Highlights of the 45 birds banded on Thursday, April 17 included a Northern Flicker, which is always a nice species to have in hand as only a couple are typically captured in a season.
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| Second-year female Northern Flicker |
A resident species that doesn't find its way into our nets very often is the White-breasted Nuthatch; maybe one per year has been banded at this station, so another nice species to have in hand.
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| After hatch-year male White-breasted Nuthatch |
The Golden-crowned Kinglets seem to have mostly gone north but the Ruby-crowneds are just arriving, and today the first two of the season were captured, both males as expected.
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| After hatch-year male Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
Although we did not see any in the banding area, surprising given the lack of anything green yet, the first four Hermit Thrushes of the season were banded today.
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| Second-year Hermit Thrush |
And a Swamp Sparrow, the first of many more to come, was captured today. We see many more birds with rufous in the crown in spring than in fall, but there is no known correlation with age or sex as this character is quite variable.
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| After hatch-year Swamp Sparrow |
Interesting birds observed but not banded included flyover Common Loon, Turkey Vulture, Wood Duck, and American Kestrel. Both Sora and Virginia Rails were calling in the marsh, and Wilson's Snipe continued to winnow overhead through most of the morning. A Red-headed Woodpecker flew through the banding area but did not stop, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler was singing briefly in the morning, as was an Eastern Towhee.
Highlights of the 40 birds banded on Saturday, April 19 included one of the first birds that started singing at first light. At first, it sounded like an American Tree Sparrow, but it got louder and clearer, and became obvious it was a Louisiana Waterthrush, only the second I've ever had in the park! It had been found the day before by a birder, and by the time the first birders turned up looking for it this morning a bit after sunrise, the bird had stopped its vigorous and almost continuous singing, giving just an occasional "chink" note. It took a couple of net runs, but the bird finally found its way into the nets, for only the second of its species ever banded at this station!
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male Louisiana Waterthrush |
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male Louisiana Waterthrush |
There were no plumage characters that allowed it to be sexed, but as it was almost certainly the only member of its species in the area, and it was clearly singing, there is no doubt it was a male. The age is a bit uncertain to me. The secondaries and tail feathers were very worn, suggesting that it might have been a second-year bird. Species ID points included the very large bill compared with Northern Waterthrush, as well as the lack of yellow anywhere on the underparts, and a mostly unspotted throat.
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male Louisiana Waterthrush |
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male Louisiana Waterthrush |
Thinking this would probably be the highlight of the spring season, it was very surprising to come across yet another great bird later in the day, this one a first ever for the station, a beautiful male American Kestrel! This is the 124th species banded here since 1989, and the 120th since 2004.
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male American Kestrel |
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male American Kestrel |
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male American Kestrel |
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male American Kestrel |
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male American Kestrel |
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male American Kestrel |
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| After hatch-year (SY?) male American Kestrel |
Interesting birds observed but not banded included two flyover Common Loons, flyover Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, two Sandhill Cranes (one flying south, one calling from the South Marsh), a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and possibly the last American Tree Sparrow and Fox Sparrow of the season.
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Banding Data
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THURSDAY, April 17, 2014
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 5:48
Time Open (E.S.T.): 6:00
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 13:15
Hours Open: 7.25
No. of Nets: 5.0-14.0
Net Hours: 93.25
Temperature (F): 31-54
Cloud Cover: 50-70-30%
Wind: ENE-SE @ 5-7-12 mph
Barometer: 29.72 - 29.67
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 45 (plus 7 recaptured, 3 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 12
Capture Rate: 57.7 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 10.00 hours, 5:00-15:00): Jacob Charlebois (4.5 hrs), John Bieganowski (5.5 hrs), Tom Schlack (4.5 hrs), Steve Mangas (10.0 hrs)
Downy Woodpecker -1
Northern Flicker - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Brown Creeper - 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Hermit Thrush - 4
American Robin -3 (plus 1 released unbanded)
Song Sparrow - 1 (plus 3 recaptured)
Swamp Sparrow - 1
Red-winged Blackbird -26 (plus 2 recaptured, 2 released unbanded)
[American Goldfinch - 1 recaptured]
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SATURDAY, April 19, 2014
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Open (E.S.T.): 6:00
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 13:00
Hours Open: 7.00
No. of Nets: 5.0-14.0
Net Hours: 91.50
Temperature (F): 36-55
Cloud Cover: 20-0%
Wind: N-NE @ 5-7-10 mph
Barometer: 29.77 - 29.78
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 40 (plus 9 recaptured)
No. of Species: 12
Capture Rate: 53.6 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 9.5 hours, 5:00-14:30): Jacob Charlebois (6.0 hrs), Sarah Toner, Blanche Wicke
AMERICAN KESTREL - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 3 (plus 1 recaptured)
Northern Flicker - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 1 (plus 3 recaptured)
Brown Creeper - 1 (plus 3 recaptured)
Hermit Thrush - 5
American Robin - 4
LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH - 1
Song Sparrow - 2
Swamp Sparrow - 6 (plus 1 recaptured)
Red-winged Blackbird - 14 (plus 1 recaptured)
American Goldfinch - 1
