It was 80 degrees at 5:30am, which made for a hot, sticky, and uncomfortable morning of banding. But the crew persevered through the sweat and mosquitoes and banded 19 new birds with 9 recaptures of 12 different species. The Bird-of-the-Day was a female WILSON'S WARBLER. This is the first time a Wilson's Warbler has ever been banded on Kiawah Island! Just like the Louisiana Waterthrush from yesterday, this is the first time I have ever seen a Wilson's Warbler on Kiawah Island.
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| Wilson's Warbler (hatch-year, female) |
The Wilson's Warbler is a tiny neotropical warbler that nests in shrub thickets across Canada, Alaska, and the mountains of the western United States. At first glance, it can resemble the Yellow Warbler but it is smaller, and has a dark tail. Additionally, males and adults females will show varying degrees of black on top of the head. This hatch-year female has only a couple of black feathers toward the front of the crown.
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| Wilson's Warbler (hatch-year, female) |
Another neat bird that was banded today was an adult (after hatch-year) American Redstart. We should start seeing a lot more redstart in the upcoming weeks.
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| American Redstart (After hatch-year, male) |
