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.  

September 18, 2017

Hurrah!  We open on September 26!  Our late start is due to Hurricane Irma.  There were many limbs down at Possum Long but a great crew helped out with the clearing.  Thanks to the 20 folks who cut and dragged and raked and cleared.  Remember to check the weather as hard rain will cancel a session.

Possum Long volunteers clearing debris from Hurricane Irma

Photos by Robin Potvin

Anyone attending must be very careful and be aware of things on the ground as well as overhanging obstacles.

I have updated numbers on the bottom of the blog.

Nets will be set up and opened around 7 am, 9/26.  Hope to see you.

September 13, 2017

Due to Hurricane Irma, we will not be banding on September 19, 2017.

There are limbs down on the property.  When it is clear we will  announce  an opening date here.  Please keep checking.

September 1, 2017

Painted Buntings are now back in Florida but not yet in large numbers.  We have had reports from Kissimmee to Fort Lauderdale so far.  We have yet to attempt banding as rain and schedules have held us up.  Some of the returning birds are banded.  As noted earlier we had a banded bird from Jupiter show up at a Kissimmee feeder.

Painted Bunting (not this season)

Photo by Becky Cook

We had a strange report from South Carolina of a Painted Bunting with a split black/white band and 2 other color bands. However there was no federal (metal) band seen and the reported placement of the bands was not what we do. We may never know if this was one of our birds.  However, it was nice to get a report and know that someone was looking in South Carolina.

Painted Bunting (not this season)

Photo by Bill Eaton

New for this Painted Bunting Season 5 will be a new split band.  We have used almost all of the possible combinations for the black/white split and only have 30 or so left.  We will use those and then we will begin to use a yellow/light green split.  If you have Painted Buntings we might band, send an email with a phone number to keepbirding2@yahoo.com  We will call and answer your questions and we will determine if your yard can host our banding.

Northern Cardinal (not recent)

Photo by Georgia Binderow

We will be starting our 7th fall banding at Possum Long on Tuesday, September 19.  Nets go up at 7 am.  Hope to see you then!

August 19, 2017

I am always grateful to to the people who host our banding and then keep such good track of the birds in their yards.

One host in Kissimmee has just reported a male banded bunting at his feeder that was not banded at his location.  This doesn't happen very often and is great data for hopefully tracking the paths of our Painted Buntings.

Painted Bunting (young green) 

Not the one at the feeder - an example

Thanks to his persistence, we know the combination and know where the bird was banded.  It was a young (green) bird banded on 10/21/2015 in Jupiter.  That host tells us that it remained in Jupiter until the middle of March, 2016.

One can hope that this bird either stays in Kissimmee or returns to Jupiter!

August 7, 2017

It's official - Painted Buntings are returning.  Over the years, with more people looking earlier, we are finding that August is the norm for a few Painted Buntings to return.  The first one to return to a host location was a male seen today at PB 46 in Jupiter.  It appears to be unbanded.  If it remains, we may try to band it and see if it stays at this site or moves on.  It appears to be molting which may mean it will stay for a bit.

Not as much is know about these "early" birds.  Last year we saw a lot of molt going on.  Typically the assumption has been that birds only molted on breeding grounds but likely some move at least a short distance and find a safe place with good food while they grow in a new set of feathers.

And now another update, PB 60 reported their first return on August 4.  That one was a "shabby" (molting?) male and another male on August 7.  THEY ARE RETURNING!

We have not yet set a date for the Possum Long Banding Station to open but we will post it here.  Keep in touch.

June 30, 2017 - Numbers after the Spring season

Well, we have had a great spring season and a wonderful banding experience since we first opened in the fall of 2012.  Two projects, many more than outstanding helpers, great hosts, and many new friends.  Oh, and the birds......

Since the beginning we have banded 3023 birds.  We have banded 70 species.  Now remember there is overlap for the two programs so here are the individual results:

Possum Long:  Banded 56 species.  Some of these were county records and some were one of a kind!  We banded a total of 1076 birds.  The most common species is Gray Catbird although recent numbers are lower than earlier years.

Painted Buntings Seasons 1-4:  Surprise, our most common species is Painted Bunting with a grand total of 1261 (38 of these at Possum Long).  We have banded 46 incidental species and the most common of those was Indigo Bunting.  The incidental count is 686.

Spring was a joy with Blackpoll Warblers banded (seen prior years but first to be banded) and documenting and banding 4 Connecticut Warblers.  They were new to the property and likely would have gone undetected without the banding.  We banded more American Redstarts than most of the other years combined; 56 this spring alone.

Our Painted Bunting news is that another one of our banded birds has been seen on their breeding grounds.  A bird we banded in Wellington, FL on March 20 was seen at a feeder in Statesboro, GA on May 29.  It was banded as a young green bird so hopefully the person with the feeder will see it molt or we may refind it in Wellington and see if it is male or female.  Many thanks to Nancy Price who saw the bands in a photograph posted on a site on Facebook!