Howdy all,
The last two days have been kind of down the middle of the road for us here at
the banding station. Not catching a ton of birds but we are catching birds.
Sometimes you can't be to picky, mostly in August. Another bright spot has been
the excellent visitors we have had to the station this weekend. Many of them
were totally into it and asked some really good questions! It is always a treat
to meet those that show sincere interest and marvel and the abilities of these
little birds to travel so far without a map! ha ha
Although we had move visitors than birds, I think most visitors left with a bit
of a better understanding of the habitat here on the shore and migration in
general. And the birds were not too bad either. Yesterday we banded 13, but
that included a YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, a few AMERICAN REDSTARTS, and an early
(at least for the banding station) SONG SPARROW. Today was a bit more diverse.
We caught 9 REDSTARTS, a BLACK-AND WHITE WARBLER, a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, and a
YELLOW WARBLER. But the biggest surprise of the day (and I mean that in a crazy
way) we caught a YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO that had an egg in the oviduct! That
means, its getting ready to lay an egg soon! We wished her good luck and sent
her on her way.
Here are the totals.
8/16:
American Redstart??????? 3
Traill's Flycatcher????????? 1?????? (that's either a Willow or Alder
Flycatcher)
Carolina Wren?????????????? 3
Song Sparrow?????????????? 1
Northern Cardinal?????????? 1
Northern Mockingbird???? 3
Yellow-billed Cuckoo????? 1
TOTAL ---------------------?? 13?
8/17:
American Redstart??????????? 9
Black & white Warbler?????? 1
Northern Waterthrush???????? 1
Yellow Warbler????????????????? 1
Carolina Chickadee??????????? 1
Traill's Flycatcher?????????????? 1
Red-eyed Vireo????????????????? 1
Carolina Wren??????????????????? 3
Blue Grosbeak?????????????????? 1
Northern Cardinal??????????????? 2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo?????????? 1
TOTAL -----------------------???? 22
Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Cheers,
Jethro Runco
Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory
