Best bird of the day - Blackburnian Warbler...

The winds were favorable from the southwest today but threat of rain slowed down the banding process. From what I heard, there was greater species diversity at the Magee Marsh boardwalk than in Navarre. It was pretty quiet here with not much singing in spite of the good wind direction. Of the few being vocal, Baltimore Orioles serenaded us throughout the morning but none gave us a personal close-up view nor did they want to be banded. Their song was beautiful none the less. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak did not show up until after it began raining. I think it was taunting us from high up in the trees!

Regardless of the rain we had some good birds! Two Sharp-shinned hawks graced us with their presence. Unfortunately a White-crowned Sparrow did not zig when it should have zagged and a Sharpy chased it into the net! The Sharpy did not get away without a band. Before it rained we managed to capture 87 new birds and 28 recaptures in 4.5 hours. Most of the recaptures were White-throated Sparrows. Twenty-five species were captured in the nets including 11 warbler species.

Highlights for the day are Sharp-shinned Hawks and the best warbler was a Blackburnian Warbler!

Blackburnian Warbler

Top 6 species for the day are:
Gray Catbird - 15
White-throated Sparrow - 10
Ovenbird - 7
Yellow Warbler - 6
Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler - 5
Wood Thrush - 5

Enjoy Spring!