Thinking that the winds might favor the birds the chase bugs on the fly it was not a surprise to have our first bird be an Eastern Phoebe just after dawn.
Our next bird was a nice surprise. Right on time, we had our first Hermit Thrush of the season. We stress one creed here about Thrushes: "Tail, tail, tail!" Hermits are very similar to Swainson's Thrushes but are definitely sorted out by a rufus set of tail feathers.
Jenny brought out her husband today to observe banding and he got the opportunity to release our first Hermit Thrush of the season.
That Hermit Thrush was quickly followed up by our second of the season.
Then we captured our 6th Eastern Phoebe in two weekends, a nice record.
Gray Catbirds are back in force and we banded the first of four next.
Ella brought her parents to join the morning proceedings. Too bad no one was there to see it...
Male Black-throated Blue Warblers should have been banded in late September. They have been following along with the females we banded last weekend but this was the first male of the season captured.
The next Catbird was added to the tally.
Ella got to witness the recording process and released several birds today.
A more biting bird was brought in. A female Northern Cardinal recapture.
We often give them something to hold onto while banding them but Jenny did get a nice pinch before the Cardinal eventually safely flew off again.
We did observe that the Cannas planted by college students earlier in the year have begun to bloom and seed around Net 18. They seem to be doing quite well.
We captured a second male Black-throated Blue Warbler. This bird sported specks of white through its black throat indicating it was juvenile.
Another Northern Cardinal recapture, this time a male.
Our final Gray Catbird of the day got us well over double-digit captures on a very windy day. Better than expected.
As we thought about closing up for the day, Andrew noticed something in the river below the table. A young American Alligator. We have not seen any adults up in the river this whole year. Water has ben high so maybe the adults are sticking to the lake this year.
Our final bird of the day echoed last week. A Western Palm Warbler in the same area as last week. Palms are being seen all over the are right now and we still await their counterparts, the Yellow-rumps.
The next cold front is on the way, bringing ducks and the next wave of the remaining migrants for the Winter. Hoping for cooler temperatures and many more birds to band.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, November 10th.
All nets will be opened by 6:15 A.M.
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