Common Yellowthroats, Anyone?

Humidity was heavy this morning before dawn. Pressing down like a weight after a comfortable morning last week. A lot of rainfall all week caused the river to rise and keep the grasses nice and wet, soaking shoes on the walk in and as we set nets. The rewards, however, would reveal themselves as we went through the morning.

Nets were set before dawn, as usual, and we hit the lanes to check nets right at dawn and birds were showing up in the gloom of the soft light. The first bird up was a bit of a surprise. An Eastern Wood Pewee was in the bottom fold of Net 15. Flycatchers are mostly found higher in the trees when they are around and this was the second Pewee we have ever banded here.



Then came the first of the Common Yellowthroats. In the past, we would often catch them this time of year during migration but they have been fewer and fewer in the past years. Today they seemed to be back. First up was a female.



The next few birds that showed up were juvenile birds. Females and young males are always the first to arrive in Fall migration before the adult males show up in a while. You can tell this is a young male by the black feathers beginning to show on his cheeks and the brighter yellow breast feathers.



Next, we began to capture young Carolina Wrens. If we would have opened in early August as we did in the past, they would have been one of our most captured birds as the young leave the nests. We caught 5 Wrens which included 3 new birds and a couple of recaptures like this adult.



The Common Yellowthroats kept pouring in and were pleased to welcome back Nelida and her boys to join in recording birds. It has been about a year since some of our volunteers have been out. This was a great Sunday to return as the boys got to release a good number of birds.



This is also the time of year that White-eyed Vireo begin to show up in the area. Most are migrants, but we also managed to get a local juveline. Young birds are identified by their gray iris instead of their name-sake of white eyes shown as adults. See below for that photo in a bit.



Ovenbirds have been moving in since August and they will remain through the Spring. We caught 2 today.



Northern Waterthrush begin to migrate in late August and we had feared that we had missed them by taking that month off. Good to get one today.



Most Woodpecker species were eventually heard this morning and it was a nice surprise to get a female Downy Woodpecker during our outing. She was the first bird to draw blood on a banders finger in a long time. Sharp claws and beak.



As mentioned, we did get an adult White-eyed Vireo later in the day. You can see the difference between the eye color from our earlier bird.



We mentioned that most of the Common Yellowthroats at this time of year are females and juvenile males. Surprise! One of the last we captured was an adult male.



Red-Eyed Vireos are often heard from August and into the Fall. We could hear them here today and eventually got one before we closed the nets.



31 birds are a great day this time of year. Being a bit short staffed kept us on our toes and we thank all of the added unexpected help, including Ranger Corey hanging around for support. Hoping that this early rush of birds early is a good sign that the peak into October might return to normal captures we have not experienced in a number of years.

Today's Totals

Birds Processed	New	Recaptured	Total
Common Yellowthroat	18	0	18
Carolina Wren	3	2	5
Northern Waterthrush	1	0	1
Ovenbird	2	0	2
Eastern Wood Pewee	1	0	1
White-eyed Vireo	2	0	2
Red-eyed Vireo	1	0	1
Downy Woodpecker	1	0	1
Totals	29	2	31

NOTE: Due to the new CDC recommendations, if you are fully vaccinated you are not required to wear masks, esp. at outdoor events such as ours. Get your shots and come on out. Otherwise, bring a mask. All current members at Lake Lotus are fully Vac'ed.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 19th.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

Migrants on the Move

Hurricane Florence spared us but not North Carolina this year. Feels good to us since we had two years of major storms through our state that ruined main banding times here. We feel for those affected but glad we could have the storm steer some migrants in our direction today. We began by catching and extracting a couple of Brown Bats before the birds woke up, but that is a thing we need to deal with from time to time. No fingers were punctured by bat teeth.

Our first bird was a juvenile female Northern Cardinal who was not feeling like being photographed. At least she didn't bite.



The 2nd Veery of the season was next. It was also a hatch-year bird.



We were feeling the time was right for Common Yellowthroats and visitors Louis and Mary called us over to say one was in Net 10. It was a female.



Shortly afterwards, a White-eyed Vireo was brought to the table. Usually, these Vireos have dull irises until adults but we have some here that still retain that coloration after reaching that age. The other clue is the inside of their bills that turn from dark gray to white as they age. This one is white so we call it an adult like others we have captured many times in a row over the years.



Andrew was explaining that when we catch Tufted Titmice it is usually the majority of the family at one time. Today, they were scattered about and we caught one right behind the table.



Ovenbirds were calling in the area and we caught one today.



Next, we caught another juvenile Carolina Wren that had yet to be banded this season.



15 minutes later, another was captured and we thought it was the same bird we just released but instead, it was a bird we banded a few weeks ago.



Possibly our youngest visitors got to release a Carolina Wren (with the help Mom). Blink and you miss it but we have a good batch of kids very interested in bird science this year.



Another Veery was captured just after we saw a few in the trees in the area after and Brown Thrasher escaped Net 13.



Our next Common Yellowthroat was a juvenile male. Mask is just forming.



Down by Net 18, Two-leaf Nightshade, (Solanum diphyllum) is fruiting. Christine got a shot of the berries. Birds, especially Cardinals feast on the fruit. It is poisonous to humans.



Once, again, a singular Tufted Titmouse was captured and banded.



Northern Parula are still calling and it was a nice surprise to get an adult male today.



Our next bird was a classic adult White-eyed Vireo full of fat suggesting it was migrating through the area.



Andrew had been seeing a Red-femured Orb Weaver near the river for weeks but every time he tried to get a shot it scurried back to a hiding place in the leaves. Today, we had one spread out near Net 10.



Our final bird of the day was a nice special addition to our list. The first banded Eastern Wood Pewee at Lake Lotus.



We see them this time of year before they head farther South. However, they usually stay at the tops of the trees. It must have been lured by some food source this morning. Good for us.



Flycatchers are typically a conundrum for us as we do not get that many. Measurements are always taken to verify the species and we we finally decided on Eastern Wood Pewee.



Adding to our confidence of the ID, our other visitor, Gigi, heard an Eastern Wood Pewee earlier in the day in the same spot. She got the opportunity to release our great bird today.



Florence is winding down and moving up the coast. We will see what the weather changes bring us next weekend when we are joined by the Lake County Audubon group that is scheduled to join us on Sunday.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 23rd.
All nets will be opened by 6:45 A.M.

The Babies are Out Exploring

We usually get most of our young Carolina Wrens earlier in the year but they stayed hidden. Until now. We caught 5 today! Feeling their independence, it appears.



Next up was another local bird. A recaptured male Northern Cardinal.



Our first migrant was the fluffiest Ovenbird we can recall banding.



Our in the woods, Yellow-throated Vireos were foraging and calling.



A flycatcher suddenly appeared next to the river. We could only get distant shots but finally decided that it was an Eastern Wood Pewee. We don't see them too often but this is the time of year for them to move through.



One more juvenile Carolina Wren came out of hiding as we observed the Pewee. However, it just looked at the net and did not fly in.



Our other migrants were a couple of Northern Waterthrushes.



Moving into September and we should start getting even more migrating birds. If the busy Tropics don't flush us out.
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Next (planned) Banding Day: Sunday, September 4th.
All nets will be opened by 6:35 A.M.