I must admit that it was a little difficult to get out of bed this morning to open the nets after such a busy weekend but….birds wait for no man. And the migration is in full swing.

It was down around 5 degrees under starry skies when I arrived. You could hear the odd Swainson’s Thrush call note high overhead and, in the distance, the hooting of a Great Horned Owl. (Which reminds me: sometime in October we are going to try to catch and band Saw-whet Owls. This is strictly a night-time event and really interesting.)

The sun rose into a clear, deep-blue sky, which in our experience usually translates into a slow banding day – and so it was today. Once the initial ‘push’ was netted it was pretty quiet. In fact, on census, I found only 21 species. A couple of ‘neat’ birds for the day included the banding of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and the retrapping of 2 Black-billed Cuckoos (plus we saw a Yellow-billed Cuckoo in the trees just behind the lab).

I neglected to mention yesterday that Sunday’s banding numbers pushed our September total to over 1,000 birds – a new record(!) and still 10 days to go…..

Banded 37:
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
1 Eastern Wood Pewee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Brown Creeper
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
2 Swainson’s Thrushes
3 Gray Catbirds
2 Nashville Warblers
3 Blackpoll Warblers
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Song Sparrows
8 White-throated Sparrows
6 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 House Finch
3 American Goldfinches

Retrapped 19:
1 Mourning Dove
2 Black-billed Cuckoos
2 Black-capped Chickadees
4 White-breasted Nuthatches
3 Swainson’s Thrushes
1 Gray Catbird
1 Nashville Warbler
2 Magnolia Warblers
3 Blackpoll Warblers

ET’s: 51 spp.

Rick