Well, it looks as though migration is definately winding down. After a
record setting three
days last weekend, this Friday we only banded 20 new birds. The Northern
Waterthrushes seem
to have moved on and the only warblers we caught in quantity were female
Common Yellowthroats.
Some of them had good amounts of fat which indicates they are planning on
moving on. Our best
catch of the day was an entire Bluebird family - Daddy, Mommie and two kids.
After they were
banded we carefully released them all at once so that they could stay
together. Also notable
today was the presence of 150+ Cedar Waxwings in the trees around the
station. Alas, they
stayed up there and we caught not a one. Tomorrow is the first day of MAPS
(Monitoring
Avian Productivity and Survivorship) at Mason Neck. We run two banding
stations out there which are opened once every 20 days. Unfortunately these
stations are not in areas open to the public
but I will keep the list informed of our doings. One thing we have
discovered when
setting up the stations this last week is that there are plenty of Wild
Turkeys out there. The
damage a Turkey can do to a mist net does not bear thinking on, so we will
keep out fingers
crossed that they stay out of the nets. Cheers, Joanna
Joanna B. Taylor
Arlington, VA
jandrtaylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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