Metro Beach banding report - October 20 & 23, 2010

The number of birds banded this week was about half of last week, and continues to be dominated by sparrows, though one warbler reminded us that their migration isn't quite over yet. The weather on Wednesday, October 20 was cool in the morning to warmer than normal at mid-day, with winds picking up by closing time. On Saturday, October 23, intermittent light rain starting around 10:15 forced net closure, with a brief (1/2 hour) period when they were opened again, before the rain became more of a drizzle and banding was cut short for the day.

Highlights of birds banded on Wednesday, October 20 included the 300th White-throated Sparrow of the season...the single season record of 285 was surpassed late last week. When photographing this bird, I noticed that it had "fault bars", which are one way that banders can age songbirds. Note the subtle band across the middle of the tail in the photo below.

During feather growth, these areas where the feather is less dense are formed during periods of poor nutrition, and in the case of a nestling it may represent a day when the adults were unable to feed the nestling sufficiently. This occurs in adults too, but since they molt their feathers in pairs, not growing them all in at once like fledglings, these fault bars would be staggered, or evenly across all the tail feathers. Another explanation is that this bird lost its tail and is growing a new one, but the relative pointiness of the tail feathers indicates to me that this is a hatch-year bird.

Another highlight was the five Fox Sparrows banded today, which is a one-day record here for the species.

One Fox Sparrow was also showing fault bars that were even more conspicuous than the White-throated Sparrow above.

Interesting birds observed but not banded included a Winter Wren still in the area, as well as two flyover Purple Finches and a Pine Siskin out in the field.

Highlights of birds banded on Saturday, October 23 included the first American Tree Sparrow of the season, which is the earliest this species has been banded here.

This species can be identified even if the central breast spot cannot be seen (and some individuals lack it entirely). The bicolored bill, black above and yellow below, is shared in our area only with the Fox Sparrow. The rufous crown distinguishes it from Chipping Sparrow, which does not show this in winter plumage, and the gray cheek and broad rufous line behind the eye further distinguish American Tree Sparrow from Field Sparrow, which has a pink bill.

The Lincoln's Sparrow banded today was the latest here by about a week, and the two White-crowned Sparrows pushed the record season further along, and generated yet another same-season recapture for the species, which is the first season ever for this species to be recaptured.

A hatch-year male Orange-crowned Warbler was the latest ever banded here, by four days. There could still be one or two out there yet to be observed or captured.

Almost never seen in the field, the orange in the crowns of males (only) is at the bases of the crown feathers, so remains hidden most of the time, unless a banding assistant helps us see it as in the photo below.

An American Robin was the first one in several weeks. I always enjoy the head pattern on these hatch-year birds.

Black-capped Chickadee is a common resident species, which normally generates longevity records not migration records. But it is well known that every 3-4 years, chickadees undergo irruptive movements, often in large numbers. This year is an irruption year, and I've been watching the daily posts from the Holiday Beach Migration Observatory in Ontario, Canada, where I banded from 1997-2003 (and counted hawks and passerines from 1976-1996). Several chickadee irruptions have been documented there, and typically these movements begin around October 25. But this year seems different, as daily counts of 100-300 have been noted most days for the past two weeks (apparently starting around October 16), and a couple days this past week have noted 600+ per day. Already, nearly 2000 Black-capped Chickadees have been reported flying from east to west past the hawk tower at Holiday Beach! What's coming in the next month?

Chickadee irruptions have been noted in Michigan as well, but the phenomenon seems to be most prevalent along the shorelines of the Great Lakes. It has not been documented at Metro Beach Metropark, which of course is right on the shore of Lake St. Clair, but prior to 2004 banding has only rarely been conducted later than October 10. So far this year, a record of 23 Black-capped Chickadees has been banded, including the one banded today, but this is far short of what is expected if they are moving through this area. Perhaps the final week of banding next week will turn up a few more chickadees.

Banding could not have been done this week without the following volunteers: John Bieganowski, David Boon, Terri Chapdelaine, Dave Lancaster (both days!), and Tom Schlack.

============================
Banding Data
-------------------------------------
WEDNESDAY, October 20, 2010
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 6:50
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 12:45
Hours Open: 7.00
No. of Nets: 5.00-13.25
Net Hours: 74.625
Temperature (F): 43-66
Cloud Cover: 50-20-80%
Wind: SSW-SW @ 7-10-15 mph
Barometer: 29.54-29.39
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 45 (plus 13 recaptures and 3 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 11
Capture Rate: 81.7 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 9.0 hours, 6:00-15:00): David Boon (5.5 hrs), Dave Lancaster, Tom Schlack.

[Mourning Dove - 1 released unbanded]
Black-capped Chickadee - 1 (plus 1 recaptured)
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Hermit Thrush - 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Fox Sparrow - 5
Song Sparrow - 2 (plus 1 recaptured)
Swamp Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 16 (plus 3 recaptured and 2 released unbanded)
White-crowned Sparrow - 3 (plus 5 recaptured)
Northern Cardinal - 2
American Goldfinch - 9 (plus 3 recaptured)

-------------------------------------
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 6:54
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 11:30 (rain forced early closure)
Hours Open: 5.25
No. of Nets: 5.00-13.25
Net Hours: 64.375
Temperature (F): 49-57
Cloud Cover: 70-100%
Wind: SSW-SW @ 5-7-10 mph
Barometer: 29.74-29.76
Precipitation: Int. Lt. rain 10:15-10:45, Steady Drizzle 11:15-12:00+
No. Banded: 47 (plus 9 recaptures and 2 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 14
Capture Rate: 90.1 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 8.0 hours, 6:00-14:00): John Bieganowski, Terri Chapdelaine, Dave Lancaster.

[Mourning Dove - 1 released unbanded]
Black-capped Chickadee - 1 (plus 1 recaptured)
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1
Hermit Thrush - 3
American Robin - 1
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
American Tree Sparrow - 1
Fox Sparrow - 3
Song Sparrow - 7
Lincoln's Sparrow - 1
Swamp Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 15 (plus 3 recaptured and 1 released unbanded)
White-crowned Sparrow - 2 (plus 1 recaptured)
American Goldfinch - 9 (plus 4 recaptured)

Metro Beach banding report - October 13 & 14, 2010

The weather this past week cooperated nicely, with the rain being confined to the afternoon and evening of Wednesday, October 13, but that meant a damp slog through the weeds in the morning on Thursday, October 14. And, for the first hour after first light on Thursday, some intermittent light rain appeared out of nowhere...it wasn't on the radar when I left home.

Sparrows are still numerous, and records have now been set for Lincoln's (32), White-crowned (32), and White-throated (295), but are far short of normal for Swamp Sparrow. A good push of kinglets earlier in the week did not continue for us on the banding days, so our captures of them were modest. Another influx is likely later this month. Thrushes are now limited to just Hermits, which continue in reasonable numbers. Warblers have mostly gone, though there were a few interesting captures. The overall total banded this season surpassed the record of 1841 set in fall 2008, and I'm now looking toward the possibility of my first-ever 2000+ bird season with four more banding days to go this fall, as I'm only about 120 birds shy of that number.

An audio lure for Northern Saw-whet Owls was operated for about an hour before sunrise in the Swamp Nets. Last year this was attempted in the Upland Nets and so far without success. But perhaps this will be a better year for owls, and the species has been seen in the park near the banding area, so I'm hopeful that sometime in the next two weeks we'll catch one (or more).

Highlights of birds banded on Wednesday, October 13 included two firsts for the season. One of these was expected, and in fact a little overdue; a Fox Sparrow.

The second new bird for the season was very unexpected. So unexpected in fact that it was the first I've banded since restarting this project in 2004, only the fourth ever banded here, and the first since fall 1992. You'd think I'm talking about a really rare bird, but it is a really common bird. The Mourning Dove caught in the Swamp Nets today is a rather large bird that tends to avoid nets and, if caught, can easily get out of nets I use which are optimized to catch birds thrush-size and smaller.

I do catch and band Mourning Doves all the time as part of a winter study in my back yard in Inkster, Wayne County, Michigan, but getting to them quickly is essential as they can flip themselves out of the nets and probably 1/3 of those caught get away. It is nice to get a close look at the bare parts on the head of Mourning Doves, with the fleshy eye ring being pale blue and pale greenish-yellow, while the corners of the gape are bright fuschia-pink (for better views, enlarge the photos by clicking on them).

Only four individual warblers were captured today, consisting of four species, Orange-crowned, Black-throated Blue (recap), Yellow-rumped, and probably the last Common Yellowthroat of the season. A single House Wren was probably also the last of the season.

Interesting birds observed but not banded included presumed adult (hooting) and juvenile (begging) Great Horned Owls that seemed to get "turned on" by the saw-whet owl lure that we set up for the first hour before sunrise. A single Dark-eyed Junco in the banding area was the only other species of note that wasn't banded.

Highlights of birds banded on Thursday, October 14 included a season first that we don't catch every fall, a male Eastern Towhee.

Eastern Towhees are aged by eye color, red in adults and brown in hatch-years, so this bird's eye clearly told us it was hatch-year.

Three more Fox Sparrows were nice to see. Five warblers of two species were banded today. Two of those were the fattest birds I've ever seen. Blackpoll Warblers are thought to migrate non-stop from the east coast of the U.S. over the Atlantic Ocean to northern South America, and so need to put on impressive fat deposits as fuel.

When I was banding at the Holiday Beach Migration Observatory in Ontario, Canada, Blackpolls caught in October were often quite fat, but the two today exceeded even those observations. I've never seen one that I gave a fat score greater than 5 (0-7 scale), but these I gave a score of 6. Earlier in the migration, Blackpolls with no fat weigh about 11-12 grams. The two today weighed 21.0 and 21.4 grams!

Last week, Sue Finnegan banded a Blackpoll Warbler at her Wing Island Banding Station near Cape Cod that she was able to photograph showing the fat. The two birds I banded today had similar bulges in the furcular hollow, spilling over onto the front of the sternum, also with lots of fat in the vent area also spilling up onto the sternum, with only a small gap on the center of the sternum with no fat.

The only interesting bird that was "observed" but not banded today was a single Pine Siskin heard calling over the Swamp Nets in late morning.

As the sun crept in later in the day, dragonflies started becoming more active. One particular Yellow-legged Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum), the only species usually in evidence this late in the fall, made friends with Tom Schlack while he was recording the banding data. Check out the dark spot on the notebook page above Tom's left hand in the photo below. Dude! There's a DRAGON in your lap!

The closeup photo below was easy to obtain, as this bug was landing on me, checking out the bird bags, and generally using us as hunting (and warming?) perches whenever possible.

Many thanks to the volunteers who helped out this week. Banding could not have been done without you. Amanda Grimm, Dave Lancaster, Michelle Serreyn, Tom Schlack, and Charlie Weaver.

============================
Banding Data
-------------------------------------
WEDNESDAY, October 13, 2010
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 6:42
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 12:45
Hours Open: 7.00
No. of Nets: 5.00-13.25
Net Hours: 86.625
Temperature (F): 43-64
Cloud Cover: 30-100%
Wind: SSW-NE @ 1-3-10 mph
Barometer: 29.71-29.69
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 107 (plus 22 recaptures)
No. of Species: 21
Capture Rate: 148.9 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 9.5 hours, 6:00-15:30): Amanda Grimm, Michelle Serreyn (5 hrs), Charlie Weaver.

MOURNING DOVE - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1 (plus 1recaptured)
Black-capped Chickadee - 1
Brown Creeper - 2
House Wren - 1
Winter Wren - 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 4
Hermit Thrush - 3 (plus 1 recaptured)
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
[Black-throated Blue Warbler - 1 recaptured]
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 1
Fox Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 10 (plus 3 recaptured)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 6
Swamp Sparrow - 10
White-throated Sparrow - 31 (plus 6 recaptured)
White-crowned Sparrow - 7 (plus 3 recaptured)
[Northern Cardinal - 1 recaptured]
American Goldfinch - 22 (plus 6 recaptured)

-------------------------------------
THURSDAY, October 14, 2010
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 6:43
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 13:00
Hours Open: 7.25
No. of Nets: 5.00-13.25
Net Hours: 88.938
Temperature (F): 47-63
Cloud Cover: 70-100-40%
Wind: WNW-NW @ 3-5-10 mph
Barometer: 29.65-29.64
Precipitation: Lt. rain 6:30-7:00, Int. lt. rain to 8:00
No. Banded: 108 (plus 26 recaptures and 3 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 16
Capture Rate: 150.7 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 10.0 hours, 6:00-16:00): Dave Lancaster, Tom Schlack.

Black-capped Chickadee - 1 (plus 3 recaptured)
Brown Creeper - 1
Winter Wren - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 13
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 4
Hermit Thrush - 8 (plus 1 recaptured)
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 3 (plus 1 released unbanded)
Blackpoll Warbler - 2
Eastern Towhee - 1
Fox Sparrow - 3
Song Sparrow - 9 (plus 3 recaptured)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 3
Swamp Sparrow - 9 (plus 4 recaptured)
White-throated Sparrow - 32 (plus 3 recaptured and 1 released unbanded)
White-crowned Sparrow - 6 (plus 2 recaptured)
American Goldfinch - 11 (plus 10 recaptured and 1 released unbanded)

Metro Beach banding report - October 7 & 9, 2010

Banding in October is off to a great start with good numbers on both Thursday, October 7 and Saturday, October 9. Cooler conditions earlier in the week gave way to warmer temperatures on banding days, and large flocks of kinglets were diminished in numbers. Warblers were well represented on Thursday, but very scarce on Saturday. Sparrows and thrushes dominated the captures on both days. The 157 birds banded on Thursday was the 8th highest ever, while the 202 banded on Saturday was only 1 short of the all-time record set last year, around this same time. Despite the overall numbers, there were no single-day records for any species, though several were still banded in very good numbers.

Highlights of birds banded on Thursday, October 7 included the 400th American Goldfinch of this season; the record of 233 set in 2008 was left in the dust long ago.

Two firsts for the season included a Blue Jay. We're nearing the end of the peak of their migration, so it was about time we caught one!

And a surprising first was a Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Over the years, a few have been banded, and in a couple instances larger numbers including 50+ on one day this past spring. But never before has one been captured in fall here.

This individual was aged as after hatch-year (adult) based on complete skull ossification, and female based on the lack of "serrations" on the outer primary (present only in males) that gives the species its name. What I did not expect to see, probably because I don't band many swallows and very few in fall, is the apparent suspended flight feather molt she was showing. In the photo below, you can see that the outer three primaries (p10, p9, and p8) are old and duller than the inner primaries, and the adjacent primary coverts show the same pattern. The seventh primary is blacker and is shorter, indicating it has nearly grown in (this was symmetrical on both wings).

The tail also showed symmetrical molt, with the outer three feathers on each side duller and worn. Perhaps this bird will complete its molt before continuing its migration, or will molt while it is migrating, or more likely in my opinion, will suspend molt at this point and resume it on the wintering grounds.

Four Black-throated Blue Warblers were banded today, bringing the season's total to 51, which is one more than the record set in fall 2008.

A Blackpoll Warbler banded today extended the record season by one more individual, and allowed photos of the clean white undertail coverts, which is an often overlooked way to identify the species. Bay-breasted Warblers are often more buffy here. Note the streaks on the breas and sides, which Bay-breasted tends to lack.

An Orange-crowned Warbler was only the second of the season, though I expect more will be captured in the next two weeks or so.

The first Tennessee Warbler in some time, and getting a little late, allowed a comparison with the Orange-crowned Warbler. Note that the yellowest part of the Orange-crowns underparts is on the undertail coverts, while the whitest part of the Tennessee's underparts is on the undertail coverts.

Typically, Tennessee shows a more distinct supercilium but from certain angles, like in the photo above, this can be difficult to see and more closely resembles the Orange-crowns broken yellow eyering.

An unusual individual was a hatch-year Song Sparrow with crossed mandibles.

Interesting birds observed but not banded included two Cooper's Hawks and eight Sanderlings, all flyovers.

Highlights of birds banded on Saturday, October 9 included a somewhat late Eastern Wood-Pewee, good numbers of Blue Jays, and the first (3) Dark-eyed Juncos of the fall. After reading about many arrivals of this species in southeastern Michigan, and even in Indiana and Ohio, we were certainly due to catch them. Three photos of one nice adult male are included below.

The large number of birds banded today did not allow many photos, and indeed only the junco was new for the season today. But both yesterday and today, good numbers (for this site) of White-crowned Sparrows were captured. Most of these were hatch-year birds, which have brownish crown stripes instead of black of the adults. Several subspecies of White-crowned Sparrow are known, and the Eastern subspecies is by far the most numerous in Michigan. But there are records of the more western "Gambell's" White-crowned Sparrow in Michigan. They tend to lack the black between the eye and forehead in adults. In hatch-year birds, there is usually a suggestion of this line as shown on the individual below.

A couple individuals, like the one below, seemed to lack this line, and perhaps could have been "Gambell's".

Not a bird highlight, but an interesting insect observation was this tiny (4mm long) "flat fly" (Hippoboscidae) that came off a Golden-crowned Kinglet that was being banded. These flies are very flat, and move through bird feathers quite easily, and feed on their blood. Most often, I've seen larger individuals (species?) that have come off of larger birds. This is the smallest Hippoboscid fly I've seen, and the first I've seen on a kinglet.


Interesting birds observed but not banded today included a Fox Sparrow as well as a small number of warblers including Yellow-rumped, Palm, and Black-throated Blue. Away from the banding area, some interesting shorebirds were seen on the beach as reported to us by Brian McGee who passed through the banding area around noon. After we closed the station at 4:30, we hit the beach and found seven Dunlin.

With them was a very cooperative juvenile White-rumped Sandpiper.

Farther up the beach, they joined another group of shorebirds that included another White-rumped, two Baird's Sandpipers, and a single Least Sandpiper. Unfortunately, the two Red Knots reported by Brian could not be found.

Many thanks to the volunteers who made banding on these two days possible: John Bieganowski, Teri Chapdelaine, Mike Charlebois, Dave Lancaster (both days!), and Tom Schlack.

============================
Banding Data
-------------------------------------
THURSDAY, October 7, 2010
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 6:35
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 13:15
Hours Open: 7.50
No. of Nets: 4.25-13.25
Net Hours: 94.125
Temperature (F): 51-72
Cloud Cover: 0-10%
Wind: WNW-NW @ 7-10 mph
Barometer: 29.59-29.68
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 157 (plus 7 recaptures and 4 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 26
Capture Rate: 178.5 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 10.0 hours, 6:00-16:00): John Bieganowski, Mike Charlebois, Dave Lancaster, Tom Schlack.

[Downy Woodpecker - 1 recaptured]
Red-eyed Vireo - 1
Blue Jay - 1
NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 2 (plus 1 recaptured)
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Brown Creeper - 5
[House Wren - 1 recaptured]
Winter Wren - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 4
Hermit Thrush - 9
Tennessee Warbler - 1
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Nashville Warbler - 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 12
Palm Warbler - 1
Blackpoll Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 3
Song Sparrow - 14
Lincoln's Sparrow - 3 (plus 1 recaptured)
Swamp Sparrow - 9 (plus 1 recaptured)
White-throated Sparrow - 51 (plus 4 released unbanded)
White-crowned Sparrow - 8
American Goldfinch - 16 (plus 2 recaptured)

-------------------------------------
SATURDAY, October 9, 2010
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 6:37
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 13:45
Hours Open: 8.00
No. of Nets: 4.25-13.25
Net Hours: 99.500
Temperature (F): 53-73
Cloud Cover: 0%
Wind: Calm-NE-SE @ 0-3-7 mph
Barometer: 29.69-29.74
Precipitation: None.
No. Banded: 202 (plus 11 recaptures and 10 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 22
Capture Rate: 224.1 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 10.5 hours, 6:00-16:30): Terri Chapdelaine, Dave Lancaster.

Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Blue Jay - 21
Black-capped Chickadee - 1 (plus 2 recaptured)
Brown Creeper - 7
[House Wren - 1 released unbanded]
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 23
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 8
Hermit Thrush - 20
[Tennessee Warbler - 1 recaptured]
Orange-crowned Warbler - 3
Magnolia Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 1
Song Sparrow - 19 (plus 1 recaptured)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 4
Swamp Sparrow - 7 (plus 1 released unbanded)
White-throated Sparrow - 60 (-lus 1 recaptured and 7 released unbanded)
White-crowned Sparrow - 8
Dark-eyed Junco - 3
Northern Cardinal - 1
American Goldfinch - 12 (plus 2 recaptured and 1 released unbanded)

Metro Beach banding report - September 29, 2010

September banding ended with an extraordinary surge of migrants, with the daily total of 179 banded on Wednesday, September 29, being the third highest here since the project began in 1989. In contrast, October began with a whimper, as we were rained out on our first attempted banding day of the month, Saturday, October 2. Despite the rain, we did get the hummingbird feeders and thistle feeders cleaned and refilled, and tagged a couple more Glossy Buckthorn trees to be removed after the banding season ends this fall.

Banding highlights of Wednesday, September 29 included what may be the last two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds of the fall here. Both were hatch-year males carrying considerable fat, weighing 3.6 and 4.2 grams each. Typical "non-fat" weight would be about 3.0 grams.

Among the 8 species of warbler banded today was a somewhat overdue first Orange-crowned Warbler of the season.

A good number of Black-throated Blue Warblers was banded today and the species is close to tying the record season total of 50 set in 2008. Among those captured today was an unusually-plumaged hatch-year male. In most warblers, immatures resemble females until they attain breeding plumage the following spring. Black-throated Blue is an exception, and immature males closely resemble adult males, with typical differences including some white mottling on the throat, and greenish instead of blue edging on the alula in the immature males. Both of these features are visible on the bird in the photo below, but also note that it seems to have some female-like characteristics including a white line over the eye, a white arc below the eye, and yellow-tinted underparts.

Sparrows continued to move into the banding area in greater numbers. The 13 Swamp Sparrows banded today more than doubled the total for the season so far, which is concerning because well over 100 had been banded by this date last year. White-crowned Sparrows are infrequently caught in the banding area as they prefer more open areas instead of the tangly, swampy habitats prevalent here. So, the first three of the season were nice to see, including one adult (top photo) and two hatch-years (bottom).

The biggest surprise of the day came early, when Chris brought back a hawk in a large bird bag! It was a hatch-year female Sharp-shinned Hawk, which is only the third since 2004, and only the fifth since 1989, all in fall.

Interesting birds observed but not banded today included Cooper's and Red-tailed Hawks, a flyover Belted Kingfisher, a begging juvenile Great Horned Owl heard before dawn, and a calling Wood Thrush (we haven't caught one yet this fall).

Many thanks to the following volunteers, without whom banding would not be possible: Andrea Charlebois, Mike Charlebois, Chris Goulart, Dave Lancaster, Tom Schlack, and Judi Wade.

============================
Banding Data
-------------------------------------
WEDNESDAY, September 29, 2010
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 6:26
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 14:00
Hours Open: 8.25
No. of Nets: 4.25-13.25
Net Hours: 101.813
Temperature (F): 50-70
Cloud Cover: 10%
Wind: Calm-SE @ 0-3-7 mph
Barometer: 29.59-29.55
Precipitation: None (a.m. fog)
No. Banded: 179 (plus 11 recaptures and 3 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 25
Capture Rate: 189.6 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 10.5 hours, 6:00-16:30): Chris Goulart, Dave Lancaster, Tom Schlack, Judi Wade (1 hour only).

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 2
[Black-capped Chickadee - 1 recaptured]
Brown Creeper - 4
House Wren - 1 (plus 2 recaptured)
Winter Wren - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 17
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3
Swainson's Thrush - 1
Hermit Thrush - 5
Gray Catbird - 1
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Nashville Warbler - 7
Magnolia Warbler - 2 (plus 1 recaptured)
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 11 (plus 2 recaptured)
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 9
Palm Warbler - 2
Blackpoll Warbler - 2
Common Yellowthroat - 2 (plus 1 recaptured)
Song Sparrow - 8 (plus 3 recaptured)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 5 (plus 1 recaptured)
Swamp Sparrow - 13
White-throated Sparrow - 45 (plus 1 released unbanded)
White-crowned Sparrow - 3
American Goldfinch - 32 (plus 2 released unbanded)

-------------------------------------
SATURDAY, October 2, 2010
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 6:30
Time Open (E.S.T.): NOT OPENED
Time Closed (E.S.T.): -
Hours Open: -
No. of Nets: 0.00
Net Hours: -
Temperature (F): 50
Cloud Cover: 100%
Wind: NE @ 7-12 mph
Barometer: 29.66
Precipitation: Rain all day
No. Banded: 0
No. of Species: 0
Capture Rate: 0.0 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 3.0 hours, 6:00-9:00): Andrea Charlebois, Mike Charlebois.

NO BIRDS BANDED TODAY.

Lots of birds were in the banding area, including dozens of White-throated Sparrows and Golden-crowned Kinglets. A Merlin flew over the road briefly in the rain. At least one Winter Wren was heard singing.