Fourth Week of Spring Banding 2017

Female Yellow-shafted Flicker being processed during one of our banding demos.

Although the beginning of the fourth week of spring banding this year saw a continuation of the third week's cooler temps as well as some rain, banding finally started to pick up towards the end of the week. Thursday, May 11th was our first 'big' day of the season, where we banded 136 new birds of 25 different species. It had been raining steadily in the morning, so we didn't open nets until after the rains stopped, which was close to 11am. We only had half of our nets open for a short period of time before we learned that there had been a push the night before of migrants. How did we learn this? Haha when the nets began to appear as if they were 'dripping rainbows'. :)  Female Ruby-crowned Kinglets were the number one species banded that day followed closely by male Black-throated Blue Warblers and Yellow Warblers. It was a great day! We had four lovely birders up from Pittsburgh who kept us company, fed us delicious snacks, and, in return, they got to see some great birds up close.

On Sunday, May 14th, the winds shifted from southeast to northwest around 8am and down came the birds. And this happened right after a deer had destroyed two of our nets so, needless to say, it was quite a hectic morning! As can happen when the winds shift like that, we got close to 150 birds all at once in the nets. We enlisted the help of the bat researchers who happened to be in the park at the time and we also had the good fortune of having a very experienced bander and his long-time assistant happen upon us as we were trying to get all of the birds out of the nets. They were from Michigan and were in the park birding for Mother's Day weekend and we were very fortunate that they found us when they did. Because of everyone's help, we banded close to 200 new birds of 35 species that day.

The highlight of the week was a second year female Lawrence's Warbler. A Lawrence's Warbler is the more recessive/rare hybridization of a Blue-winged Warbler and Golden-winged Warbler cross usually resulting from a Brewster's Warbler (the more common hybrid) breeding with either a Golden-winged or another Brewster's (1 in 16 chance). We thought it was a Blue-winged Warbler when we were extracting it, so it was quite the pleasant surprise when we looked a bit more close at her during banding.

Another highlight of the week was this Tree Swallow (pictured below) as this was the first one that we've ever banded here in the park. 

Below are some other pictorial highlights of the week as well as the total banded by species. 

Blue-headed Vireos were one of the species that could be seen in much larger numbers
in the park on May 14th when the winds shifted. We banded more that morning than we
had in the last several years combined.

Western Taiga (Gambel's) White-crowned Sparrow compared to below...

Eastern Taiga White-crowned Species. Here in the park we get both subspecies during migration
although the eastern is more common. Note the complete looking eye line of this bird compared
 to the western subspecies, which has an incomplete one with paler lores. It's hard to tell in these
photos but the bird pictured above has a smaller more yellowish bill compared to the larger
pinkish bill of the bird pictured here.

Orange-crowned Warbler, one of three that we banded this week. We can go
several seasons without banding any, so this was a nice surprise as well

White-eyed Vireo. A very feisty surprise in our nets on one of our busier days.

A very handsome male Northern Parula

Tennessee Warblers started showing up at the banding station this week. 

Dr. Sarah Sargent demonstrating how a mist net works to a homeschool group.

Bander-in-Charge, Laura-Marie Koitsch, at a banding demo

Fourth Week Totals by Species: 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 39

Least Flycatcher: 7

Orange-crowned Warbler: 3

Chestnut-sided Warbler: 12

American Redstart: 7

Northern Parula: 1

Black-and-white Warbler: 13

Nashville Warbler: 5

Magnolia Warbler: 33

Tennessee Warbler: 1

Traill's Flycatcher: 1

Lawrence's Warbler: 1

Blue-winged Warbler: 1

Wilson's Warbler: 3

Hooded Warbler: 3

Tree Swallow: 1

Blue-headed Vireo: 9

Red-eyed Vireo: 1

American Goldfinch: 1

Palm Warbler (Western): 22

White-eyed Vireo: 1

Red-breasted Nuthatch: 1

Warbling Vireo: 3

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle): 5

Yellow Warbler: 60

Common Yellowthroat: 33

Black-throated Blue Warbler: 19

House Wren: 5

Ovenbird: 6

Swamp Sparrow: 4

Northern Waterthrush: 3

Lincoln's Sparrow: 21

Mourning Warbler: 4

Tufted Titmouse: 2

White-crowned Sparrow (Eastern): 13

White-crowned Sparrow (Gambel's): 3

White-throated Sparrow: 58

Song Sparrow: 3

White-breasted Nuthatch: 1

Veery: 9

Great-crested Flycatcher: 4

Hermit Thrush: 2

Swainson's Thrush: 11

Northern Cardinal: 3

Wood Thrush: 4

Gray Catbird: 56

Baltimore Oriole: 2

American Robin: 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 1

Yellow-shafted Flicker: 1

Blue Jay: 1
Belted Kingfisher: 1

On Mother's Day weekend we were treated to a wonderful opportunity to watch a very hard-working momma in action right at the banding station. This mother raccoon had decided mid-way through our banding session that she was going to mover her babies to what we can only assume was a quieter and all-around better den. She proceeded to climb up the large tree right next to us and retrieve one of her young by the neck, then carry it down the tree, down the path, and onwards to the new den. This was by no means an easy task as those babies were quite large and squirmy but she came back for each one, making sure that they were all safely transferred to their new home. We were all extremely awed by this spectacle and were grateful that we were able to watch them at such a close distance.