Another 200+ bird day!

We had a great day of banding with 217 new birds and 15 recaptures of 31 different species!  This is, by far, the best day we have ever had in terms of species richness.  The next best day was way back on 8 October 2012 when 26 species were captured.  Gray Catbirds were the most common species with 79 of them banded.  Common Yellowthroats were not that far behind with 54 banded.

 While we were walking in to open the nets, we were surprised to hear an Eastern Whip-poor-will calling around net #15.  About 45 minutes later, when Matt and Will checked that net, the Whip-poor-will was waiting in the net for them.

Eastern Whip-poor-will (after hatch-year, male)

Eastern Whip-poor-will showing its extraordinary gape.  

We banded 3 of the 5 regularly occurring thrush species:  Gray-cheeked, Swainson's, and Wood.  We missed a Veery today, and Hermit Thrushes probably won't start showing up for another couple weeks.

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Swainson's Thrush

Wood Thrush

Twelve species of warblers were banded.  Highlights included, the 2nd Pine Warbler in as many days, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, and two Magnolia Warblers.

Magnolia Warbler (after hatch-year, male)

 Again, I would like to thank the banding crew for a wonderful job!  In anticipation of a big day, I recruited some extra help as well.  Chris Davies, Cathy Miller, and Matt Arnold contributed greatly by helping to extract birds and scribe data.

-Aaron  

NEW BIRDS
1 Common Ground-Dove
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1 Eastern Whip-poor-will
1 "Traill's" Flycatcher
2 Eastern Phoebe
3 White-eyed Vireo
2 Red-eyed Vireo
1 Blue Jay
4 House Wren
2 Gray-cheeked Thrush
6 Swainson's Thrush
2 Wood Thrush
79 Gray Catbird
2 Brown Thrasher
2 Ovenbird
1 Northern Waterthrush
1 Black-and-White Warbler
54 Common Yellowthroat
15 American Redstart
3 Northern Parula
2 Magnolia Warbler
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
6 Black-throated Blue Warbler
9 Palm Warbler (7 Western, 2 Yellow)
1 Pine Warbler
1 Prairie Warbler
1 Scarlet Tanager
9 Indigo Bunting
4 Painted Bunting

RECAPTURES
2 White-eyed Vireo
1 Red-eyed Vireo
7 Gray Catbird
1 Northern Mockingbird
1 American Redstart
2 Northern Cardinal
1 Painted Bunting

BANDING STATS
# of Birds Banded:  217
# of Recaptures:  15
# of Species:  31
Effort:  150.0 net-hours
Capture Rate:  154.7 birds/100 net-hours
# of Nets:  20

BANDING STAFF
Aaron Given
Mattie VandenBoom
William Oakley
Matt Zak
Libby Natola
Chris Davies
Matt Arnold
Cathy Miller