Pictorial Highlights_ 05260601

POWDERMILL NATURE RESERVE
PICTORIAL HIGHLIGHTS
May 19-25, 2003

Saturday-Sunday, May 31-June 1, 2003: Fully half of our spring banding total of six Scarlet Tanagers was banded on the second to last day of the season--one male (an SY bird; top photo below) and two females, an SY and an ASY, the latter (bottom photo below) apparently mated to the SY male. Both were caught in the same net at the same time, and both were in breeding condition.

ASY female Scarlet tanager banded 5/31/03

At least through Saturday we were still catching unequivocal spring migrants, like a Magnolia Warbler, a Mourning Warbler, and an American Redstart, all with large fat deposits, and the ASY female Blackpoll Warbler pictured below. Compared to the SY female BLPW banded and pictured earlier in the week (for comparison, the second photo below is another image of that same SY bird), the ASY BLPW female had much heavier streaking on its head, throat, and sides, as well as broader, whiter wing bars.

ASY female Blackpoll Warbler banded 5/31/03

SY female Blackpoll Warbler banded 5/30/03

The very last bird banded for the spring 2003 was a Northern Cardinal that looked as though it might have fledged directly from its nest into our nets! If we questioned whether or not today should bring the Powdermill's spring migration banding season to an official close, this barely flighted NOCA erased those doubts!

Locally hatched (L) Northern Cardinal banded 6/1/03

Tuesday-Friday, May 27-30, 2003: Not unexpectedly, birds banded recently have been a mixture of local nesting birds and later migrants. In the first category, we banded our first fledgling Mourning Dove (first photo below) and American Robin (second photo below).

Locally hatched (L) Mourning Dove banded 5/28/03

Locally hatched (L) American Robin banded 5/30/03

In the second category, we continue to catch late migrant warblers like Blackpoll (SY female pictured in top photo below) and Mourning (SY female in middle photo below), and Empidonax flycatchers, including our 24th Yellow-bellied Flycatcher of the season (bottom photo below).

SY female Mourning Warbler banded 5/30/03

ASY Yellow-bellied Flycatcher banded 5/30/03

Like the SY male Baltimore Oriole banded and pictured here last week, an SY male Rose-breasted Grosbeak banded today had had unsually unextensive prebasic and prealternate molts, making it among the dullest colored RBGR males we have ever seen at this season.

SY male Rose-breasted Grosbeak banded 5/30/03

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