Saturday:
This day began quiet for a little while until we had a Veery in Net 4.
Just when we were wondering where the Common Yellowthroats were, we began catching then early in the morning. First up was an adult female.
We will get all of them out of the way here even though they made their way in during the day. The next was an adult male who we had to contain a bit more for a photo since he was ready to feed as soon as possible.
Then we had another adult female.
Lastly, we got a juvenile male to conclude the triad.
Still recapturing juvenile Carolina Wrens as they explore their surroundings.
We were waiting for some more migrants and we finally got the next one. An Ovenbird.
A newly hatched female Northern Cardinal found her way into the nets not much later.
Do Painted Buntings breed on the property or not? I think we have shown that they do and today was another good data point as we captured a molting male bird today. Teenage boys, humans and birds alike, look very awkward. This poor guy was molting hard, changing into his manly rainbow. The pin-feathers were working overtime, akin to acne, before he becomes the stunningly beautiful male he will be in a short time.
As we began to close for the day, the Tufted Titmice family was prowling around and one of the birds eventually hit Net 16.
What happens next, as usual, is that once one Tufted Titmouse starts shrieking some of the family flies in for support and then gets trapped as well. This younger bird was the next one in the net. They like to bite...
The last one in the net was a recaptured adult we banded many years ago, showing the family is still breeding and raising new kids after all these years. This seemed like a good lead up to migration. However...
Sunday: Typically peak migration day. For the first time in Andrew's 14 years of banding, the birds did not arrive. This weekend should have yielded a dozen birds by dawn but they did not drop down today.
The morning began early and hopeful. We heard our first Catbird of the season and birds were heard flying overhead before dawn. But...
Our first bird of the morning was a great catch. A rare Swainson's Warbler. It gave us hope that things were about to be busy and right on time.
Things grew quiet. Too quiet. It took a long few trips looking at nets to bring in the next bird which was a recaptured male Northern Cardinal.
Next, an Ovenbird but no new interesting migrants.
There were 4 Common Yellowthroats yesterday but it took us a long time to get our only one today. An adult female.
Andrew was returning from the end of the lanes after switching trail cam cards and heard a bird calling. It was actually already in the Net 19 and was a female American Redstart.
While we were checking nets, Alyssa arrived with several Firebush plants for the site. We have several spots around the property that are strictly native plantings and we were wondering where the new plants could go.
Decision was made to get them established near our Cypress trees just across the trail. Alyssa began digging in the first plant between Net 8 and 14.
Susan gathered water to get our new plants settled in.
She got to the next plant as Phyllis dug in the last plant in the center of Olivia's Garden next to Net 14. We will try to establish more flowering wildflowers in here to attract more birds and pollinators soon.
Birds were scarce but Connie found a Praying Mantis in Net 12 and got it released back to freedom.
The day ended with a capture of a House Wren. Funny thing was, this was the same bird that escaped capture last week as evidenced by the tail pattern. In the same spot a week later.
Here is to hoping that the birds were just delayed a bit and this next weekend will find us busy with birds. If so, we may shift our following weekend to two-days, too. Definitely will be banding both days this weekend.
______________________________________
Next (planned) Banding Day: Saturday and Sunday, October 6th and 7th.
All nets will be opened by 6:50 A.M.
No comments:
Post a Comment