Highlights of the 36 birds banded, and 13 recaptured, on Thursday May 29 included a good total of 6 Empidonax flycatchers. All of them were of the Willow/Alder species pair, called Traill's Flycatcher when they cannot be identified any further. Of the 5 new banded Empids, the measurements of 4 of them enabled them to be keyed out to species; 1 was Willow and 3 were Alder.
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| After hatch-year Alder Flycatcher |
Not exactly a highlight, the number of European Starlings banded this spring has been more than normal. Some years none are banded. An adult female banded today had an apparently unusual eye color. I don't know if this is age related, or just a variation.
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| After hatch-year female European Starling |
The number of Yellow Warblers banded this year in the 7-acres encompassed by the 14 nets has been very good, with 35 new banded, and in addition there have been 25 returnees from previous years. Among the returnees have been a few banded in 2008, including the individual below banded (as AHY) in 2008.
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| After 7th year male Yellow Warbler |
Interesting birds observed but not banded included a small male Cooper's Hawk chasing American Crows, a circling and calling Sandhill Crane, a calling Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and singing American Redstart, Blackpoll, and Wilson's Warblers. A Scarlet Tanager was heard singing briefly.
Highlights of the 35 birds banded, and 26 recaptured, on Saturday May 31 included an adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird...always a highlight and a privilege to band.
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| After hatch-year male Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
Some males show a distinct purple iridescence on their tails, though this is difficult to photograph well.
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| After hatch-year male Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
A Hairy Woodpecker was a nice catch, as they are infrequently banded here.
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| Second-year female Hairy Woodpecker |
More Empidonax flycatchers were captured today, including one returning bird; banded in 2012. Its measurements did not allow it to be keyed out to species, and when recaptured in 2013 it was the same. So it was not surprising that when remeasured again today, it still did not key out! Most likely it is a Willow Flycatcher since that is the most frequent species nesting in the park, with Alder occurring in summer perhaps only one summer out of five.
Among the three Northern Rough-winged Swallows captured today was one that had been banded in 2013; the first returnee of this species from a previous year at this station.
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| After hatch-year male N. Rough-winged Swallow |
The species gets its name from small, hook-like structures long the leading edge of the outermost primary, on the males only. This can be seen in the photo below.
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| Small hooks on leading edge of wing. |
A single migrant warbler was banded today, a female Blackpoll Warbler, which was a bit of a surprise. Blackpolls are banded annually in the fall, sometimes in good numbers, but this is the first one in spring since 1998, and only 5 were banded between 1993 and 1998.
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| After hatch-year female Blackpoll Warbler |
As anticipated, the first young of the year were captured today, including an American Robin and a European Starling.
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| Hatch-year American Robin |
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| Hatch-year European Starling |
In the early afternoon, when things were starting to get really slow, one of the volunteers (Jacob Charlebois) extracted a Swainson's Thrush from a net close to where we band along the road. It was a banded bird, so naturally I presumed it was the Swainson's I'd banded in the morning.
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| After hatch-year Swainson's Thrush |
But when I looked at the band, I said "wow" or something... The numbers were all along the bottom of the band, with the inscription at the top being "Tierradeaves.com", and a small "c" above the numbers. It was the first ever INTERNATIONAL recapture at this station!
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| Tierradeaves.com band on Swainson's Thrush |
I immediately recognized this organization as that operated by Manuel Grosselet, who bands at a station in Veracruz, Mexico! I emailed Manuel when I still had the bird in my hand, and heard back from him later in the evening. This Swainson's Thrush was banded on May 7, 2014 at the Observatorio de Aves del Pantano de Santa Alejandrina (OAPSA), which is east of Minatitlan, Veracruz. This bird traveled over 2900 kilometers NNE in only 24 days, if it went in a straight line, to get to Michigan from Mexico. But it may have actually flown around the Gulf of Mexico through Texas, probably extending its trip by a few hundred kilometers. A Google map of the banding site and re-encounter site is shown below.
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| Minatitlan, Veracruz to Lake St. Clair Metropark, Michigan |
And below are Google maps of the banding site, and re-encounter site, to show surrounding habitat. Yellow pins show the precise locations.
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| Minatitlan, Veracruz, Mexico |
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| Lake St. Clair Metropark, Michigan, USA |
And here is Jacob with "his" Mexican Swainson's Thrush.
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| Jacob Charlebois with Swainson's Thrush |
But the day was not over, and another strange bird was captured. But this one had to be released unbanded, because my banding permit does not include waterfowl.
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| Second-year female Wood Duck |
This female Wood Duck was kinder to my net than the female Mallard that tried to land in a net last week...she put two large holes in it. This duck did no damage to the net. Although I could not band her, I still brought her back to the station to take photo, and for everyone to admire her plumage.
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| Second-year female Wood Duck |
I also was curious to see if I could age her, using the Pyle guide. One volunteer commented that it looked like she was helping out...
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| Second-year female Wood Duck |
It appears that she was a second-year based on the relative lack of iridescence on her back, and the short extension of white behind the eye, which was only 15 mm (20mm or more is ASY).
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| Second-year female Wood Duck |
Interesting birds observed but not banded included an American Woodcock flushed from near the Upland Nets, and single singing Red-eyed Vireo, Bay-breasted Warbler, and American Redstart.
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Banding Data
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THURSDAY, May 29, 2014
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 5:00
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: 96.75
Temperature (F): 50-70
Cloud Cover: 20-60%
Wind: NW @ 1-3-7 mph
Barometer: 30.16-30.19
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 36 (plus 13 recaptured, 3 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 15
Capture Rate: 53.7 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 10.50 hours, 5:00-15:30): Dave Lancaster, Marie McGee, Edie Schmitz (7.5 hrs), Blanche Wicke (7.5 hrs).
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Alder Flycatcher - 3
Willow Flycatcher - 1 (plus 1 recaptured)
"Traill's" Flycatcher - 1
Warbling Vireo - 1
Tree Swallow -1
[House Wren - 1 recaptured]
American Robin - 3 (plus 1 released unbanded)
European Starling -3 (plus 1 recaptured)
Yellow Warbler - 3 (plus 8 recaptured)
Common Yellowthroat -3
Song Sparrow - 1 (plus 1 recaptured)
Swamp Sparrow - 1
Red-winged Blackbird - 5 (plus 1 recaptured, 1 released unbanded)
Common Grackle -8 (plus 1 released unbanded)
Baltimore Oriole - 1
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SATURDAY, May 31, 2014
Sunrise (E.S.T.): 4:59
Time Open (E.S.T.): 5:45
Time Closed (E.S.T.): 13:45
Hours Open: 8.00
No. of Nets: 5.0-14.0
Net Hours: 106.00
Temperature (F): 55-77
Cloud Cover: 20-0%
Wind: NE-S @ 1-3-5 mph
Barometer: 30.28-30.27
Precipitation: None
No. Banded: 35 (plus 26 recaptured, 5 released unbanded)
No. of Species: 21
Capture Rate: 62.3 birds per 100 net hours
Volunteers (worked 10.0 hours, 5:00-15:00): Patrick Bohm (5.0 hrs), Jacob Charlebois, Marie McGee (5.0 hrs), Sarah Toner (8.0 hrs), Blanche Wicke.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird -1
[Downy Woodpecker - 1 recaptured]
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Alder Flycatcher -2
Willow Flycatcher - 1
["Traill's" Flycatcher - 1 recaptured]
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 2 (plus 1 recaptured)
[Black-capped Chickadee - 1 recaptured]
Swainson's Thrush - 1 (plus 1 recaptured)
American Robin -2 (plus 1 released unbanded)
Gray Catbird - 1
European Starling -2 (plus 1 recaptured)
Yellow Warbler - 3 (plus 6 recaptured)
BLACKPOLL WARBLER - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 6 (plus 2 recaptured)
[Song Sparrow - 4 recaptured]
[Swamp Sparrow - 1 recaptured]
Northern Cardinal - 1 (plus 1 released unbanded)
Red-winged Blackbird - 5 (plus 4 recaptured, 1 released unbanded)
Common Grackle - 4 (plus 1 recaptured, 2 released unbanded)
Baltimore Oriole - 1
American Goldfinch - 1 (plus 2 recaptured)
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