Oh, Baby!

Well, that was an interesting day after our Purple Martin chick banding moring on Saturday. But, April is the height of Spring Migration so it was very nice to have a wide variety of species thoughout the morning. And the end of the day was a very surprising moment. Hang tight.

Gray Catbirds are getting more restless and we caught 7 of them today. Two recaptures and 5 new birds.



Common Yellowthroats are also on the move and are calling all over near the lake. Three adult males on the move were banded today.



We did catch Northern Waterthrushes and Carolina Wrens then but when Phyllis came back with a Black-throated Blue Warbler from Net 2 we had to stop and take notice. We do usually get at least one right around the end of April.



An Ovenbird was a nice migrant today. A little late.



Northern Parula are feeding their emerging chicks right now and this female was our first of the day. Chicks are heard calling all over this morning.



Brown Thrashers breed here and we finally caught one adult near the table.



Next up was an adult male Northern Parula.



As we considered closing up, Andrew found a pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in the lower pocket of Net 24. One was an adult male showing his dark eyebrow.



Just above the adult was a smaller Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. It was a newly fledged baby chick following Dad!



We considered releasing it without a band, but as we were just banding Martin chicks the day before, we decided it was an opportunity to band a baby Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and see if we might catch it again in the future.

Note: Chicks are born with their legs as big as they will be. So, we can band them and the bands do not hinder them at all.



This Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is the smallest bird we have ever banded. Jenny had to hold the bird because Andrew's hands were too large to hold it properly, but we got it banded and released both together from where they were caught.

Love those little pin tail feathers!



Trying to close the nets, but we caught another Northern Parula male on the way out.



We will be trying to band more Purple Martin chicks next weekend in Clermont if the rain holds off and then hope we don't get rained out for Sunday. Stay tuned.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Carolina Wren	0	1	1
Ovenbird	1	0	1
Brown Thrasher	1	0	1
Northern Parula	3	0	3
Common Yellowthroat	3	0	3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	2	0	2
Gray Catbird	5	2	7
Northern Waterthrush	1	1	2
Black-throated Blue Warbler	1	0	1
Totals	17	4	21

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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, April 30.
All nets will be opened by 6:15 A.M.