No luck catching a Baltimore Oriole...

The day started out slow with little song from the birds. It was cool in the 40’s and by 10:00 AM the temperatures warmed up seemingly to activate the birds. There were a lot of Myrtle Warblers and Western Palm Warblers everywhere. Again we had a few Baltimore Orioles singing but no luck with catching one. We have caught some very old orioles in past years and I am waiting on their return.

For the day we caught 208 new banded birds including 27 recaptures with highlights of a Scarlet Tanager female, Prothonotary Warbler, and two more Sharp-shinned Hawks. Nine Sharp-shinned Hawks have made a record catch for the history of the project. Twenty-six species were banded today including 13 species of warblers.

Top 7 species:
Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler - 100
Western Palm Warbler - 39
Yellow Warbler - 12
Gray Catbird - 9
Red-winged Blackbird - 8
White-throated Sparrow!!!** - 6
Ovenbird - 6

*** Of course we had some White-throated Sparrow recaptures!!! Their song is pretty but those little beaks still bite. However, most of the males are up north so there is little singing going on around here.

Enjoy Spring!