There is never a bad day for birding after the first wave hits!

Usually spring starts out slow so we can get a footing on preparing for those “big” days but we have had to hit the ground running because the birds have been so numerous. Many thanks to the great volunteers who have kept up the pace. I sure hope they don’t wear out on me before June!

For a total of 4.5 hours with 23 mist nets, we captured 224 new birds and many recaptures from yesterday (54). The wind was not favorable to send them on their way so they stayed. The top two species White-throated Sparrow and Myrtle Warbler (Yellow-rumped) had substantial amount of fat. They were apparently hanging out for better winds. The wind is supposed to be southerly tonight and tomorrow so it may be the second pulse of birds from the first wave. Not that we have not had a lot of Myrtles already!

The highlights for the day were another Yellow Palm Warbler. Phil Chaon, our trusty intern said there was a Yellow Palm on the boardwalk yesterday afternoon too. Other highlights were Blackpoll Warbler (they are always good to see in spring!), Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and a female Rusty Blackbird. Sixteen species of warblers were observed on the Navarre Ridge site with nine species netted. It was interesting that none of yesterday’s Prothonotary Warblers were banded. We have 3-4 pair of them nesting on the banding site and those have not returned as of yet. Or if they have we have not netted them to check them in for another year! (It is like checking them into a motel. You have to make sure everyone is accounted for).

Top 6 species:
Myrtle Warbler - 79
White-throated Sparrow -55
Western Palm Warbler - 15
Swamp Sparrow - 9
Yellow Warbler - 7
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 7

Have a good Friday!

Myrtles, Myrtles, everywhere!

Today I assisted with our Wetland Investigation Network (WIN) school program at the Observatory. Kim Kaufman, Chris Knoll and I had the pleasure of teaching 70+ 2nd graders about bird migration. We captured a Rose-breasted Grosbeak which excited the kids!

At the Navarre banding site in 9.5 hours we banded 592 new birds and 42 recaptures. Fifteen warbler species netted with 17 species seen or heard on the site. In the strong east wind the Myrtle Warblers were thick! I heard they were also thick on the Magee Boardwalk. Highlights for the day were the first Prothonotary Warblers, Blackpoll Warbler, and another Yellow Palm Warbler. Observed on the site were also a Whip-poor-will and Pine Siskin.

Top 7 species:
Myrtle Warbler – 374
White-throated Sparrow – 52
Nashville Warbler – 33
Western Palm Warbler – 23
Red-winged Blackbird – 19
Yellow Warbler – 12
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 9

It has been a good year for Blue-gray Gnatcatchers!

We are not sure why the Myrtles were so numerous but apparently they gravitated to the beach ridges today for some reason. The temperatures were still cold with wind off the lake but that did not keep them away today! Maybe it was the good food resources?!

There is always something new to discover. Nature keeps reminding us of this.
Enjoy!

Yellow Palm Warbler brightens the day!

A balmy morning of 64 degrees and light south winds changed dramatically around 9 a.m. when the winds shifted off the lake. There was a 20 plus degree drop in temperature. Prior to the wind shift there were quite a few birds moving around. After 3 hours, cold rain eventually shut the operation down for the day. A short day but it brought our first Orange-crowned Warbler and an overflight warbler: Yellow Palm Warbler. Yellow Palm Warbler is the eastern coast race of Palm Warbler. Ohio usually sees Western Palm Warblers but occasionally in the first wave of birds we can get an eastern bird. Yellow Palm Warblers are all yellow from the chin to the tail.

Top 5 species:
White-throated Sparrow – 29 (no sign of the white-headed one)
Myrtle Warbler – 12
Swamp Sparrow – 9
Gray Catbird – 6
Hermit Thrush – 5

Can you see the Gray Catbird numbers increasing? They are on their way north! It is interesting that we caught a few Hermit Thrushes today. Yesterday we only caught one individual Hermit Thrush.

I heard that there was more variety of birds in town this morning. The birds had moved off the lake. For those of you wanting to see some birds when the wind is off the lake you might try one of the inland areas such as Toussaint or Little Portage Wildlife Areas.

Looking toward drier days… but we have been fortunate the past week. Spring usually brings showers.

Great finds on another southwester...

Today was a day to beat all days! The wind of course curtailed the nets from being 100% efficient at sampling the songbird migration. Gusts of 30 mph can cause this. Despite this weather aspect we netted 334 new birds with 9 recaptures. Forty-two species banded with 115 species seen and or heard on the beach ridge. Eighteen warblers were captured with another 23 species seen. The first Magnolia Warbler showed up. We will see plenty more of them in the next wave.

Five Hooded warblers were another prize for the day along with our first Blackpoll Warblers. There were so many highlights to mention. There was a lonely Winter Wren around. We have not seen one in several days. It had better get north with the rest of its kind.

Here is one of the most interesting birds we caught today: A White-throated Sparrow (WTSP). Are you all excited and wondering what is the big deal about a WTSP? This one will get attention so take a look. It has had something occur with the growth of the feathers on its head. I don’t think it is a partial leucistic bird but not sure since the lower mandible is slightly lighter colored. This bird had no color available when the feathers molted in. It also has the white symmetrical tertials as well. It is hard to say what happened here. If we could see what the bird looked like after another molt that might tell us something. Would it be a good quiz bird?

I wonder what this would have been called by birdwatchers? It would be identified correctly by most since it still had its yellow lores.

Another great find was our first Sharp-shinned Hawk for the season BUT it was already banded! That means that someone else banded it elsewhere! This is considered a foreign recovery. The number was entered on the Bird Banding Lab website and it said has not been reported yet. We will have to wait until the bander has reported his/her bands to find out where it was originally banded.

Top 6 species:
White-throated Sparrow – 97
Myrtle Warbler – 67
Western Palm Warbler – 39
Nashville Warbler – 16
Swainson’s Thrush – 16
Gray Catbird – 15

The weather is finally going to change for tomorrow. It was about time a cold front came through. Some are glad it waited until the weekend was over.

Enjoy the season!

Southerly winds continue to bring in the birds...

Another southerly wind, not as strong as Saturday, produced a couple new birds for the season. An ornithology class from Wittenburg University visited the research site today and they got a treat of a Yellow-throated Vireo and a Worm-eating Warbler. We caught 2 Worm-eating Warblers along with two drab looking female Pine Warblers. Other highlights include 4 Hooded Warblers. Sixteen species of warbler were seen on the site with 14 species captured.

Second-year Pine Warbler Female

One hundred seventy-one birds were netted including 10 recaptures AND our first returning birds arrived back today! These were a Yellow Warbler which was banded last May as a Second-year male and a Gray Catbird banded in spring of 2007 as an adult. Returning birds are those previously banded at the Navarre site and return to the same site at some other year. The Yellow Warbler has made one successful migration to and from its wintering grounds. The Gray Catbird is at least 3 years old. Since it was banded as an adult we don’t know exactly how old it was at the time of banding. That is pretty cool to know these small birds travel all that distance and return to the same location year after year!

Top six species:
Myrtle Warbler -34
White-throated Sparrow – 17
Swainson’s Thrush – 15
Nashville Warbler – 15
Nashville Warbler – 13
Western Palm Warbler – 10
Yellow Warbler – 10

The Swainson’s Thrush has taken over as the dominant thrush. Hermit Thrushes are fewer in numbers than they were on Friday.

Tomorrow is forcasted for yet another Southwester, so we shall see what it produces. It has been a great variety the past couple days.

Enjoy!

Soutwest winds continue to bring first wave birds...

Another southwest wind but stronger than yesterday. There were birds hopping, flying, and singing all over the place today. When the wind picked up to 30 mph it became hard to hear the songs and once again the efficiency of the nets was lower because of the wind.

A Kentucky Warbler was the highlight overflight warbler. Gray-cheeked Thrushes appeared today. Their cousin the Swainson’s Thrush tried to vie for the lead thrush today which they won over the Hermit Thrush numbers. Other highlights were another American Tree Sparrow still around and a favorite, the Chestnut-sided Warbler.

One hundred seventy-three species with 10 recaptures were netted involving 35 species. Fourteen warbler species banded with an additional 3 species heard or seen on the beach ridge. Ninety-two species were observed in the Navarre Marsh.

After a busy day of six hours of netting we began training a new set of volunteers to assist with the project. Besides new volunteer training, we also have a workshop to review project procedures before the season starts with past volunteers. I call them seasoned volunteers! This gets everyone up to speed and ready for days like today.

Another prize today was a female Hooded Warbler. Notice how large her beak is compared to her head. This is a drastic difference from any other “yellow” warbler.

A Black-and-White Warbler is always nice to see. Here you can see that it looks mighty fine even with its retained primary coverts. The dull brown coverts tell us that it is a second-year bird—hatched last summer.

Top 7 species:

Myrtle Warbler - 45

White-throated Sparrow - 22

Nashville Warbler - 13

Swainson's Thrush - 12

Yellow Warbler - 11

Hermit Thrush - 9

Western Palm Warbler - 8

Another southwest wind for tomorrow, so look out we are getting a special treat!
Enjoy the season!

The first wave of migrant songbirds has hit the region

If I was a betting person, I would have put some money on this being a good day! I should have said a Great Day! For a day in April I am sure it broke some records for bird species for some people’s list. Southwest winds kicked up throughout the day and you would have thought it was Christmas in April! The wind did curtail the effectiveness of the mist net. With the net stretched out from the wind, I saw many a birds bounce out of the net. Despite the wind we spent 6 hours monitoring migration capturing 327 new birds and 13 recaptures. Thirty-nine species of bird were netted including 13 species of warbler. Worm-eating Warbler was seen on the beach ridge.

It is obvious that the first wave of migrants were here. Dominant species of Hermit Thrush, Myrtle Warbler males, Ruby-crowned Kinglet males, White-throated Sparrows, and the subdominants including Nashville Warbler and Western Palm Warbler. Both tanagers were heard with us lucky to catch a Scarlet Tanager male. Boy, did he glow!

One of the unusual birds was this quiz bird. It is unusual because it is a female. It was the first day for this species on the site and it happened to be a female.

Another highlight is the Great Crested Flycatcher—notice its great crest and it big mouth to catch insects.

Top six species:
White-throated Sparrow – 87
Myrtle Warbler – 84
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 45
Hermit Thrush – 21
Chipping Sparrow – 9
Ovenbird – 7

Another big day planned for tomorrow if the winds would calm down a bit!
Enjoy!.....Quizbird is Tennessee Warbler-subdominant of the second wave.

High pressure system has birds at a standstill

High pressure system overhead producing light lake winds today. The morning started off with several singing Winter Wrens which made the sunrise even more enjoyable! Such energy, endurance, and enthusiasm they portray.

I would say the best bird today aside from the 4 Winter Wrens (2 recaptures) we captured was the male Tree Swallow. Such a beautiful bird!

In five and one half hours 50 new birds were captured with an additional 30 recaptures. There were still a couple Fox Sparrows and Golden-crowned Kinglets hanging around. It won’t be much longer and they will be out of here! We don’t catch many American Goldfinches along the lake but it is a pleasant surprise when we do. They often fly over but do not come down to the ground. I noticed the attractive undertail pattern of this male today. It was a second-year bird but sure had a lot of white on its tail.

Top 4 species were:
Hermit Thrush – 12
Myrtle Warbler – 7
White-throated Sparrow – 4
Song Sparrow – 4

Tomorrow will be a good day—winds to turn to the southwest tonight.
Enjoy!

High pressure keeps birds at a standstill

High pressure system overhead producing light lake winds today. The morning started off with several singing Winter Wrens which made the sunrise even more enjoyable! Such energy, endurance, and enthusiasm they portray.

I would say the best bird today aside from the 4 Winter Wrens (2 recaptures) we captured today was the male Tree Swallow. Such a beautiful bird!

In five and one half hours 50 new birds were captured with an additional 30 recaptures. There were still a couple Fox Sparrows and Golden-crowned Kinglets hanging around. It won’t be much longer and they will be out of here! We don’t catch many American Goldfinches along the lake but it is a pleasant surprise when we do. They often fly over but do not come down to the ground. I noticed the attractive undertail pattern of this male today. It was a second-year bird but sure had a lot of white on its tail. standstill

Top 4 species were:
Hermit Thrush – 12
Myrtle Warbler – 7
White-throated Sparrow – 4
Song Sparrow – 4

Tomorrow will be a good day—winds to turn to the SW tonight. Enjoy!

Northerly winds keep early sparrows around

Another cool day with the winds shifting to the west northwest produced a lot of banded birds from previous days sticking around. Thirty-five recaptures and 59 new birds were captured in 5.5 hours in 23 mist nets. There is till no sign of the Chuck-will’s-widow after Saturday. It would have a hard time finding food I am afraid these past few days.

Highlights for the day are Fox Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, and Black-capped Chickadee. We usually have two pair of chickadees nesting on the beach ridge. They have been active the past few days.

Top 6 species:
Myrtle Warbler – 12
Hermit Thrush – 12
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 4
White-throated Sparrow – 4

Looking forward to Friday for the first wave of neotropical migrants!
Get out and see the sights!

Purple Finch a first for the season!

Tuesday we saw a little bit of the sun. The most exciting thing was getting hailed on with small ice pellets a couple times during the day. This is extreme sarcasm. This does not feel like spring to me! The good thing was that we had the nets checked the times the ice fell from the sky. The strong SW winds are still cold. It sounds like the weather will turn around by the end of the week.

Sixty-eight new birds were captured today with 25 recaptures. Several banded Brown Creepers from the day before were among the recaps. Highlights for the day are: Purple Finch, American Tree Sparrow and another Field Sparrow.

Top 6 species:
Myrtle Warbler – 17
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 11
Hermit Thrush – 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 5
Brown Creeper – 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 4

Wishing for warmer days for the insects to help feed the migrants!

Cold southwest winds pushed a few birds north

I guess the sun will not come out today either. The winds are cold and out of the southwest. A cold Pacific wind. The birds were around even while we were dodging raindrops and mist on occasion. We hung it up after 5.5 hours.

It was a great day for flickers! We captured 4 today and split it down the middle with 2 males and 2 females. Usually we do not catch many flickers because they are so big and strong and can flip themselves out of the net before getting caught in the net.

One hundred and nine new birds including 13 recaptures were the catch of the day. Seventeen species for this early in April is not bad! Highlights for the day were: Fox Sparrow, Yellow-shafted Flicker and American Tree Sparrow. Pine Warber was heard on site again today. This will be the last few days to see an American Tree Sparrow and the Fox Sparrows are moving out as well.

Top 6 species:
Hermit Thrush – 21
Myrtle Warbler – 17
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 16
White-throated Sparrow – 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 7
Slate-colored Junco – 7

**remember Myrtle Warbler is a race of the Yellow-rumped Warbler
and Slate-colored Junco a race of the Dark-eyed Junco.

Looking forward to the sun…

Overcast and easterly winds did not deter the gnatcatchers

Cold easterly winds made for an uncomfortable day for humans and probably not much better for our feathered friends. Fifty-eight new birds were captured including 11 recaptures. Many of the recaptures were Hermit Thrushes and White-throated Sparrows hanging around. No use moving north on winds like these. Myrtle Warbler was the only warbler caught. However, the Pine Warbler was singing at the site. Highlights were two Field Sparrows and our first Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.

Top 6 species are:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 20
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 10
Swamp Sparrow – 6
Blue-gnatcatcher – 4
Brown Creeper – 4
Hermit Thrush – 4

The sun will come out tomorrow I hope!

Warm winds bring an unusual visitor

First day of the official spring migration season and what a day! I helped put up the nets and then left Mark and the crew to take over while Karen Mitchell and I took care of the Boy Scout Camporee out front of Davis Besse Power Station. A warm day for April with a strong WSW wind made for a good diversity of birds to show the scouts.

During net set-up Mark had a Chuck-will’s-widow fly in front of him while setting up the net. He went back later when it was light and got a good look at it with its reddish brown plumage. He said it was the biggest nightjar he had ever seen. One of the volunteers commented that it looked like a crow coming at her as it spooked when they were searching for where Mark had last seen it land to get a better look at it. I never got the opportunity to see the bird. There has been a lot of western and southern birds appearing in odd places. The winds have been strong from the west and that may be bringing them into Ohio.

With the nets up for eight hours we captured 104 birds including 9 recaptures previously banded resident birds (Northern Cardinal, Carolina Wren, etc.). Highlights are Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Field Sparrow, and this trilling songster (quizbird).

Top 5 species are:
Hermit Thrush – 23
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 22
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 15
Myrtle Warbler (Yellow-rumped) – 9
White-throated Sparrow – 5

Enjoy early spring for Fox Sparrows are getting slim in numbers! They are moving north!

P.S. Quizbird is a male Pine Warbler considered an overflight warbler- overflying its normal breeding range.