Hot, humid and hazy throughout the morning. But the birds weren’t complaining. There was a lot of activity around the site – not a lot of singing but lots of activity. For example, I heard only 2 Yellow Warblers but banded 16 and retrapped 2. All 16 were young birds, and just add to the already impressive total of young Yellow Warblers we’ve done in the last 3 weeks or so. The shrubby second growth at Ruthven seems to be highly attractive to this species and they breed here in large numbers. Many also return year after year. The young birds are all moulting body feathers and wing coverts. Any adult birds caught (one retrap) are going through a  complete moult – replacing all their feathers including wing and tail feathers. But they’re almost done and as soon as they are they’ll be off south.

Banded 47:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
4 Black-capped Chickadees
2 White-breasted Nuthatches
2 House Wrens
1 Carolina Wren (first for the year)
1 Wood Thrush
4 Gray Catbirds
1 Warbling Vireo
16 Yellow Warblers
4 Common Yellowthroats
2 Chipping Sparrows
5 Song Sparrows
1 Baltimore Oriole
1 American Goldfinch

Retrapped 13:
2 Black-capped Chickadees
1 Gray Catbird
2 Yellow Warblers
1 Common Yellowthroat
4 Song Sparrows
3 American Goldfinches

Rick