August 31st – The Prelude

I don’t think Nancy purposely set out this morning to mess up the totals I gave you in the last blog. But it’s a good thing she did as I had left out some birds and they were inaccurate.

I wasn’t going to band today but at 8:30 I got her frantic call that she had just taken 40 birds out of the nets and could I please come and help – sort of a rhetorical question I thought. Her first couple of rounds had been fairly frenetic with good variety so it was a pleasure to go over and help. We had 10 species of warblers including the first (quite early) Blackpoll Warbler. Interestingly, the push ended very abruptly as soon as it began to heat up – and it heated up early and very quickly. Either it was the heat or the birds just saw me coming and backed off…

Anyway, the numbers I gave you for the Summer are not correct. Here are the new ones:
Banded 599 birds (90 in June, 165 in July, and 344 in August) of 51 species.

The Summer’s Top Ten:
1. Yellow Warbler – 57
2. Song Sparrow – 52
3. American Goldfinch – 39
4. Gray Catbird – 37
5. Magnolia Warbler – 24
6. House Wren – 23
7. Cedar Waxwing – 22
8. Eastern Wood Pewee – 20
9. Black-capped Chickadee – 18
10. Chipping Sparrow – 17

Today’s totals:

Banded 52:
2 Eastern Wood Pewees
2 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers
1 Least Flycatcher
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 House Wrens
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
7 Gray Catbirds
5 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Blue-winged Warbler
2 Chestnut-sided Warblers
11 Magnolia Warblers
1 Black-throated Green Warbler
4 Bay-breasted Warblers
1 Blackpoll Warbler
2 American Redstarts
1 Ovenbird
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Wilson’s Warblers
1 Song Sparrow
1 Baltimore Oriole
3 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 8:2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 House Wren
2 Blue-winged Warblers
2 Song Sparrows
1 American Goldfinch

ET’s: 50 spp.
Rick

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