Now This is More Like It

The weather has become decidedly fall-like. In an almost overnight change we went from unseasonably warm to November temps.. I decided to head to the banding site even though the temperature was 42 degrees F this morning. All the other conditions were exactly what I look for: cloudy, calm winds and cool temperatures (I did bring along my portable propane heater).

I was not disappointed. There were birds all over and the activity was continuous. I had nets set quickly and had my first bird in about ten minutes. Flocks of American Robins were near the net lanes and several hit the nets. Unfortunately the mesh size I use is small enough that bigger birds can escape. Caught a robin as the first bird of the morning.

Then the tsunami hit. At 9:30 it looked like there were birds everywhere traveling in every direction. When I did the next net check I had 16 birds. And it didn't stop. I couldn't process the birds fast enough to let me close nets so they just kept getting caught. The most fun moment was when I had a young Eastern Bluebird in a net and as I stood there extracting it every time it called I got dive-bombed by it's relatives. Before long I had 6 bluebirds in bags!

Here is today's list:

2 Nashville Warblers
13 Black capped Chickadees (7 new and 6 retrap)
5 Orange-crowned Warblers
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 White Breasted Nuthatch
4 White throated Sparrows
1 Hermit Thrush
6 Eastern Bluebirds
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Northern Cardinal
 2 American Robins

Total birds = 37
Total species = 11

I'm tired.

I did get nice pictures of a couple of birds:

Warblers like this Nashville are still around but I suspect not for long. Still seeing Ruby throated Hummingbirds in my yard too.

This is a young bluebird and was probably a little bit later than usual in hatching. Lots of molt on these birds and they won't look so ragged soon.

In spite of the fact that lots of species of birds become less vibrant in the fall these bluebirds still just about glow.

The most unusual bird of the day was a Black-capped Chickadee that showed some odd feathers in its crown. The is the kind of bird that really demonstrates one of the reasons we band birds. We're not really sure of the cause of why some birds show odd white feathers in their plumage. Now that we can identify this individual by its band if we catch it next season (and since they don't do long distance migration as a rule the chance of seeing it again are better than with migrants) we will be able to see if it has a normally plumaged head or if it retains these white feathers! That will be another clue to understanding how the mechanism of this aberration might work.

A close look showed that each of the feathers that are white are individual feathers and are completely without pigment right down to the skin.

Most of the chickadees I handled were in some stage of molt. It is possible this bird will be normal looking by spring but I am going to certainly keep an eye out for it. Tomorrow we will be banding at Ritter Farm park in Lakeville, MN. I hope the birds don't leave tonight.