Hatch year birds

During August ten new birds were banded and seven were hatched this year (hatch years). This high proportion may mean: a) the adults are better at avoiding nets, or b) this patch of land is attractive to dispersing hatch year birds, or c) the birds were attracted to the sunflower seeds. I put a feeder back up mid-August and a flock of chickadees, titmice and brown-headed nuthatches come by regularly. However the carolina wrens, white-eyed vireos, eastern towhee, and red-bellied woodpecker are not sunflower feeder visitors so c is not supported for the majority.

At this time of year birds are molting as well. So while the numbers banded are small I am increasing my knowledge of molt and thus ability to better age birds.


Molt in hatch year female Northern cardinal.


Even barring in hatch year Carolina Wren.

Pee Dee NWR birding trip

A lovely day for my first visit to the Pee Dee NWR in Richmond/Anson counties, NC. The trip was led by Cassie Willis on behalf of the Sandhills Natural History Society. There was nothing spectacular in the birds we saw. However we had a good time (and educational) working on identification and behavior. A piece of non-bird behavior observed is illustrated in this photo of a praying mantis hanging out at an insect trap.



Later in the year many of the fields we passed will be flooded to attract waterfowl. Access to the refuge land (over 8,000 acres) is limited during hunting seasons.





This time of year produces identification challenges in hatch year birds in various plumage stages and the potential for migrants passing through. Our group was entertained by a flock of birds on the edge of a road. The birds were jumping up to reach seed heads on tall grass at the road side. Initially lighting on the birds was poor and we worked through a variety of species, matching up what we could see of shape, color and behavior. This was a flock of mainly juvenile and female red-winged blackbirds. Another id challenge came from some juvenile great egrets. The juveniles were distinctly smaller than the adult birds and had a different colored bill. We could not discern leg/foot color.




Pee Dee NWR = http://www.fws.gov/peedee/

Seasons are changing

The spiders are spinning lots of webs. As I put up mist nets I'd stop and take photos of the webs. There were large webs stretched across walkways, and smaller ones nestled in plants looking like fluffy cocoons.













Last week and today I caught more hatch year birds. Unfortunately these birds do not go on the MAPS report as that protocol season is over. Today few birds went in the nets. However a flock of titmouse, chickadees and nuthatches are now regulars at the sunflower feeder. I put the feeder up a few days ago. Many of these birds are sporting jewellry. At least 2 of the nuthatches have color bands. I've id'd one (which then helpfully went into a net as a recapture); hope some photos I took through a window will confirm identity of others. The nuthatches do not linger at the feeder and usually crunch down on their legs and that hides the bands.

















The vegetable garden continues to produce. The photograph shows what was picked this morning. We ripen the tomatoes inside. Bugs, splitting, and blossom end rot all provide competition for the fruit. There was a caterpillar crawling out of one today.

I planted pea and carrot seed today in a section of the garden cleared of weeds. The recent rain was a great assist to the weed pulling effort. Also have seedlings developing for transplant later.