Nothing left to do but to get to it. Ovenbrids were heard calling all over the place today but they really weren't moving around much. We had to watch other birds fly by or over the area. Could have used a capture of an Ovenbird as the past couple of years but we could not do it.
Still catching the other locals, though. Like more young Cardinals. This female is showing a lot of new feathers coming in all around her body and still shows dark spots on the her bill as typical of young birds.
This slightly older male also shows new feathers coming in but the bill is more uniform in color.
We had a couple of guests today. Alice and Kris had a great time hanging out with us and we enjoyed them being there. Guests are always welcome at the site and they can always head over to the park proper afterward.
The day was not chock full of captured birds but we did have enough to keep everyone involved. This shot from Alice shows Andrew hauling back two birds back to the banding table midway through the morning.
In one of those bags was another Cardinal. A pretty girl.
The other bag contained out first migrant of the day. A Northern Waterthrush. Two weeks in a row.
As we walked the lane in search for captured birds, Richard was being all sexy and tending to our new plantings. New plants are looking good, too!
In between the new mulberries, a plant was noticed growing near the lanes. Turns out to be a Partridge Berry. Supposed to be a favorite of some birds and hopefully it will fill in the barren spots around our new trees.
Soon afterward, we captured a Carolina Wren. Most everything we are catching are young birds. Alice got a shot of this bird being banded by Andrew.
Showing the molting process on these young birds is nicely illustrated by this shot of the secondary feathers pushing through the shafts.
One bird we had hoped to catch (and maybe we have) was a one of the pair of Brown Thrashers flying right over the nets near the pier. Next time...
Andrew had to stop by the site the previous Friday and found a Carolina Chickadee. First ever sighted by us here. Today, we had several near 10 AM. They were hanging out with the Titmice (as is typical) and we managed to capture one of the birds today.
Soon after releasing the Chickadee, Andrew went toward Net 2 to see what all the birds were fussing about. He soon found the Eastern Wood Pewee he found last Friday and the Yellow-throated Vireo our visitors found last week. Same spot for both birds at around the same time!
Right near the Vireo, a Downy Woodpecker dropped into the picture. Still wish there would have been more light for both birds.
Rounding out the day, Susan and Maria were transfixed by movement across the river from the banding table. They discovered a blooming Button Bush which was being visited by our first sighting of a Silver Spotted Skipper. Nice!
Overall, a fun day shared with new friends and some great birds viewed and banded.
Someone send us a Cerulean Warbler, would ya?
______________________________________
Next Banding Day: Sunday, August 29th.
All nets will be opened by 6:30 A.M.
No comments:
Post a Comment