Howdy all,
FINALLY the birds have shown up at First Landing SP! This morning was one of
those special mornings, when you walk in before sunrise and you can here
birds all over the place, knowing that it's going to be a great day! And it
was.
To start off with, huge numbers (hundreds) of WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS and
GRAY CATBIRDS littered the trails this morning on the walk in. Biggest flocks I
have seen since the banding has started. So I was pumped for the day to start.
The first net run had 41 birds alone. Some of the better birds caught today
include VEERY, LOUISIANA and NORTHERN WATERTHRUSHES, WOOD THRUSH, lots of
BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS and our first BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLERS of the
season.
However my highlight of the day was the capture of a beautiful male
CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER. I have never banded a spring Chestnut-sided so I was
totally in
awe! Wow!
Other birds that showed up overnight include ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK and
SUMMER TANAGER. We have not seen either one yet this spring. Also more
BALTIMORE
ORIOLES showed up. Plenty of Black-and-white Warblers around but also heard
BLACK-THROATED GREENS, HOODED, OVENBIRD, and PROTHONOTARY.
But as good as the morning was, it was all too short lived. After our 8:30am
net run we caught 5 (yes, five) birds the rest of the morning. We ended the
day with a total of 61 birds banded.
Here are the totals:
Prairie Warbler 2
Northern Parula 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1 first of the season, We didn't catch
any last year
Black-and-white Warbler 7
Common Yellowthroat 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 2
Northern Waterthrush 1
Louisiana Waterthrush 1
House Wren 1
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 6 how disappointing!! They were
everywhere!
Wood Thrush 1
Veery 1 first of the season
Gray Catbird 29 that's more like it
Common Grackle 1
TOTAL ---------------------------------- 61
Now if they will only be around tomorrow morning as well!!!
Cheers,
Jethro Runco
