Nancy patiently guiding Alessandra through the banding of her first hummingbird.
While the folks on the Texas coast are battening down the hatches in anticipation of Hurricane Harvey, we’re soaking up this beautiful late Summer weather. The recent front got rid of the humidity and dropped the temperature – I’m lovin’ it (although more unsettled weather would bring more banding action). You can feel the Fall though: crickets buzzing; Blue Jays (on the move) blasting their clarion calls as they pass or mob hiding raptors; cormorants heading south in nice, neat V’s; chip notes of long-distance warblers in the trees; grapes ripening on the vines. It’s a wonderful time of year. This afternoon the wind shifted to a more northerly direction and it’s supposed to be fairly cool tonight – 2 factors urging on small bird migration.
August 24th; Banded 44:
2 Black-billed Cuckoos
1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Banded hummer; note the tiny band!
2 Traill’s flycatchers
3 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 House Wren
2 Gray Catbirds
1 Warbling Vireo
1 Blue-winged Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler.
1 Blackburnian Warbler
1 Canada Warbler
5 Common Yellowthroats
1 Wilson’s Warbler
3 Song Sparrows
20 Bobolinks
Bobolinks have been dropping down into the Butterfly Meadow and Field to look things over and we’ve been able to catch a number of them. Marvellous birds…..on their way to Argentina! -AAW
ET’s: 53 spp.
August 25th; Banded 34:
1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
1 Great Crested Flycatcher
2 Black-capped Chickadees
2 House Wrens
1 Blue-grey Gnatcatcher
1 Gray Catbird
1 Cedar Waxwing
2 Red-eyed Vireos
1 Blue-winged Warbler
Young male Chestnut-sided Warbler. -AAW
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
1 Magnolia Warbler
1 Ovenbird
1 Northern Waterthrush
6 Song Sparrows
11 Bobolinks
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
ET’s: 49 spp.
Photos:
Ben with one of over 35 Bobolinks he’s banded.
Black-billed Cuckoo comparison: juvenile (left – with yellow eye-ring) and adult (right with red eye-ring). -BGO
Black-billed Cuckoo comparison: juvenile (left) and adult (right). -BGO
Ruby-throated Hummingbird. -AAW
An adult female Indigo Bunting – the blue is barely discernible. -AAW
Alessandra with her first banded hummingbird.
Newcomer Callum with his first banded bird – a Song Sparrow.
Rick