We’ve had a very benign, summer-like September. I’ve been waiting for the change to come…..and it looks like we might be into now. Along with heavy rain yesterday this morning’s sky looked ominous. Sure, the weatherman was NOT predicting any precipitation for the day but all you had to do was look at those clouds and you started to wonder. Based on the forecast – given by a “professional” – I was prepared for the wind picking up by mid-morning but I was NOT prepared for the big thunderheads that formed over us or the thunder or the downpour that sent us scurrying to close nets early.
It’s interesting isn’t it how the forces of evil conspire to make your life difficult? When the wind increased it blew leaves off the all-too-complicit walnut trees and began filling the nets – just about the time the rain broke. So closing nets was a slow process, drenching rain notwithstanding…..and Mother Nature just laughed.
Up until the wind picked up we were getting good numbers and nice variety as well as a host (18) of retraps – many being migrants that were staying over to put on some fat.
Banded 31:
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
4 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
2 Gray-cheeked Thrushes
1 Philadelphia Vireo
1 Tennessee Warbler
1 Nashville Warbler
1 Northern Parula
2 Magnolia Warblers
6 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Bay-breasted Warbler
2 Blackpoll Warblers
1 Common Yellowthroat
2 Song Sparrows
3 White-throated Sparrows
1 American Goldfinch
ET’s: 51 spp.
Rick