Friday, September 19, 2014

FOS: Eastern Wood-Pewee


It was a much slower day at the banding station with only 33 new birds and 11 recaptures made up of 14 species.  Rain overnight likely prevented migrants from moving into our area.  Later in the morning, the wind started to pick up causing us to close down an hour early.  The highlight of the morning goes to our first of the season Eastern Wood-Pewee.  Eastern Wood-Pewee can look similar to its fellow flycatchers including the Empidonax flycatchers and Eastern Phoebe.  A quick measurement of the wing (>75mm) and a look at the stubby legs can rule out the Empids.  Eastern Phoebes can be ruled out by looking at the color of the lower mandible.  Phoebes will have a black lower mandible whereas pewees will have a yellow lower mandible.    
              
Eastern Wood-Pewee (AHY)




NEW BIRDS
1 Eastern Wood-Pewee
1 "Traill's" Flycatcher
4 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Veery
4 Gray Catbird
1 Ovenbird
3 Northern Waterthrush
9 Common Yellowthroat
1 American Redstart
4 Prairie Warbler
1 Northern Cardinal
3 Painted Bunting

RECAPTURES
2 White-eyed Vireo
1 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Northern Mockingbird
2 Common Yellowthroat 
2 Northern Cardinal
3 Painted Bunting


BANDING STATS
# of New Birds:  33
# of Recaptures:  11
# of Species:  14
Effort:  102.0 net-hours
Capture Rate:  43.1 birds/100 net-hours
# of Nets:  20


BANDING STAFF
Aaron Given
Mattie VandenBoom
William Oakley
Libby Natola
Matt Zak