It was a pretty dreary start to the morning: misty drizzle and cold NE winds. But Eila and Nola – the Swallowtail Sisters (their actual stage name) – took a chance on the elements and joined us for some banding. When the drizzle tapered we opened a number of nets and started catching. When I did the census I was struck by how few birds there were in the woods; so much habitat but so little used. Where are all the birds!? During census I saw only 4 warblers. But we were catching other things, especially orioles. The 7 Baltimore Orioles we banded raises our total now to 61, 10 above the previous record. And the 3 Orchard Orioles puts us up to 12 for the season, just 4 shy of our record. How come there’s so many orioles around!?
But I think the highlight was the impromptu concert put on by Eila and Nola, two young but very accomplished violinists/fiddlers. We have witnessed some pretty good musical acts in the banding lab (Alessandra’s and Ezra’s renditions of popular muiscals come to mind) and this one ranks right up there with the best of them. And in return we were able to give the girls direct access to most of the birds we handled. It was a good trade.
Banded 33:
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
4 Gray Catbirds
1 Blue-headed Vireo
1 Northern Parula
2 Yellow Warblers
1 Common Yellowthroat
7 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
7 Baltimore Orioles
3 Orchard Orioles
4 American Goldfinches
ET’s: 50 spp.
Pictures from today:
Male Black & White Warbler. -ELO
Photos from May 11th – International Migratory Bird Day (thanks to Irene Turjansky):
