I thought before the close of 2009, I would summarize some of the highlights of the year. If this blog has made you a better birdwatcher, or ornithologist, or increased your appreciation of birds, then I have accomplished what I have set out to do. Many thanks to you the readers and commenters, be you anonymous or otherwise.
Here are my highlights and of course there are many but I will keep them brief.
How about this bird?!!!:
You can't deny that seeing a Chuck-will's-widow in the hand
is not a GREAT bird!
How else would you know that it had this cool modified toe
for sleeking its whiskers?!
My best experiences are with sharing the information we learn about these magnificent songbirds with the visitors of all ages. It is a great feeling to see the "light bulb" come on when they realize the amazing things these small creatures must deal with in a year, or to see a big smile from a teenager who has never seen a Blackburnian Warbler!
Another highlight of the year was the half a millionth bird banded under Mark Shieldcastle's banding permit during the fall migration monitoring project for the Observatory. What an accomplishment for Mark. What a year! This Blackpoll Warbler made more than the data records, it marked a milestone.
Let us celebrate the year with a few of my bird friends!
Take a look at this photo and tell me what two birds I have pictured:
With only the heads can you tell they are a Hermit Thrush and a Swainson's Thrush? The Swainson's has the buffy eye ring. The Swainson's Thrush also has more buff color on its throat and chest than the Hermit Thrush.
Enjoy the rest of fall and occsionally I will post some aging and other ID tips throughout the winter. When we do some birdfeeder netting I may post some pictures then as well.
This is a quiz bird from behind... My friend Dave Lewis can appreciate this bird since he takes the best bird behind pictures. The tail feathers (retrices) are coming in symmetrically from both sides. Symmetrical molt tells us it is an adult without looking at other feather features. Hatching year birds grow their feathers in all at once. Note the yellow tips on the retrices. 
Here is the front view! A Cedar Waxwing to brighten the day! A black throat indicates it is a male. Not all waxwings have wax on their wings. Most times it is age related as to how many wax tips they have.
Here is a nice looking male Rusty Blackbird on the left with a female on the right. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the male has dark irridescent feathers and the female is gray. You can see how the rust edging on the bird will wear away by spring and leave the nice irridescent feathers of the male or gray feathers on the female.
Above is an adult male Blackpoll Warbler. Note all the many defining black streaks on its back and upper tail coverts. The shadow on the rump makes it difficult to see the rump but this is a diagnostic characteristic in the fall for sexing Blackpolls. There are also other characteristics such as wing chord and aging by the primary coverts. (P.S. I hope you positively ID'd this warbler before I told you!)
Which one above is a "Blue-head"? Here is a Nashville Warbler on the left with its eye ring, gray head, yellow breast, and no wing bars or tail spots. The right bird is a Blue-headed Vireo with its "blue" head (I would call it gray), white spectacles and wing bars. There is also a size difference with the beaks too.
And because I like the curved-billed birds, here are the Carolina Wren and Brown Creeper. Enjoy the warm days. It looks like by the weekend the Fox Sparrows should arrive in better numbers.
I had heard them a couple days ago. Rusty Blackbirds received their name because of the rusty tipped feathers on their head and chest. This coloration wears away by spring and leaves the iridescent black of the male Rusty and the duller gray of the female. The Rusty Blackbird is the same size and shape of the well known Red-winged Blackbird. This is what I wanted to show in this picture but asking two birds to cooperate at the same time is like asking two kids to behave for pictures. It usually does not happen.
If you look at the alula feather (thumb feather) you can see it is duller brown and off color from the greater coverts. This tells you it is a hatching year bird.
The strong northeast winds kept the beach nets closed today.
The bird on the right is a Nashville Warbler with its gray head, distictive eye ring, and bright yellow breast. The other bird is the quiz bird for the day. I gave you this bird a week or so ago and mentioned that it will come back to help you remember or refresh your memory. Here is the left bird from the top if that helps. 
Can you see how camouflaged it is from above. No accipiter will see this bird flying overhead. See below and note the pattern on its chest. The gray streaking helps give it away to me with the split eye ring. Here is the side view of the bird with yellow undertail coverts. 
Some of these species we are seeing need to head south! The weekend sounds good for being outside so I hope you can take some time to enjoy the outdoors.
I may have to admit that it is getting close to the tail end of fall songbird migration. The species diversity went way down today. Only five species of warbler were seen including Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, American Redstart, and Common Yellowthroat. Before I give in, I will have to see what tomorrow will bring. A northwest wind is in the forecast. If that holds true, it may be a pleasant day for birds.
If ever you need an opportunity to laugh or smile just look at a kinglet. I think they can make anyone smile. Enjoy the day!
Can you tell what it is? Sorry about you folks who are colorblind. There is some blue on the wings and tail. That was probably a big hint.
As you can see, there is more outside than one would expect for October. Nine species of warbler today were seen including Nashville, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Myrtle, Blackpoll, Ovenbird, Mourning, and Common Yellowthroat. Also another highlight was our 3rd Marsh Wren for the fall season! Enjoy!
This time of the fall colorful birds are hard to find so enjoy!
Just remember I gave you the name of this bird. A picture of this species may appear in a later posting so take note of the field marks. Best of all, make sure they are the field marks that work for you to identify the species. I use the split eye ring, and yellowish breast with the faint gray streaks. Of course it has yellow undertail coverts which definitely differentiates it from the Tennessee Warbler which has white undertail coverts. Some think the O-C has a line through its eye not seeing the split eye ring. It is a pretty bland looking bird because it has no wing bars or tail spots. Otherwise it is a nice looking green color if I do say myself. 
Whatever you do, please do not rely on seeing the orange patch on its head. The orange patch is more prevalent on a male and then it is not so obvious on most. Use other characteristics to help you ID the Orange-crowned.
Take special note of the face pattern… It looks the same in spring and fall. Remember it has wing bars.
Here is an interesting looking bird. It looks like it had lost its original facial feathers to mites of something and they grew in without pigment on this Common Grackle. Doesn't htis bird look evil?!
One of the highlights of the day:
A hatching year Sharp-shinned Hawk with its vertical breast streaks and yellow eye.
Tomorrow is forecasted for rain so we shall see if the weather persons know what they are talking about. The weekend should be good once the rain leaves Saturday morning.
It was a cool morning in the marsh. These are signs of colder days I am afraid. With the colder weather comes other great birds, so I will look forward to that. The highlights for the day should tell you what a day it was! These include a Scarlet Tanager, Yellow-throated Vireo, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and another Connecticut Warbler. Take a look at this bird! A beautiful sight! A nice hooked bill to attack a few caterpillars!
One hundred sixty birds new banded and a bazillion recaptures—only 88, but who is counting! I guess the birds like it here. Most of the recaptures were Blackpoll Warblers and thrushes. Since the birds have been low on fat reserves it makes sense to stay around a while to fatten up before leaving. If the food is good why leave?
The Scarlet Tanager was an adult male. See its black wings? They are all black including the primary coverts. No brown primary coverts like a hatching year bird would have.
Another highlight was this quiz bird: See its diagnostic green triangle on its back. For those of you that are color blind, you should still see the triangle on its back.
