Yesterday, I sensed a change was in the wind and today it just came bursting out, making up for a long, cold Spring. The picnic table just outside the banding lab was the place to be as it gave front row seats to a show of Warblers that were taking advantage of the many insects haunting the opening leaves. At any one time throughout the morning you could find 6 different species of warblers in the tree as well as both orioles, kinglets, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Cedar Waxwings. Each net round was exciting as you just didn’t know what you might find. And although we weren’t overwhelmed with birds we had our biggest day of the year so far both in terms of numbers banded (55) and species banded (24).


For the day we encountered 67 species, 15 of which were warblers: Nashville, Yellow, Magnolia, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Yellow-rumped, Blackburnian, Western Palm, Bay-breasted, Black and White, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, and Wilson’s.

Firsts for the year were: Great Crested Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Blue-headed Vireo, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Ovenbird, Wilson’s Warbler.

I’m hoping that the unsettled weather will bring birds down over the next few days – especially for the open house on Saturday, International Migratory Bird Day, so that visitors can see these marvellous long-distance migrants.

Banded 55:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
1 Least Flycatcher
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Wood Thrush
3 American Robins
6 Gray Catbirds
1 Blue-headed Vireo
2 Nashville Warblers
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Western Palm Warbler
3 Black and White Warblers
4 Ovenbirds
4 Common Yellowthroats
3 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
2 Chipping Sparrows
1 Field Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
3 Lincoln’s Sparrows
3 Swamp Sparrows
2 White-throated Sparrows
2 Red-winged Blackbirds
4 Brown-headed Cowbirds
2 American Goldfinches

ET’s: 67 spp
Rick