Monday's Results: Record Day!

Wow, what a day!  We did not get out of the field until about 3 pm.  We banded 272 new birds and had 16 recaptures of 26 different species.  Common Yellowthroats were well represented with 131 of them banded.  That put them over the 1000 mark for the 2012 fall season.  We also had surprisingly high numbers of Northern Parulas (19) and Magnolia Warblers (10).  We banded more Northern Parulas and Magnolia Warblers today than the previous 3 years combined!  Cape May Warblers were also banded in much higher numbers than any other single day with 5.   

Northern Parula (after hatch-year, male)

We only got one new species for fall season but it was one that I had been waiting for - a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH.

Gray-cheeked Thrush (hatch-year, sex unknown)



Black-and-White Warbler (hatch-year, male)



Indigo Buntings appeared to be on the move with 12 of them banded today.  All of the Indigo Buntings today were hatch-year birds, expect one (see photo below).  Male Indigo Buntings molt out of their brilliant blue plumage after the breeding season and look more like females.  A good way to age Indigo Buntings at this time of year when they are all in their brown basic plumage is to look at the wings.  Adult males will have blue edging on the flight feathers (primaries, secondaries, rectrices) and all of their primary coverts.  Adult females will have a mix of blue and brown edged primary coverts while hatch-years of both sexes will have primary coverts edged in brown.         



Indigo Bunting (after hatch-year, male)



Indigo Bunting (after hatch-year, male)



Thanks to my banding team for another great day!  Additionally, I would like to thank Julie and David for all of their hard work!

NEW BIRDS

1 Common Ground-Dove

1 "Traill's" Flycatcher

1 Eastern Phoebe

3 White-eyed Vireo

5 Red-eyed Vireo

1 House Wren

1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

1 Veery

1 Gray-cheeked Thrush

1 Swainson's Thrush

30 Gray Catbird

19 Northern Parula

1 Yellow Warbler

10 Magnolia Warbler

5 Cape May Warbler

14 Black-throated Blue Warbler

1 Prairie Warbler

13 Palm Warbler (Western)

2 Black-and-White Warbler

13 American Redstart

1 Northern Waterthrush

131 Common Yellowthroat

12 Indigo Bunting

4 Painted Bunting

 

RECAPTURES

1 Common Ground-Dove

3 White-eyed Vireo

1 Carolina Chickadee

5 Gray Catbird

1 Black-throated Blue Warbler

2 American Redstart

2 Common Yellowthroat

1 Painted Bunting

 

BANDING STATS

# of Birds Banded:  272

# of Recaptures:  16

# of Species:  26

Effort:  115.6 net-hours

Capture Rate:  249.1 birds/100 net-hours

# of Nets:  17