Friday 5/31 Our Last Official Day

May 31 and still in jackets. Our total today was 49 new birds  of 21 species. We had 34 recaptured birds.

Thanks to all volunteers who mucked Wednesdays and Fridays with their tall boots and coats all season waiting for dry and warm weather, maybe in the fall !!!

We did have some really good looking birds to end the season.

Wednesday 29- Still Lots of Mud

Wednesday May 29, 2019
44 new bands
37 recaps
21 species

Traill’s Flycatcher was our most numerous species, with 13 banded. Swainson’s Thrush and Ruby-throated Hummingbird we’re tied for second place, with 5 each banded. We also banded seven different species of Warblers: two each of Magnolia, American Redstart, Wilson’s, Common Yellowthroat, Mourning and Yellow Warblers. We had a visiter banded in 6/10/15.  Andrea banded it as a SY bird. This makes this Cat Bird 6 yrs. old.

We always enjoy observing other creatures as we make our rounds to the nets. Today we spotted our first Monarch Butterfly of the season and Leopard frogs were singing their guttural “songs” despite the damp and chilly weather conditions.

Many thanks to all our volunteers for their continued efforts during this extremely wet and muddy Spring season, which is rapidly coming to a close at the end of this week!

Cindy Marino BIC

Friday 5/24/19 Where is Spring ?

Winds not in our favor. Our total birds to handle were 114 but 47 were recaps. One of the 67 new birds was a PHVI ( Philadelphia Vireo ) new for the season. There were 20 different species, some giving the banding classes some good lessons. We have a new friday scribe, Janet, and she picked up the skills quickly. We continue to muck through the muddy trails, again wondering if the rains will ever end.

Friday 5/17/19 New Species for season

We had a total of 158 new birds of 33 species and 42 recaps. New for the season was an Indigo Bunting. The most exciting event was was a Northern Oriole recaptured. The exciting part was that after checking the band number this bird Andrea and Emily realized they had banded this bird on 8/14/2012 as a HY. This Oriole is 8 years old.

Wednsday 5/15/19 Thumbs up for Warblers

We banded 141 new birds of 35 species
There were 39 recaptures
We were able to keep all our nets open for the full six hours. We haven’t been able to do that for several days, due to all the rain showers! We have a banding class going on all week and the students were finally able to get more practice at the nets and the banding table too. Warblers were the bird of the day, with 15 different species. Most exciting Warbler of the day was a beautiful male Brewster’s Warbler. For those not familiar, Brewster’s is a hybrid between BlueWinged Warbler and Folden Winged Warbler. Other highlights were 7 Eastern White Crowned Sparrows and several Lincoln’s Sparrows. The numbers of Ruby Crowned Kinglets have dropped quite a bit and we banded one very late little Golden Crowned Kinglet. All in all it was a fine day!
Thanks to all the volunteers who are getting a lot of exercise slogging through the extremely muddy net lanes!
Cindy Marino

 

5/10/19 Just a Few 451 New Birds

Total 451 and not all nets were up. re 38 species with 11 new for the season. We had three tables with 2 banders at each. Our pickers tried to keep up and then when our nets were cleared and closed they had to come in and scribe for the banders. We are usually done by noon in the spring however this day did not end till about 2pm. Then there was the Tally. Thanks again to the Friday crew and others who came in to help.

Wednsday 1/8/19 Sun but Chilly

New birds 55 and 21 recaps.Brilliant sunshine but chilly north breezes kept our count low this morning. Ruby Crowned Kinglets were bird of the day, with 28 new bands. BlackCapped Chickadee came in second with 19 new bands. We had five species of Warbler; two Yellow Warblers, Two Palm, one each of Common Yellowthroat, Hooded, and Black and White Warblers. Occasionally we see a Ruby Crowned Kinglet male with an orange crown instead of the usual Red. This was the case today, and it was a pale orange, so Andrea nick named it the Apricot Crowned Kinglet! Looks like weather warms up again later tomorrow, so we could be busier the next couple days if we don’t get too much rain!