Pictorial Highlights

August 1 - November 5, 2017 During the Fall of 2017 we captured 9,341 birds (6,602 new birds and 2,739 recaps). Leading the top-ten list of newly-banded birds (by a wide margin) were Swaison's Thrushes (pictured)-- we banded 608 birds of this species, well above our 56-year average of 229. The rest of the top-ten species were: Magnolia Warbler (495), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (446), American Goldfinch (388), Song Sparrow (280), Gray Catbird (274), Ruby-throated Hummingbird (243), and Red-eyed … [Read more...] about 2017 Fall

June - July 2017 Summer is our shortest banding season of the year, and we run a modified effort with our nets so that we are not daily interrupting our resident breeders. We opened nets on 26 days in this period and captured just over 1,000 birds, with 666 birds banded across 64 species and 364 recaptures. Since it is the breeding season, it was not surprising that almost half (48%) of our newly-banded birds were juveniles like the Blue Jay (above) and Eastern Towhee pictured here. Our … [Read more...] about 2017 Summer

March 1 - May 31, 2017 This Spring we banded 2,643 birds and processed another 1,179 recaptured birds for a total of 3,822. By the end of the season our species list for newly-banded birds totaled 98 with Cedar Waxwings as the clear winner for the most frequently banded species. We banded 771 Cedar Waxwings , all of them in May, over just 23 banding days. That's more than twice as many as we've ever banded in the spring, the next closest being 372 in 2012! Cedar … [Read more...] about 2017 Spring

August 1 - November 6 This Fall we banded 6,597 birds across 105 species. We processed another 2,746 recaps, bringing our season total to 9,343 captures. Our top 10 species for this season made up over half of all new birds banded (53%): Swainson’s Thrush (593); Ruby-crowned Kinglet (499); Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler (408); American Goldfinch (396); Magnolia Warbler (309); Gray Catbird (300); Ruby-throated Hummingbird (290); Red-eyed Vireo (240); Common Yellowthroat (230); Cedar Waxwing … [Read more...] about 2016 Fall

June - July 2016 We opened our nets for a total of 27 days over these two summer months and banded 1,112 new birds. We processed another 409 recaptured birds for a total of 1,521. Our most common bird was a bit of a surprise this season-- we banded 270 Cedar Waxwings, well over our recent 5-year average of 85 per summer. The rest of our top 10 list included many local breeders: Gray Catbird (218), American Redstart (95), Red-eyed Vireo (83), Common Yellowthroat (81, pictured), Song Sparrow … [Read more...] about 2016 Summer

March 1 - May 31, 2016 This Spring we were able to band on 61 days over the three month period. We encountered 3,645 birds of 104 different species (2,301 new and 1,344 recaptures). Our top ten species of newly banded birds for the season were: Ruby-crowned Kinglet (365), Cedar Waxwing (261), Magnolia Warbler (226), Ruby-throated Hummingbird (91), Gray Catbird (77), American Goldfinch (66), Dark-eyed Junco (66), Nashville Warbler … [Read more...] about 2016 Spring