More Migrants but Not Enough

The day felt like it would be a bit more comfortable at 5:30 AM but, as usual, the sweat started at 6 AM. A front to the North and the other in the South lent us clear skies but limited birds for the morning. Fortunately, most were migrants that were expected by now and missed last week due to another front to the North. Our most captured species was the Northern Waterthrush which were caught up and down the net lanes throughout the morning.



Locals are nearly always added to the list like our recapture of a Carolina Wren.



Northern Cardinals are our other main locals and we are catching most of them in the same area this year including a female.



A frequent visitor and avid birder, Avery is near the table often waiting for a possible Life Bird for his list. Even though we are a couple of weeks from the peak of migration, today would be a day to add one to his list.



Halfway through the morning, birthday boy Andrew walked back to check Net 2 and discovered a bird in the net. From a distance it looked like it might be a Black and White Warbler but closer inspection revealed a perfect present. A Worm-eating Warbler! Only the third we have captured and definitely a new Life Bird for Avery.



Last week should have delivered us a couple of species but the weather seemed to be holding them back. Today we verified both were back. We captured a female Common Yellowthroat and watched a Veery right by the banding table.



We captured a couple on Ovenbirds as the morning was drawing to an end.



One of our new volunteers, Angela, extracted and processed our final bird of the day. A recaptured male Northern Cardinal.



Next week takes us closer to migration peak. Hope to capture even more birds than today but we had a nice mix.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 21st.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.