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.