[va-richmond-general] MAPS banding update

July 12 and 20th were good days at the MAPS (monitoring avian productivity and 
survivorship) banding station in the Powhatan Wildlife Management Area.  We 
banded 41 birds and recaptured 5 from previous sessions.  Birds banded for the 
two session, by species and number banded, were:

black and white warbler  4
hooded warbler  4
common yellowthroat 1
yellow-breasted chat  2
prairie warbler 1
ovenbird  5
white-eyed vireo  2
red-eyed vireo  4
Kentucky warbler  1
acadian flycatcher  4
blue gray gnatcher 1
indigo bunting  2
American goldfinch  2
eastern tufted titmouse 3
Carolina wren 1
wood thrush  1
downy woodpecker  3

In addition, 2 red-eyed vireos, 1 yellow-breasted chat, 1 indigo bunting and 1 
white-eyed vireo were recaptured from earlier sessions.

 Young birds (born this season) are now the majority of the birds caught (25 of 
 the 41 banded) as they complete their pre-migration molt, and their mobility 
and dispersal range increases.  In many species, once this molt is complete, it 
is difficult or impossible to distinguish these young birds from adults in the 
field (as opposed to in-the-hand).  For example, it is very common for young 
males and adult females
to look essentially identical through binoculars.  Indigo buntings in 
August-October and American redstarts throughout the fall and spring represent 
two such cases.

Finally, at the July 12th session we were happy to host Bob Mulvihill and Mike 
Lanzone of the Carnegie Museum's Powdermill Banding Station (located in the 
mountains of western Pennsylvania).  Bob is one of the top authorities in the 
U.S. on molt patterns, and he and Mike are under a contract from Princeton 
University Press to develop a multi-volume photographic guide to the aging and 
sexing of North American birds
with an emphasis on the use of molt.  The first volume is to cover the wood 
warblers, and Bob and Mike were at the station to get plumage photos, 
especially of  chats and prairie warblers.  Fortunately, were we able to 
accommodate them, and, at the same time, expand our own knowledge of molt 
patterns through the interaction.  A special target species of their visit was 
the prothonotary warbler, and they chose Dutch
Gap as the place to best provide them with coverage of the plumage differences 
by age class and sex in that species.  More on how that adventure went is 
included in a separate email update on the prothonotary project at Dutch Gap.  
At the end of this week they are headed to Arizona to photograph red-faced and 
olive warblers. The volume on wood warblers is scheduled for completion in 2005.

Bob Reilly



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