On a brighter note, we had some neat highlights for the day including a Yellow-throated Vireo and a strange looking male Red-winged Blackbird (Tordo Sargento). 
To prove it really is a Red-winged Blackbird, here is the dorsal side. Orange epaulets signify a second-year male-hatched last year.
I am not sure what the field identification would have been for this bird. Obviously it has some molt issues. I first wanted to say it was a molting in white/peach feathers along certain feather tracts but that is not true either. I think it is a beautiful bird with the peach-white feathers. It looks like it is wearing a vest. I really wanted to put a radio transmitter on it to see whether it could attract a female looking like this and also what feather coat it would molt into during its next round of molt. They do not make radios that last that long...as far as I understand.Seventy-eight new banded birds with four recaptures were the catch of the day. One of the recaptures was a Warbling Vireo banded in 2008. Those birds returning to the same area after a long journey truly amaze me!
We also caught a male Yellow Warbler (Chipe Amarillo) who appears to have just begun to molt into his basic plumage from his juvenile plumage and I mean juvenile plumage. The darker feathers are the feathers you would see on a bird fledging from the nest. Odd things can happen and apparently something halted this bird's molt. Here it is next to a full basic plumaged male. There is quite a difference.
Here is the front of the bird. You can see that it has a freshly molted secondary contrasting with the remaining juvenile feathers.
Top 7 species:
Myrtle Warbler (MYWA)-11
Nashville Warbler (NAWA)-9
Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)- 8
White-throated Sparrow (WTSP)- 6
Gray Catbird (GRCA)-5
House Wren (HOWR)-5
Yellow Warbler (YWAR)-5
More southerly winds tomorrow so looking for another good day! Hope you can get outside and enjoy!
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