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Fall 2007 Notes and
Highlights
for Page 2 |
- Page 1
focused on "firsts" for the season, so on page 2 we will highlight the
"lasts," or at least the "lates!" It was
an unusual October weather-wise, with unseasonably warm temperatures
lasting throughout the month. This, in turn, gave rise to a later
peak and more protracted show of fall colors and some other
surprising late occurrences. For example...
- A very late,
by more than a month, blooming
cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
on 10/19
- A very late (and very fat; 10.4g)
adult (AHY) female Magnolia Warbler
banded on 10/21, who took just enough time before realizing she was
free for
us to snap a few bird-in-hand shots.
-
An even later (and fatter) immature (HY) male Magnolia Warbler banded on 10/24
This tied for the third latest fall banding date at Powdermill; latest are an HY-M banded on 10/28/74 and an HY-F banded on 11/6/95!
And, at 12.9g, it is by far the heaviest MAWA we've ever recorded (previous record weights in our database are 10.9g and 10.5g, coincidentally, also for birds banded on 10/24 in 1979 and 1970).
-
Although not especially late, we banded an even fatter (than the MAWA) Blackpoll Warbler on 10/11/07.
In the photo below, the visible subcutaneous (i.e., beneath the skin) fat is much more extensive along the sides than in the MAWA above. At just 17.1g, however, this BLPW was far from our record heavy weight for this species of 23.2g (imagine all traces of the breast musculature rendered invisible by fat!).
It even looked kind of fat with its feathers on!
.
- Continuing
with our "late" theme--a very late hatching (and/or very late molting)
immature Purple Finch, still mostly
in worn juvenal
plumage on 10/12/07.
- And, a very late molting
adult (SY) male American
Goldfinch banded on 10/12/07.
Ordinarily, by this date AMGO males have lost most or all of their bright yellow body plumage and black cap, both of which are part of the bird's alternate, or breeding plumage.
- This hatching year Marsh Wren
banded on 10/9 was the latest of three banded during the season.
- We close page two
with a miscellany of other October highlights.
The "Yellow" Palm Warbler pictured below was one of only two banded this fall (on 10/16 and 10/25). Although caught in comparatively low numbers this October (13 banded), the nominate "Western" Palm Warbler is always much more common at Powdermill than the eastern "Yellow" race, which predominates at coastal banding stations and which has a later migration at Powdermill in the fall. In spring, the opposite is true---YPWAs migrate earlier than WPWA.
- This after hatching year male
Black-throated Green Warbler was one of 18 banded during the
month and one of 88 for the season. Clearly, AHY-M BTNWs do not
qualify as "confusing fall warblers!"
- This after hatching year
Golden-crowned Kinglet was one of 16 banded during the month and 21 for
the season.
