Second year in a row that we had no typical peak migration movement during the first two weeks of October. Christine brings up an option that maybe Climate Change is shifting it further back in the month. The next two weeks may shed some light on that thought.
On top of that, the light and humidity with the small cameras were not doing a stellar job. Our first bird of the morning was a male Common Yellowthroat.
A terrible photo of a newly banded juvenile Brown Thrasher. They are easily ID's by their duller eye color. There are a couple of families that breed here and this is the first of the new brood to be banded this year.
At the other end of the lanes, we soon recaptured an adult. Notice the difference in eye color.
Everyone noticed the Fungi sprouting up under Net 8 during our travels. A bright patch of yellow among the greens and browns of our surroundings.
Back at the table, everyone gathers round for ta glimpse of the next bird.
It was a very old male Common Yellowthroat. Look at all of those distinguished silver feathers all along that mantle!
Northern Waterthrushes are still around. They usually arrive in August and head through fairly quickly. Good to have one today.
One of our new visitors got to release it after processing.
We finally got our first House Wren of the season. They should be arriving in numbers soon, staying through the Winter and into Spring when they will begin their songs before heading back North.
Mom makes sure to get a shot as the bird is released.
Still low numbers for an early October. We head into...
Sunday:
Even slower than the previous week. Radar has the night skies lit up with migrants but they are not evident in the morning. Our first bird was a Common Yellowthroat but the photo was pretty bad. Next was the first Ovenbird of the day.
One of our longtime visitors, Liz, got to release the Ovenbird after processing. Great to see Liz on another trip from England again!
There was a lingering chance of rain for the morning and it finally manifested part way through the morning. The real reason the tarp was originally brought out was to shield us from such occurrences. This was the first time we put it to use. The rain was short lived and we continued through the day. Only the second time in 11 years we have been hit by rain while banding.
We recaptured a female Northern Cardinal just after the rain.
Andrew extracted a recaptured Ovenbird at the end of the lanes and brought it back to the table. He surprised Jenny by asking her to do the processing. She has been volunteering for a while and t was time to get her into the mix. She was obviously thrilled to give it a go. Not stressed at all... First step is getting the bird out of the bag without loosing it.
Second is getting weights...
Then recording the band number and recording age, sex, etc. before releasing the bird. Well done, Jenny!
Our last Ovenbird of the day was a juvenile. Notice the tanned edges of the wing coverts and the gape on the bill only shown on young birds.
The final birds of the morning were in Net 2 behind the table. They were nearly side by side. First up was another adult male Common Yellowthroat.
The last bird was a new juvenile Northern Cardinal.
Lower numbers than anticipated but a fine day overall.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday the 13th.
All nets will be opened by 6:55 A.M.
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