More Wet...But Migrants!

Yet another soggy morning as the rain continued to fall on Saturday nights and there is no time to dry anything out by dawn. At least we finally started netting migrants today. The worse part of the morning was trying to get photos through lenses that kept fogging up. Otherwise, it was a pretty magical morning. Expect a longer than usual post...

We captured our usual selection of Carolina Wrens during the morning. Adults and young are calling all over the net lanes.



The first bird that really woke us up was our first Ovenbird of the season. We were expecting one last week as that is their usual arrival time. We can forgive a little tardiness. This time.



Butterflies were abundant today. White Peacocks always make a nice contrast against the lush green.



The Argiope spiders seem to have been washed away in yesterday's rain while other spiders filled in the gaps. The largest was this Golden-silk Spider that had spun a web several feet wide over the palmettos. Note the golden strand to the right which gives this orb weaver its name.



Loud chip notes were beginning to be heard down the lanes which had to be the other late migrant we were awaiting. Lynn happened upon our first Northern Waterthrush of the season. These are typically one of our early arrivers near the beginning of August but the fronts sealed up the Florida border early on.



At the same time Lynn was extracting the Northern Waterthrush, Andrew was busy with another species in an adjacent net. A Louisiana Waterthrush! This species is seen less often in the area.



More rare is the fact that we caught both species at the same time. We usually don't even catch them on the same day. This let us get some good comparison shots back at the table. Here, the Northern Waterthrush is on the left, Louisiana Waterthrush on the right. Note how the Northern is typically more yellow-ish.



Another way to separate them is but the throat patterns. Northerns (r) have spotting all the way to the bill and Louisianas (l) have no spots. You can really see it in the singular photo of the Louisiana two photos above.



There were two other birds captured at the same time as the Waterthrushes but farther down at Net 21. A pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds! A male and female.



We seem to catch at least one Ruby-throated Hummingbird each Session (as you can see by the image on the left side banner) but here were two. We are not licensed to band hummingbirds so we can only document and release them. The female was handed off to Lynn's daughter and niece.



Just before that, we got a shot of the tail feathers. Andrew contacted a fellow bander from South Carolina, Bill Hilton, to ask for some more details about our birds. Bill runs the Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History (click for his website) and operates Operation RubyThroat. He knows his Hummingbirds!

A few shots were sent to get some more detailed information. About the photo below, Bill says:

"Well-formed, rounded tail feathers with white tips and the lack of significant brown edging on the back feathers suggest this is an adult female Ruby-throated Hummingbird."

Andrew set to extracting the male.



The female rested for a bit. Hummingbirds need a kind of reboot after being captured but are fine. This photo prompted Bill to add:

"Note the relatively long bill--this structure is longer in females. Again, based on a lack of buffy edging on back feathers, this appears to be an adult female."

She was so relaxed by now that she even preened for a while.



Next up, the male. We tried to get some good shots of the Ruby-throat but it was not easy. Still, it was enough for some more educating details. Bill, again:

"Hatch-year male Ruby-throated hummingbird with heavy dark throat streaking and several red gorget feathers that appear black without direct sunlight. Note the white tail tips that are characteristic of female ruby-throats AND immature males."

Lynn finally managed to get one feather to glow.



A couple minutes later, both birds took off at the same time and vanished into the stand of Willows. A super-special morning, for sure.



Later, a young female Northern Cardinal was captured and banded. Seems we are on our 3rd brood here and in several other spots around the area. Cardinals are born with black bills that gradually turn orange as they age. The twig is for the bander's well-being.



Hiding in a leaf, a tiny Cuban Treefrog pretends to be invisible. Many would have us up and kill them since they are invasive but we were feeling gracious today.



An as yet unknown species of caterpillar was also found this morning.



An adult male Northern Cardinal was captured at Net 21 (our last bird of the day was a recaptured juvenile female in the same net). There has been an adult male living down in the area for years but this was a new bird. He is also going through some major molting.



Northern Waterthrushes were around all morning but several of them preferred the swampy area behind Net 18. This spot for that net was chosen specifically for Waterthrush captures. They love this part of the lanes when wet.



One particular bird remained in one stretch of shore flipping leaves in search of food. It would fly off if we walked by but would quickly return.



Unfortunately, it would never fly into the net. Oh, well, there is always next week.



Thanks, again, to Bill Hilton for the extra hummingbird information. Be sure to head over to his site at Hilton Pond for all sorts of interesting information about Nature and their banding results. You can even sign up for an email newsletter to keep up to date with their findings. Operation RubyThroat is also full of information. Maybe one day we can attend one of their trips to Central America to trap some of those birds.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 1st.
All nets will be opened by 6:30 A.M.