Pictorial_Highlights

PICTORIAL HIGHLIGHTS, WEEK OF 5/1-5/6/01

Although breezy conditions greatly reduced our capture rate, especially toward afternoon, we were nonetheless able to share the experience of banding and collecting data for a Red-winged Blackbird (an easily recognized adult male, not a puzzling female like the "quiz bird" photo under the comments for 5/4!), a male Common Yellowthroat, female Yellow Warbler, Nashville Warbler, and American Redstart, a Chipping Sparrow, and a Least Flycatcher. Earlier in the day we banded four new species for the spring: Veery (photo below; compare with Swainson's Thrush photo under comments for 5/4), Chestnut-sided Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, and Indigo Bunting.

Two new "species" banded for the season on 5/5--a Philadlephia Vireo (photo below left) and a best-fit "Lawrence's" Warbler, the rarer of the two hybrid forms (the other being the commoner "Brewster's" Warbler) resulting from interbreeding of Blue-winged and Golden-winged warblers. The bird (photo below right), an ASY male, did not have the plumage of a classical Lawrence's Warbler, with fully yellow underparts and double white wing bars. The plumage of both hybrid forms, however, is quite variable. The bird we banded closely resembles the middle of three illustrated Lawrence's Warblers in the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America.

Continued unseasonably hot and dry on 5/4. Banding results a little better than yesterday--four new species banded for the spring, including Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-breasted Nuthatch (photo below left; always an unexpected but welcome catch for us--we've banded just 14 in spring in 40 years), Swainson's Thrush (photo, below right), and Orange-crowned Warbler. Although we regularly band small numbers of them in the fall (to see a picture from last fall

click here), OCWA is another rare spring catch for us--we've banded only 33 in spring in 40 years and none since 1998.

The picture below is a quiz bird--see if you know what it is, then check to make sure your guess is listed among the birds banded on this date.

Unseasonably hot, dry spring weather on 5/3 continued to depress our capture rate and shorten our banding days at a time of year when we look forward to catching a hundred or more birds in a day, including wood warblers by the dozen!

In contrast to our recent rather poor banding results, the forests surrounding our banding area are well-populated by migrant and returning resident wood warblers and other neotropical migrants. One possible explanation:

On warm, dry days like those we've been experiencing, the rapidly unfurling leaves in the forest canopy provide an abundance of productive foraging sites, and the vast majority of insectivorous birds feed out of range of our mist nets.
On cooler, wetter spring days, these same birds will usually find more productive foraging at lower levels along the forest edges and in the wet brushy habitats bordering the small streams and ponds where most of our nets are located.

Of course, some species, like the Lincoln's Sparrow (below), prefer the brushy habitats where our nets are placed, regardless of the weather.

Following a clear, mild night with light southwesterly winds, it became sunny and unseasonably warm on 5/1. We banded three new species for the spring: Least Flycatcher, Magnolia Warbler, and Lincoln's Sparrow. This is a rather late arrival date for the flycatcher and sparrow, both of which often are banded at Powdermill during the last week or ten days of April.

The photo (below left) of one of four LEFLs we banded today shows off the characteristic bill morphology of many flycatchers--the dorso-ventrally flattened maxilla and mandible, wide gape, and prominent rictal bristles (the small, hair-like feathers projecting out from either side of the base of the bill). Both of the MAWAs that we banded (below right), were brightly colored ASY males.

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