Well, today was the freeze the banders day at Occoquan. Even though the sun
was out that
cold wind seemed to whoosh right through the banding pavilion. In spite of
that we had a
pretty good day starting off with a nice flight of PALM and YELLOW-RUMPED
WARBLERS. In
addition we caught a WINTER WREN and our third HERMIT THRUSH. On the more
usual suspect
side of things we recaptured two CAROLINA WRENS, one of which was banded in
2005, and a
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW which we banded last year. It is always nice to see
old friends again,
especially the migratory ones. On one of the early runs a very handsome
WILD TURKEY ran
down the hill towards the boardwalk which leads to the new overlook blind
near the station.
The refuge staff told us that they are expecting the numbers of turkeys and
quail to increase
since the arrival of coyotes on the refuge. It seems the coyotes pick off
the smaller
predators such as foxes and racoons that prey on eggs and hatchlings.
Interesting. Complete
results will follow early next week.
Joanna B. Taylor
Arlington, VA
jandrtaylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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