COMMENTS FOR 11/12:

• First fall capture for Eastern Bluebird (an immature, or HY, female: note molt limit between the two brownish retained juvenal outer secondary coverts and the molted blue-gray innner sec. covs.)--out of about a dozen bluebirds circling around a nest box placed at the edge of a small   pond near two of our nets, only one was caught (two others were caught in nets briefly but  quickly escaped)

• We banded 57 American Goldfinches, our highest daily total so far this season--adult (AHY)    male (top) and female (bottom) in typical "Definitive Basic" (i.e., adult winter) plumage are    pictured below.  During the so-called prebasic molt of both adult males and females, most of the bright yellow body feathers from the "Alternate" plumage, worn in spring and summer, are    replaced in fall with more dull-colored feathers.  Most adult males will still have a bright yellow    "shoulder" patch after the prebasic molt (although, rarely they may lack it), while immature (HY)  males usually do not acquire one, at least not a complete one, until their second fall.

COMMENTS FOR 11/09:

• We want to publicly acknowledge Laura Quattrini, our fall banding assistant,  for her excellent     work from August through October.  Without her very competent help, our effort this fall would   have had to be substantially less and many fewer birds would have been banded.  Laura was a  banding intern at Whitefish Point Observatory last fall and assisted with our long-term study of   the effects of acid mine drainage on the breeding biology of the Louisiana Waterthrush this   spring and summer.   Laura also helped with the creation and maintenance of this website while she was here.  Thanks, Laura!

COMMENTS FOR 11/08:

• Overcast and mild early AM; mild, overcast, increasingly windy late AM Six Rusty Blackbirds caught--this species is attracted at this time of year to the abundant white fruits of red-panicled dogwood (Cornus racemosa) which grows in thick stands in the vicinity of many of our net lanes