Pictorial_Highlights_100914

PICTORIAL HIGHLIGHTS, WEEK OF 10/09/01-10/14/01

We didn't band any today, but here's an interesting head-on view of an immature female Yellow-rumped Warbler we banded a few days ago (a birdie watching the birdie, so to speak!).

We had our highest daily banding total (7) for Eastern Phoebe (photo below) so far this fall. At Powdermill, we expect to band phoebes up until the last few days of the month.

Yesterday's comment about the possibility of a substantial movement of Purple Finches was prophetic--we netted 34 of them today (our highest daily total by far this season).

We wonder, do other banders have the not-so-affectionate nickname for this species that we do?

Purple Pinch!

We banded a somewhat late Magnolia Warbler (brings our record fall total to an even 520!) and Ovenbird today, as well as our very first individual of one wood warbler species for the season (also for the year)--a hatching year female Pine Warbler. PIWAs are very rare at Powdermill, with only 12 banded here in 40 years (the last in November 1999).

Although not as high quality as we would like, the photos above and below serve to illustrate a few of the key features that can be used to distinguish immature Pine Warblers (especially females) from fall Bay-breasted and Blackpoll warblers. Compared to these two species the PIWA has 1) an unstreaked back; 2) tertials (the stacked, inner three secondary flight feathers--folded over the bird's back--easily visible at bottom right corner of the top photo) that have much duller (less whitish) edging color; 3) a lower wing bar that also is much duller (more brownish) and which contrasts with the more whitish upper wing bar; and 4) a face pattern with a less distinct supercilium (line above the eye), a more pronounced broken eye ring, and a greater contrast between the brownish auriculars (cheek region) and a light colored throat.

We were quite a bit busier compared to banding on the previous two days; our catch was dominated less by sparrows than by Yellow-rumped Warblers (25 banded) and Cedar Waxwings (23). The waxwings were all caught in two nets during the same net round, and all were hatching year (HY) birds. They ranged from having full streaked juvenal plumage (i.e., their first prebasic molt had not yet started) through various stages of prebasic molt to nearly complete first basic plumage. One individual had a very unusual, spiny appearance due to aberrant persistence of sheaths surrounding the molting feathers on its head.

We banded our first Fox Sparrow (top) and Pine Siskin (bottom) of the season--we expected the first and were pleasantly surprised by the second!

The plumage of Swamp Sparrows in the fall is highly variable, depending on age, sex, and individual variation. We banded a particularly handsome adult bird (entirely gray supercilium) that likely was a male based on its having an extensive reddish brown cap (usually much more veiled in the species' basic plumage) and an exceptionally long wing of 66.0mm. Pictured below, the bird was unusually brightly plumaged for this season and stood out markedly from the rest of our catch.

Below is a photo of an immature (HY) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker female that we banded which had an entirely black (rather than red or partially red) crown--this is a comparatively infrequent plumage variation restricted to females of this species.

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