April 29th – Quality Not Quantity

The Blessed Sisters of Mercy arrive with a food cache. No one went hungry today.

The day after the “big wind”. It was still windy just not as windy – enough to billow the nets exposed to the W wind but not enough to blow them down. We also got the occasional and short-lived very light sprinkle of rain. It didn’t seem like there were many birds around but when I tallied things up at the end of the day, we had encountered 56 species including 6 new arrivals: Broad-winged Hawk(we had 9 go over), Least Flycatcher, Blue-winged Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Orchard Oriole. Although we had a nice mix there weren’t many individuals; for example, we saw 5 species of warblers but only 6 individual birds. I’m still waiting for that day (or days) when the warblers will be “dripping” from the trees.

Bronwen carefully holding a Rose-breasted Grosbeak


Elaine with a beautiful male Blue-winged Warbler

We also had some good company: Elaine Serena and BronwenTregunno arrived from Burlington heavily laden with goodies – everone knows that a bander marches on his/her stomach…..

Banded 33:
2 Mourning Doves
1 Least Flycatcher
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 House Wren
1 American Robin
1 Blue-winged Warbler
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Black-throated Green Warbler
1 Western Palm Warbler
6 Chipping Sparrows
8 White-throated Sparrows
1 Red-winged Blackbird
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds
2 Purple Finches
4 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 32:
1 Downy Woodpecker (female, originally banded as a young bird in October, 2005)
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (from last year)
1 Eastern Bluebird
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
4 American Tree Sparrows
6 Chipping Sparrows
2 Field Sparrows
2 Song Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow
6 Dark-eyed Juncos
3 Brown-headed Cowbirds
4 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 55 spp

Today’s Bird Gallery:

Male Blue-winged Warbler


Western Palm Warbler


Male Nashville Warbler


Female Black-throated Green Warbler


Female Eastern Bluebird


Least Flycatcher

Rick

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