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 (57), White-throated Sparrow (53) and Yellow Warbler (52).
The Cedar Waxwing pictured here was an after-second-year male with very well-formed red tips on all secondaries as well as yellow tips on most of its primary flight feathers. We thought an individual so particularly handsome would be a good start for our pictorial highlights.
Less common, this adult Lincoln's Sparrow banded on April 30 was one of just seven we banded this Spring.
This is a species that one might confuse with the Song Sparrow, so we've included them both here for a comparison.
Note that although each has a streaked breast, the Lincoln's Sparrow has a buffy band across the breast. And although the head patterns are similar, the Lincoln's Sparrow has more gray at the nape.