New bird - Pine Warbler

Temperatures warmed up today so I could band in the afternoon. The feeder birds continue to NOT go in the nets. A pair of Pine Warblers down by the lake did go in a net which is a first for that species here. The contrast in coloring between the male and female is striking. Other captures were a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet and a recaptured Brown-headed Nuthatch.

On the lake there are between 130 and 150 Ring Necked Ducks. Never had that many before.

Our suet mix is popular with many species at the feeder station. Peanut butter is now available on two new pine cones. Long-Leaf Pine pine cones make excellent feeders. I'm recycling the wide ties that grocery stores use to hold lettuce together. Tie the tie around one end of the pine cone and tie the other end to a convenient tree branch; add peanut butter, and wait for the guests.

Recaptures

This is my second year of banding at this station. I now have site fidelity confirmed for White-throated Sparrows. While this is not 'news' to ornithologists, it is a thrill for me to know that the bird in my hand has navigated long distances from this spot and returned to it.

A bird banded on February 16 was recaptured on October 26. It was the first White-throated Sparrow caught this winter season.

Then on November 9th two additional birds were recaptured in the same net. I looked them up and these birds were caught together last year November 17, 2007.

Yes, my sample is small but this is a good beginning.

Dogwood berries

There are three dogwood trees right by our house. Each fall a group of mockingbirds appear to dispute 'ownership' of this patch of food. The 'winning' mocker guards against all comers, except for the small birds. The chickadees and titmice are allowed to visit the feeders nearby and seek shelter in the dogwoods unharmed. Then a week arrives when the berries are either 'just so' or roaming bird hordes moving through this neighborhood spot the trees. A week of furious activity results as a mocker tries to chase off every bird from a large flock.

In past years the dogwood berry season is when the starling flocks visited. This year I've seen a flock across the lake but the birds have not come here. Last year a robin flock came and stripped the trees over a couple of days. The mocker tried to defend. The robin flock flew in low from nearby woods. This meant some of the birds went into the banding nets. I was looking forward to a repeat this year so that I could improve my knowledge of age and sex identification with robins.

So who is stripping the trees this weekend? Rusty blackbirds are eating the berries and there is no mocker defending. We've not seen one for several weeks. The Rusty Blackbirds fly high and dive down to the trees. Even though I had nets up near the bird feeders and dogwoods no blackbird came close to them. When startled, the birds flew straight up and away.

Surprisingly the Rusty Blackbirds ignored me most of the time. The banding station is between two of the dogwoods. The birds were even feeding on the ground near me.

Worm snake

Beetle, crickets, ants, and assorted flying insects all land up in our swimming pool. Every day I rescue some and some of the beetles immediately 'jump' back in ... Occasionally larger critters fall in and these I try and identify. The worm snake looked like its name .... a large worm lying on a floating plastic tube. As worms are rare in our yard and this one was definitely longer than normal I was curious. The 'worm' swam vigorously away underwater when I tried to fish it out with a net. I easily caught it and took a look.

The animal was the thickness of a pencil and a uniform dark color on top with a slightly lighter shade under. I thought it might be a glass lizard and checked in "Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia" by Martof etc. Nope. The coloring did not match with any of the three glass lizards illustrated. I browsed the snake section and there it was - a worm snake. Length was right, location was right, photo matched. Apparently it is a common snake but rarely seen.

Photo by J.D. Willson

You can read about this snake and see photos at the Davison Herpetology site or at this site from the University of Georgia.

Record keeping

Now that the MAPS banding season is over I've concentrated on paperwork. All that banding data must go into Bandit and MapsProg and be submitted. I've just completed the records for the spring 2008 season and submitted them to the banding lab. Through early May 2008 I banded 34 species at this station. Next I'll complete putting MAPS records into MapsProg and see if I can export the data over to Bandit. I hope so.

With the end of MAPS the feeders went back up. The birds found them after about a week. Now the usuals are regularly visiting, including at least one 'smart' squirrel and a very 'tame' bunny. WBNU and BHNU are back for the food. Some birds are eating in the blueberry patch but there is no obvious diminution of the supply when we go picking berries.

Anniversary - one year

Monday the 28th will be the one year anniversary for this banding station. There was one net up that morning. A ruby-throated hummingbird (not banded) and cardinal were the first birds caught. Today there were six nets up for 36 net hours and a grand total of 2 birds banded -- ovenbird and cardinal. I'm banding under the MAPS protocol for the summer months and July is a low number month for a MAPS bander.

MAPS = Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivability Program
http://www.birdpop.org/maps.htm

Birds can look so different as juveniles and when in heavy molt. I consult Pyle's book, I've attended training courses, but I still wish for an 'expert' sitting next to me at the banding table. Over time I'll have more exposure to variations in plumage at different times of year. Right now I keep suffering from frustration. Todays birds are good examples. In the net I immediately labeled the cardinal as an AHY F. While processing the bird doubt crept in. The crest is brown. A small patch of shoulder feathers are red while most of the coverts are brown. The bill is orange but with light edges. Is this actually a HY male that fledged over two months ago? I'll know for sure if I recapture this bird in three months time.

Loss of head feathers

Banding in the summer months has a low productivity rate round here. Today 5 birds went in the nets for 36 net hours of effort. While the birds do not appear to be very active I did hear or see 28 different species while I checked net lanes.

During the summer months birding listservs usually have a couple of posts about cardinals with bald heads at feeders. In recent weeks I've banded both a downy woodpecker and a male eastern towhee with nearly bald heads. The most common 'explanations' I've read for this condition are: a) part of post-breeding molt; 2) caused by skin mites; or 3) some other factor. Perhaps there is a connection to nest responsibilities as well.

Eastern Towhee



Downy Woodpecker

Two new species

Saturday was a very slow banding day. For 36 net hours I banded five birds. I expected capture rates to be low in high summer but Saturday was the first day that FELT like our summer .... hot and humid. Early Sunday morning sweat was pouring off me while I gardened.

Back to the birds. Despite the few captures two species were new for the banding site: Downy Woodpecker and Hooded Warbler. Below are the two male warblers for the day: Prothonotary and Hooded.

Sad event

A window kill is always a sad event. This evening, much to my surprise, the victim was a male prothonotary warbler. There are some small swampy areas near our home. For the last couple of years I’ve heard a male sing from the swampy areas and occasionally I would spot a bird. A few weeks ago I banded one; not this bird. Now I know that there were at least two males in the area. Just wish I had not found out this way.

Mr. Bubbly

An unrecognized bird song outside your kitchen window is unexpected. After ten minutes of tracking the singer through windows I finally saw the bird. A slim brown wren like bird and it was not a Carolina Wren. After I’d grabbed binoculars and a bird book I had my id – a House Wren. Now I hear house wrens are very common but I’d never seen or heard one on ‘my patch’.

In a year or two I’ll know if the same phenomena has occurred with house wrens as has with song sparrows. In former years when I went birding in the western part of NC fellow birders looked at me a little strangely when I did not recognize a song sparrow’s song. Well song sparrows were not around my patch and I only heard them if I traveled. In the last two years the situation has changed. I now hear song sparrows and I certainly banded enough of them this winter.

So where did the name Mr. Bubbly come from? Most days I hear that enthusiastic bubbly song from the house wren as it moves around its territory. Mr. Bubbly is just ... appropriate.

There are two of them. Twice two birds have gone into a mist net together. Yesterday I confirmed that the birds are indeed a pair (brood patch and cp). I’ve not spotted a nest yet but I’m watching. As for next year ... I’ll have to wait and see if house wren is now part of our resident flock.

Butterfly ids

May 4th was a sunny day and I saw at least 4 species of butterflies out by the house. I feel confident of ids on 2 of them; not as positive on 2 others. Just as with birds I can look at a butterfly with a distinctive feature but the only entry I find in an id book doesn't quite match and the butterfly is rare to boot. That is what happened with me for the golden-banded skipper. Here are the 2 I'm sure about.

Common Buckeye

Variegated Fritillary

Blue Grosbeak returns

Today was my first banding session under the MAPS program for summer 2008. Rain cut short the session. The highlight was a Blue Grosbeak recapture. I banded this bird on August 4, 2007 shortly after opening this banding station. As my banding of summer only birds was limited I am very pleased with this returnee.

The first photo is of the bird today. Back in August the bird had a small extension (extrusion) on its beak but there is no sign of this now. I compared the photos of the bird's wing. Just look at how much the greater coverts lose edging color by August. The first photo is from today and the second is of the same bird last August.