As we were walking in the dark on our way to the banding station this morning, we could hear the flight calls of lots of migrants overhead, and I knew we were in for a good day of banding. It turned out to be a fantastic day with 177 new birds and 2 recaptures of 16 different species! Just like on September 10th after the last major cold front hit, Common Yellowthroats were everywhere with 141 of them being banded. We also banded a few new species for the 2012 fall season - Northern Parula, Summer Tanager, and a somewhat early Ruby-crowned Kinglet! In addition, we captured our 2nd Magnolia Warbler of the season.
Thanks to the banding crew for all their hard work today!
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| Northern Parula (hatch-year, male) |
In hatch-year male Summer Tanagers, sex can only be determined if there are some red feathers present on the head or other parts of the body. However, if there are no red feathers present, we cannot automatically assume that it is a female. A proportion of hatch-year males can lack red feathers which prevents certain identification.
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| Summer Tanager (hatch-year, sex unknown) |
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet (hatch-year, female) |
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| Magnolia Warbler (hatch-year, unknown) |
