• Sunday, May 26, 2002:  Today we banded 100 or more birds for the eleventh time this spring.  Our catch today was again dominated by Cedar Waxwings (28 banded) and Red-eyed Vireos (19).  Our heavy catch of these two species over the last few days likely reflects, at least in part, the recent emergence of the 17-year cicada at Powdermill.   Countless thousands of these red-eyed insects are present  in the immediate vicinity of many of our net lanes, and waxwings, vireos and many other species of birds will feed voraciously on this all-you-can-eat bug buffet well into June.  As of today, most of the cicadas were still sitting still on the vegetation where they have recently crawled up and shed their nymphal skins, but soon they will begin swarming and they and their loud, incessant droning chorus will fill the air.

• Perhaps the lure of cicadas also played a role in the capture (finally!) of our first Scarlet Tanagers of the spring  (three total, one of them being this feisty second year male).

• We also banded our first Yellow-billed Cuckoo of the season today.

• The elusive YBCU is much more often heard than seen (and only rarely successfully caught in the small mesh mist nets that we use at Powdermill), but when it is glimpsed from underneath, perched up high in a tree, its distinctive large white tail spots serve to distinguish it from the similar Black-billed Cuckoo.

• Also, when a cuckoo is seen slipping quickly past you on the wing at this season, bright rufous wing feathers will identify it as a Yellow-billed.

• Saturday, May 25, 2002:

 
• Tops among the 102 birds banded today were Cedar Waxwing (35 banded) and Red-eyed Vireo (10).   We banded two new species for the spring, a Spotted Sandpiper, which did not cooperate with the photographers, and an Eastern Kingbird, which did (thanks to Brian Jones for taking this nice photo and the cicada photo above).

• Friday, May 24, 2002:

 
• More evidence that we are in the midst this week of the transition between spring migration and the nesting season--although we are still banding late migrants like Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and Wilson's, Canada, and Mourning warblers, we banded our second flighted hatching year songbird of the season, a not-too-happy looking juvenile Carolina Wren (actually, two of them).

• Thursday, May 23, 2002:

 
• Cedar Waxwings (17 banded) topped the banding list today.  No new species were banded, but we caught our first flighted hatching year songbirdof the season, a juvenile Song Sparrow.

• Wednesday, May 22, 2002:

 
• Banding today was characterized by low capture rate (16 birds/100 net-hours) but high species diversity (24 species), considering the comparatively small number of birds banded (51).  Two new species were added to our spring banding list:  Acadian Flycatcher and American Woodcock.

 
• The AMWO captures were unusual in that we netted two of these crepuscular birds (most active at dawn and dusk) during our lunch hour (a third bird flushed up with these two but did not hit the net).   When we got the birds back to the lab for banding and processing, it was apparent that they represented a young bird of the year (our first flighted hatching year, or HY, bird to band this spring) and its mother (a second year, or SY, female).  The size difference between the adult and its three-quarters grown young (which still had traces of natal down on its head; photo below) was exaggerated by the fact that the young bird was a male (AMWO, like many other shorebirds, have reversed sexual size dimorphism, with males being smaller than females).  The mother and her one banded young were quickly returned to the spot where they were caught, so the brood could be reunited.

Measurements for the two birds pictured below (adult female on left, juvenal male on right) were as follows:  wing length (flattened), 139.5 millimeters (SY-F), 127.0 mm (HY-M); bill length (exposed culmen), 70.5 mm (SY-F), 53.0 mm (HY-M); body mass, 186.7 grams (SY-F), 116.6 g (HY-M).

• Tuesday, May 21, 2002:

 
• No new species were banded today, but the day's catch provided us with "photo ops"  for nice comparisons between

 
• After second year male (left photos below ) and second year male (right photos below) Baltimore Oriole
• Gray-cheeked (top photo) and Swainson's Thrush (bottom photo)
• and Philadelphia Vireo and Tennessee Warbler