Sandpipers and Bird Banding Episode 3

     I have mentioned in a couple of recent posts that we have been monitoring a small wetland in nearby Erbsville, trying to photograph its diversity so that we have a species record if its existence becomes imperilled by current plans to create a major housing development close by. 
     A few days ago a Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria and a Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius were there together and at times came quite close to me.

Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

     Neither bird is in breeding plumage, although the difference is more pronounced in the Spotted Sandpiper. Here is what it looks like when breeding.

     Obligingly, they came close together a couple of times enabling me to take this shot where you can compare their differences.

     I was also able to get a few pictures of Eastern Comma Polygonia comma after quite a bit of chasing. For the most part it would alight for the briefest of moments and then take off. A little perseverance did the trick, however.

     Our bird banding was in high gear again yesterday and I am including below species not previously captured in the nets.

     One of our prizes was a beautiful male Black-throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens, shown here in Kevin's careful hands.

     As most of you know, I am sure, the birds are retrieved from the nets in cloth bags. The birds are usually still and quiet once in the darkness of the bag, but if they do flap a little the bags give easily and no damage is done to their wings, as would happen if they were in a box, for example. Here are bags containing birds waiting to be be banded and released on their way.

     A female Nashville Warbler Leiothlypis ruficapilla was quickly processed and released after a couple of pictures were taken.

     American Yellow Warblers Setophaga aestiva are amongst the earliest warblers to leave after breeding, so we were a little surprised to capture two of them.

     We are always happy when children come to observe the goings on, and here you can see Kevin providing his usual level of calm, patient explanations to Emma Trink, her sister, Abigail and Kendra Sonnemann, who was there for the first time. Emma and Abigail are old hands at this now!

     The kids lost no time in persuading Sandy to take them for a ride in her EZ Go - they did the circuit of the nets the easy way!

     We captured a Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus, as we did last week and this bird was well into moult, enabling us the explain the moult sequence and the feather tracts to both adults and children present.

     

     Our final new species of warbler was a Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas, and we caught two individuals.

     Our totals were not as high as the previous two weeks but rewarding nonetheless. We will look forward to next Saturday to see what the nets reveal then.

Total species banded: Northern Flicker (1), Red-eyed Vireo (1), Black-capped Chickadee (1), Nashville Warbler (3), Common Yellowthroat (2), American Yellow Warbler (2), Black-throated Blue Warbler (1), Song Sparrow (3) Total individuals: 14