Howdy all,
Well, as it stands right now, we still have not had any rain here on the
Eastern shore of VA NWR and only a very brief but hard shower at the Kiptopeke
State Park. We could sure use some rain here.
Anyway, since it wasn't raining this morning we had some nets open. Seems the
birds knew that. We only banded 12 today. Seems we are in a rout.
Even though the numbers have been way low, the quality of the birds has been
great! Today we caught a BAY-BREASTED WARBLER! A species that has been on the
low side over the last seven years. This one was only the 6th one to be banded
here since the 2001 season. So that was a treat. On the bummer side of that
however was that this bird was very skinny with no fat. Not a very healthy bird
at all. In fact, the most unhealthy bird we have had all season. The other
birds we caught today (if they were migrants) were all very fat. A much better
sign.
I have posted pictures of some of these on the CVWO blog. Check them out!??
www.cvwo.org
Yesterday evening there were a lot of PURPLE MARTINS flying around the refuge.
Had 48 sitting in a tree near the house.
Here are the banding totals for 8/29:
American Redstart???????????? 2
Black & white Warbler??????? 3
Bay-breasted Warbler???????? 1
Worm-eating Warbler????????? 1
Carolina Chickadee???????????? 1
White-eyed Vireo??????????????? 1
Red-eyed Vireo?????????????????? 1
Carolina Wren???????????????????? 2
TOTAL------------------------------ 12
Next few days don't look all that good for catching birds. Need another front
(north winds) to go through and then some calm days after that! Kind of tired
of all the wind we have been having. We have not run some of the nets in almost
a week now. Hard to catch birds if the nets are closed!!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Cheers,
Jethro Runco
Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory
