April rains bring May birds! Happy May Day!

A southerly wind filled the marsh with song this morning! It seemed to take the birds a while to get moving today. The warblers did not seem to drop in until well after 7 AM. They were in good fat condition so it did not seem like they were traveling a great distance. If they had, most would have been recorded in the 0-1 fat level on a scale of 0-6. As I have said many times, migration is a mystery. We are only attempting to figure out what makes them tick in order to ensure they will be around for others to view and enjoy.

In the span of seven hours we mustered 161 new banded birds and 26 recaptures. A few returning House Wrens have made it back to the site today. Twenty-five species were banded including 13 warblers with an additional 6 species seen on site. Guess what! We finally caught the best warbler in the east! Beautiful Blackburnian Warbler! Intern Phil got very excited to see one of his favorite birds today as well. A Canada Warbler! However, this was not the most unusual warbler of the day. We caught a male Prairie Warbler which we have not caught a male of this overflight warbler in many years. A few treats for the day!

Top 7 species:
Myrtle Warbler – 78
White-throated Sparrow -27
Yellow Warbler – 15
Western Palm Warbler – 8
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 4
House Wren – 4
Gray Catbird – 4

It looks like the weekend will be very enjoyable for all who come to bird in the Lake Erie Marshes! Enjoy!