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.
