Warm and muggy with strong southwest winds, resulted in a slow day of banding with 9 new birds and 9 recaptures of 12 different species. I thought the wind would keep the mosquitoes at bay instead they used us as windshields during their feast. This weather pattern looks like it will stay with us through most of this week.
Despite the less than optimal banding conditions and meager bird activity, we did band a bird today that I never really expected to catch - a SWAINSON'S WARBLER! And it just so happened that this bird represented the 100th species banded on Kiawah Island since the bird banding program started in 2009. I can't think of a more fitting bird than the Swainson's Warbler - a bird that haunts the densely vegetated understory of southeastern forests. This was sort of a nemesis species for me up until a few years ago. For several years, I chased them in Texas, Southern Illinois, and Southeast Missouri and finally saw one in the South Carolina in the Francis Marion National Forest in 2009. Swainson's Warbler is going to be tough to beat but we still have three solid months of banding left. Up next - Cerulean Warbler or Connecticut Warbler?
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| Swainson's Warbler (hatch-year, sex unknown) |
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| Swainson's Warbler |
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| Swainson's Warbler |
