A Flood of Common Yellowthroats

Winds have been blowing to the North for the past week. This was bringing thoughts of very limited catches today as all of the birds which might be migrating South might take an easier trip to the West. NEXRAD radar seemed to agree with this as it appeared to show large numbers of migrants heading down through Texas into Mexico.

But we head out every weekend to gather data even based on this.

We were surprised by a large number of Common Yellowthroats instead. We had just about every range of these tiny warblers today. Mostly adult females. Here, Andrew bands one of the many female visitors.



A bit later, Maria and Charles band another female.



This young male joined the flood later on. Again, note the incoming black feathers under the eyes indicating a male transitioning into adulthood.



To round out the day, we did get an adult male just before we closed down the nets for the morning.



Bird-of-the-Day did arrive before we wrapped. Last year, to the day, we captured our first Black-throated Blue Warbler of the season. We caught a male in 2008 and a female this year.



A local resident species, the White-eyed Vireo, joined us which is always a pleasant surprise and can be counted on the deliver a bit of a nip to your fingers.



These fresh feathers are a wonder to observe as we band.



Catbirds have been reported just to the North in the state. How many will we see next week? Peak of migration is right around the corner!
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Next Banding Day: Sunday, September 27th.

We will open nets by 6:45 A.M.