Migrants Winding Down but Babies All Over

As April winds down, we caught a lot of local birds and some migrants moving North to their breeding grounds. Our first bird of the day was a Gray Catbird.



Next up was a female Northern Cardinal.



A nice surprise for the morning was a female Black-throated Blue Warbler.



Next up was a female Northern Cardinal.



One of the remaining Ovenbirds for the season was captured. A little late for them to be here, but we will take it.



The most surprising catch of the day was a juvenile Northern Cardinal just out of the nest. This is the youngest Cardinal we have ever banded. Its Mom escaped the net as it was being extracted but the caterpillar meant for consumption was in the same net. We took the chick back to the same area as soon as it was banded.



Flowers are abundant now that we are in April. A nice break from the browns of late Spring.



It is kind of hard to see, but Andrew found a Northern Cardinal feeding babies in a nest among dried Skunk Vine by Net 21.



Just below the nest, a Grass Carp was clipping at blades of grass hanging over the river, slowly rising up to take bites.



The day wrapped up nicely with a male Black-throated Blue Warbler.



Rains are moving in so we might miss a week. Then we move into a lot of local birds for the last month of the banding season.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, May 13th.
All nets will be opened by 6:05 A.M.