Powdermill Bird Banding

banding sign

Spring 2008

Banding Notes and
Pictorial Highlights

15 May - 1 June 2008
(Page 2 of 2)

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Inclement weather continued through the third week of the month. We opened nets on 14 days between 15 May - 1 June, had a similar net effort (2,615 net hours) compared to the first half of the month, and had a similar banding outcome. We banded 541 new birds of 57 species and processed an additional 161 recaptures. The best banding day during this period was 62 birds of 22 species on 5/22. Our capture rate for new birds (20.7 birds/100 net-hrs.) was slightly better than during the first half of May. Top five species were Cedar Waxwing (110 banded), Magnolia Warbler (61), Ruby-throated Hummingbird (30), Traill's (Willow & Alder) Flycatcher (30), and American Goldfinch (27).

This SY Gray-cheeked Thrush on 5/17 was one of five banded this spring (an above average spring total).
This SY female Magnolia Warbler had both an unextensive prealternate and prebasic molt, resulting in three generations of greater coverts (typically, there are just two: molted first alternate inner and retained first basic outer greater coverts). In the MAWA pictured below, the outer four greater coverts (GC 1-4) are retained from the juvenal plumage; GC 5-6, which appear darker and slightly less worn than the outer four GCs, were replaced at the first prebasic molt last fall; the very fresh, extensively white GC 7-9, which in all likelihood replaced three additional GCs from the first Basic plumage, were grown late this winter during the bird's first prealternate molt. The innermost GC 10 (shorter than the rest) may be either a retained juvenal covert (when songbirds replace less than all of their GCs, GC 10 often is skipped) or, like GC 5-6, it may have been molted last fall.

The molt limits (between retained brown juvenal feathers and molted black alternate plumage) could not have been more obvious in this SY male Rose-breasted Grosbeak banded on 5/22 (photo taken by David Norman).

This SY Northern Waterthrush was banded on 5/23. After last spring's impressive flight of 31 NOWAs, we were disappointed to only band six this spring (long-term average = 20)

We banded one Northern Rough-winged Swallow this spring, on 5/23. Photo courtesy of David Norman.

Cedar Waxwing was the most common species banded in the second half of May.
We banded eleven Lincoln's Sparrow this spring (equaling our long-term average), the last one (pictured below) on 5/25. On the last day of the official spring season, 6/1, we banded our first locally hatched Song Sparrow in full juvenal plumage. Because they have finer streaks than adult SOSPs, with a buffy upper breast and malar stripe, juvenile SOSPs can be mistaken for a LISP. In the comparison below, however, note the very loosely textured body feathers on the juvenile Song Sparrow.

We banded just two Blackpoll Warblers this spring, one each on 5/28 and 5/29 — both were females like the SY female pictured below.

On 5/28 we had a very exciting repeat capture of the female "Sutton's" Warbler banded and recaptured earlier in May (see our Hybrid warbler page). We quickly confirmed that she was in breeding condition, based on the brood patch visible in the photo below — but the question of whether her mate is a Northern Parula or a Yellow-throated Warbler had not been solved by the end of the period. Males of both parent species of this hybrid could be heard singing quite close to where the "Sutton's" female was caught.

Amazingly, over the next few days, we captured breeding females of the two parent species of the hybrid "Sutton's" Warbler: an SY YTWA on 5/30 (top photo below; the yellow-lored race, Dendroica dominica dominica) and a returning banded ASY NOPA on 6/1 (middle photo below). This provided us with the rare opportunity to create a side-by-side-by-side comparison photo of female YTWA, SUWA, and NOPA (bottom photo strip below).

Finally, we captured yet another warbler hybrid on 5/28 - a Golden-winged Warbler x Blue-winged Warbler male that we had been tracking for several weeks. This individual sang a strange buzzy song that had characteristics of both GWWA and BWWA songs, but was a variation that none of us had heard before. Note the bright yellow wash on the upper breast, the touch of yellow above the eye, and the yellow forecrown extending down to meet the black lores (top photo). Compare with a phenotypically pure ASY male Golden-winged Warbler (bottom photo) captured a few days later on 6/2.

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Last Updated on 06/18/08
By Molly E. McDermott and Robert Mulvihill