One of two Great Egrets at Ruthven today. -J. Attack
A light shower fell during the night but the bigger rain showed up as a smudge next to London on the weather radar at 6:00 AM so we opened all the nets. This proved to be a good move as the rain didn’t start until the end of the morning but the threatening conditions kept the birds low and the clouds helped obscure the nets. By the time we had to scoot around and close up with the beginning of the rain, we had handled 79 birds of 32 species:
A lovely male Black-throated Blue Warbler
A striking AHY male American Redstart.
Banded 61:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Downy Woodpecker
4 Eastern Wood Pewees
1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
1 Blue Jay
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
2 Gray-cheeked Thrushed
7 Swainson’s Thrushes
1 American Robin
4 Gray Catbirds
2 Warbling Vireos
2 Philadelphia Vireos
2 Red-eyed Vireos
2 Tennessee Warblers
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
1 Bay-breasted Warbler
6 Blackpoll Warblers
1 American Redstart
1 Ovenbird
3 Common Yellowthroats
1 Scarlet Tanager
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Song Sparrow
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 House Finch
10 American Goldfinches
Rhiannon with an Ovenbird - the bird her Master's was based on.
Janet Baine from the GRCA with a Common Yellowthroat.
Retrapped 18:
2 Eastern Tufted Titmice
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 Wood Thrush
3 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Magnolia Warbler
4 Blackpoll Warblers
1 Ovenbird
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Scarlet Tanager
1 Song Sparrow
1 Purple Finch
ET’s: 52 spp.
Fall Banding Total: 610
Year-to-Date Banding Total: 3,253
Some “instructional” photos:
Detail: Bay-breasted Warbler on the left and Blackpoll on the right. -J. Baine
Blackpoll Warbler (left) and Bay-breasted (right). -J. Baine
Bay-breasted Warbler on the left; Blackpoll on the right. -J. Baine
Male (left) and female (right) Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.
Female Scarlet Tanager - note the gray (vs black) secondary coverts.
Comparison: Gray-cheeked Thrush (left) and Swainson's Thrush (right)
Rick
Great looking birds and comparison photos are excellent. They had me puzzled even with so much time to look between both, no wonder it’s so hard in the field with the fall plumages.