We had a visitor on hand. Phyllis joined us and supplied some photos along the way. Back at the table, we recorded the info for the Cardinal which was banded previously just down the lane so it is still on territory.
Our next bird was a recaptured Swamp Sparrow we banded earlier in the year.
Charles, Christine and Andrew record the next set of data.
Up next, a Gray Catbird flew in. Finally, a new bird for the day.
As Phyllis remarked, it only takes seconds to get the band on a new bird, which is quickly released safely back into the wild.
Another recapture, a female Northern Cardinal.
Over the river, a Barred Owl flew in for a bit and then we sighted the other of the pair preening in the branches.
We had a Red-shouldered Hawk hunting around the banding table all morning and at one point we watched it with some sort of prey to eat. It was hard to tell, but we are speculating that is was a frog.
Out on the lake, a Pied-billed Grebe foraged near the fishing pier.
Closer to the net lane, a Red-bellied Slider soaked up the sunlight for most of the morning.
Yellow-rumped Warblers were still around but mostly staying out in the willows hawking insects over the lake.
Still, we managed to capture a couple of them before the day was over.
As we closed the nets for the day, we began to hear the high-pitched calls of Cedar Waxwings. They were in the oaks near the Barred Owl sightings and were gleaning from the branches.
A nice morning out by the lake. Birds are beginning to move North and we hope to begin capturing more migrants for the next few weeks.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, March 17th.
All nets will be opened by 7:00 A.M.
No comments:
Post a Comment