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Friday, October 11, 2013
It has been a bad year for what I believe is avian pox on young birds. We have seen so many birds with it on their legs, feet, or bills. Some years we hardly see it at all. This young female Baltimore Oriole had a badly deformed bill, her upper mandible was quite short and veered off to the left.
The lower mandible was split in two. She was a healthy weight though so she must have been able to eat enough to keep her going.
Looking at her wing you can see the molt limit. She molted her first 3 greater coverts, a typical pattern of molt in HY birds of this species. They are longer and darker than the other greater coverts.
The same day we captured a Common Yellowthroat with just one eye, maybe due to Mycoplasmosis, another avian disease. It is amazing how resilient these guys are with deformities.
On the 6th we caught a Blackpoll Warbler, not the earliest date for this species in the fall, but we normally start catching them a bit later.
The 7th brought in a female HY (hatch year) Black-throated Blue Warbler with her distinctive white patch at the base of the primaries,
and our first of the year Nashville Warbler, an adult female.
She had a few rufous feathers on her crown, which was grayish and didn't contrast too much with her back.
A hatch year male Hairy Woodpecker was banded on the 8th, he was molting his body feathers and his red cap was moving to the back of his head. For those non birders you can tell a Hairy Woodpecker from a Downy Woodpecker by the length of the bill, the bill is as long as the head (see arrows).
We had Marsh Wrens on the 12th and 14th. Such pretty birds.
Marsh Wrens do an incomplete molt as first year birds, molting outer primary and inner secondary feathers. You can see the difference between the brown retained primaries and the darker gray replaced primaries.
Also banded on the 14th was a Traill's Flycatcher
and our first Western Palm Warbler of the season.
35 people attended our banding demo on the 15th and were treated to close up looks of numerous species of birds including a Connecticut Warbler, a highly secretive bird that we normally band only once or twice a year,
a Veery, a type of thrush
and a young male Wilson's Warbler, our first for this fall season
sporting a rather extensive black cap. Young males have quite a bit of green edging to the black feathers.
The third week in September brought in another bird we don't band often, a Cape May Warbler,
and our first for the fall, a Lincoln's Sparrow.
Ronald was excited to get one of his favorite birds on the 23rd. We don't often appreciate their beauty because they are so common. When my aunt visited here for the first time from England she couldn't get enough of this species, a Blue Jay!
Here he is studying the wing to figure out the age.
By comparing the picture in our resource book, Identification Guide to North American Birds by Peter Pyle (banders just call the book Pyle) he was able to correctly identify it as a hatch year bird by the lack of any barring on the primary coverts.
On the 25th we were happy to have some firsts for the year- a Blue-headed Vireo,
a Yellow-breasted Chat, of which we've had very few this year,
and a hatch year male Scarlet Tanager. Young males lack the brilliant red body plumage he will have as an adult, but have very black wing coverts compared to the females with a more dusky coloration.
Scarlet Tanagers have a distinct tooth shape in the middle of their upper mandible lacking in Summer Tanagers.
The following day we had a Black-and-white Warbler
and our first fall Mourning Warbler.
Ron snuck in a picture with my camera of Jo-Anna trying to get a good photo of this little gem.
Although we had a slow start, September turned out well with a good variety of birds. Thanks to all who helped out this month (in order of volunteer hours):
Ronald Kielb, Jo-Anna Ghadban, Gretchen Putonen, Pat Kempel, Carolyn Kennedy, Yianni Laskaris, Karli Rogers, Carly Congdon, Keenan Yakola, Ellison Orcutt, Judith Bruce, and Alex Mueller.
The following is a list of birds seen, heard, or banded during the month of September.
Total birds: 845 Total species: 85
Total species of banded birds: 47 Birds/100 net-hours: 38
| Common Loon | |
| Double-crested Cormorant | |
| Great Blue Heron | |
| Canada Goose | |
| American Black Duck | |
| Turkey Vulture | |
| Osprey | |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | |
| Cooper's Hawk | |
| Red-tailed Hawk | |
| Rough-legged Hawk | |
| American Kestrel | |
| Black-bellied Plover | |
| Greater Yellowlegs | |
| Willet | |
| Sanderling | |
| Laughing Gull | |
| Ring-billed Gull | |
| Herring Gull | |
| Great Black-backed Gull | |
| Mourning Dove | |
| Great Horned Owl | |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | 30 new; 2 recaps |
| Belted Kingfisher | |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | |
| Downy Woodpecker | 2 new; 3 recaps |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 1 new; 1 recap |
| Yellow-shafted Flicker | 2 new |
| Yellow-bellied Flycatcher | 1 new |
| Traill's Flycatcher | 2 new |
| Eastern Phoebe | 7 new |
| Tree Swallow | |
| Barn Swallow | |
| Blue Jay | 2 new |
| American Crow | |
| Fish Crow | |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 22 new; 38 recaps; 2 unbanded |
| Tufted Titmouse | 17 new; 6 recaps |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | |
| Carolina Wren | 4 new; 10 recaps |
| House Wren | 5 new; 2 recaps; 1 unbanded |
| Marsh Wren | 3 new; 2 recaps; 1 unbanded |
| Eastern Bluebird | |
| Veery | 1 new |
| American Robin | 3 new |
| Gray Catbird | 226 new; 161 recaps; 8 unbanded |
| Northern Mockingbird | |
| Brown Thrasher | 1 unbanded |
| Cedar Waxwing | |
| European Starling | |
| Blue-headed Vireo | 1 new |
| Red-eyed Vireo | 13 new; 3 recaps; 1 unbanded |
| Nashville Warbler | 6 new; 1 recap |
| Yellow Warbler | 4 new |
| Cape May Warbler | 1 new |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 3 new |
| Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler | 3 new |
| Pine Warbler | |
| Prairie Warbler | 4 new; 1 unbanded |
| Yellow Palm Warbler | 3 new |
| Western Palm Warbler | 1 new |
| Blackpoll Warbler | 15 new; 1 recap; 1 unbanded |
| Black-and-white Warbler | 1 new |
| American Redstart | 2 new |
| Ovenbird | 2 new; 1 recap |
| Northern Waterthrush | 3 new |
| Connecticut Warbler | 1 new |
| Mourning Warbler | 1 new |
| Common Yellowthroat | 40 new; 18 recaps, 3 unbanded |
| Wilson's Warbler | 3 new; 1 recap |
| Yellow-breasted Chat | 1 new; 1 recap |
| Scarlet Tanager | 1 new |
| Northern Cardinal | 3 new; 2 recaps |
| Eastern Towhee | 9 new; 5 recaps |
| Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow | |
| Song Sparrow | 28 new; 33 recaps; 1 unbanded |
| Lincoln's Sparrow | 3 new; 1 recap |
| Swamp Sparrow | 2 new; 1 recap |
| Bobolink | |
| Red-winged Blackbird | |
| Common Grackle | |
| Baltimore Oriole | 2 new |
| House Finch | 1 new |
| American Goldfinch | 34 new; 1 recap; 1 unbanded |
| House Sparrow | 10 new |
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