American Redstart

Photo by Linda Wishney

Actually the day started with Nancy Price spotting an Ovenbird on the ground near a net.  It wasn't too long and we had it.  Now the title makes sense (sort of!)  We banded two Ovenbirds today - the second picture shows the unique head stripes.

Ovenbird

Photo by Crystal Conway

Ovenbird

Ovenbird

Photo by Nancy Price

The redstarts just kept coming.  One kept chipping at me as I held it.  Crystal caught it in mid-call, mouth open.  Do you think I can teach it to sing on cue?

American Redstart

Photo by Crystal Conway

We also caught our first Downy Woodpecker at the Possum Long Banding Station.  All those white "stripes"  are dots lined up.

Downy Woodpecker 

Photo by Crystal Conway

Downy Woodpecker

Photo by Nancy Price

Next banding session May 14.

April 30, 2013

Session cancelled due to rain.

Next session May 7, 2013

April 23, 2013

Migration, even when it is slow, can be magical.  With better weather today we did not have a lot of birds on the property but we discovered some species had left and new birds were around.  We were pleased to see a Merlin fly over the property adding another species to the year list for Possum Long.  We did not see any remaining Cape May or Blackpoll Warblers.

We enjoyed seeing a female Wood Duck in attendance at her nest box.  Surely new Wood Ducks will arrive soon.

Wood Duck

We banded two Gray Catbirds today and then had a bit of quiet time.  We recaptured one of the Black-throated Blue Warblers from yesterday.  Neither of yesterday's birds had fat so maybe this one was hanging around to eat.

During one net run we had the best birds of the day.  Ryan extracted a male American Redstart and also discovered a Black-and-white Warbler in another net.

American Redstart

Photo by Nancy Price

I extracted and banded the Black-and-white Warbler which was a new species for me to band.

Black-and-white Warbler being released from the net

Photo by Nancy Price

Black-and-white Warbler (left) and American Redstart (right)
Photo by Nancy Price

                    Black-and-white Warbler

Next banding April 30, 2013