Not unexpectedly, spring migration at Powdermill picked up steadily through the period, especially after 5/12.  Our best day by far was 5/16, when 198 birds of 47 species were banded.  Unseasonably cool, windy, and/or rainy weather was a factor limiting our effort on a few days late in the period, or else many more birds might have been banded.  With 200 banded, Magnolia Warbler was the top species by far.  Making up the rest of the "top ten" list for the period were:  Ruby-throated Hummingbird (65), American Goldfinch (58), Gray Catbird (52), Common Yellowthroat (51), Chestnut-sided Warbler (38), Yellow Warbler (37), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (36), American Redstart (33), and Red-eyed Vireo (31).  Seventeen new species (and one hybrid) for the season were caught from 3-22 May, and several of these are highlighted below.
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We want to thank Brian Jones, Emma DeLeon (and her parents, Bob and Donna), Jessica Maggio, Trish Miller, Pam Ferkett, Amy Smith, Grace Greenwood, Cokie Lindsay, Fred and Carol McCullough, and Maria Somma (and her husband David King and their children Austin and Aaron) for their help with the banding during this period.
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Emma, Jessica, and Grace are working on various research projects at the Powdermill Avian Research Center this spring and summer.  Emma is working with Mike Lanzone through an undergraduate fellowship from the Honors College at the University of Pittsburgh to record and analyze nocturnal flight calls of migrant birds.  Jessica is conducting field work under a grant from the Netting Environmental Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation, helping us in the tenth consecutive season of our research into the effects of stream acidification on the breeding biology of Louisiana Waterthrushes at Powdermill.  Finally, Grace is conducting her first field season for her Master's research studying possible effects of hatching date and energetic condition on the timing and extent of the variable first prebasic molt of Song Sparrows.  Grace's advisor, Powdermill Research Associate Dr. C. Ray Chandler, from Georgia Southern University, is the first recipient of Powdermill's Rea Applied Ecology grant, a grant formerly reserved for Powdermill scientific staff but now being used specifically to encourage new graduate research projects on the Reserve.

• On May 5, we banded a beautiful ASY male American Redstart that had the usual and characteristic bright orange wing and tail patches,

but we thought that this Yellow-throated Vireo banded the same day appeared unusually and uncharacteristically orangeish.

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• We banded our first Canada Warbler, a second year (SY) male (note the very limited extent of its black breast streaking), on May 6.

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• On May 11-12, we were pleased to host a visit from a group of international interns from Hawk Mountain Sanctuary,

and they were very pleased to get close up views of many beautiful spring migrants, like this picture- perfect ASY male Indigo Bunting,

and this adult (ASY) male Mourning Warbler,

as well as some less colorful, but nonetheless interesting catches like this Warbling Vireo.

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• On May 13, we banded our first Wilson's Warblers of the season, including this adult (ASY) male,

and our first Cape May Warbler (another showy ASY male),

as well as our first hybrid "Brewster's" Warbler of the season (also an ASY male)

• Then, on a cold May 16, we banded individuals of the parent species of the "Brewster's" hybrid, a Blue-winged (left photo; a SY male) and a Golden-winged (right photo; a SY female) warbler.

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• Banding on May 16 also netted us our first Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, the species of eastern Empidonax that we consider (as we've said before on this website) to be the very cutest one--a not entirely unscientific impression based on this species' proportions, i.e., its proportionately large rounded head and chest and comparatively small appearing bill and body.

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• After the species' arrival on May 5, Magnolia Warblers began arriving en masse at Powdermill on May 13 (12 banded), and quickly built up to peak numbers on May 15 (51) and May 16 (72); 10-20 were banded thereafter on most banding days to the end of the period covered here (200 total for the period).

 

 

MAWAs can give a wide variety of appearances in spring depending on age, sex, and, perhaps most of all, extent of their prealternate molt.  The adult (ASY) female pictured below had undergone very little PA molt (note the virtual lack of any breast or side streaking), and appeared more or less like she might have in the preceding fall.  In contrast, ASY females that have undergone extensive PA molt can sometimes even approach the bright coloration of a male

• Although certainly never as bright as this superlative ASY male! (this is another view of the same male pictured on our Home page).

In contrast, this adult (ASY) male MAWA banded on May 20 had undergone very little PA molt, and its retained basic feathering was extremely worn.

• Extremely unusual for us was the capture of an Orange-crowned (top bird in photo below), Nashville (lower right), and Tennessee (lower left) Warbler side-by-side-by-side in the same mist net on May 16!

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• On May 19 we banded a number of "good" birds, i.e., species that we sometimes miss banding altogether in a given banding season, including Savannah Sparrow, Yellow-throated Warbler, and this confusing spring warbler...

• On May 20, something happened that we have only observed once or twice before in all our years of banding at Powdermill.  A gravid female Gray Catbird (no, not the same bird pictured below!) actually laid an egg (yes, the same egg pictured below!) in a paper holding bag during a short period of time before being banded and processed.

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• Lastly, we recaptured a male Pileated Woodpecker that we had banded as an SY back in 2000, making it six years old at this handling.  In the spread wing photo below, you may be able to make out that there are three generations of "adult" primary coverts and secondaries, so even if we  had not known the age of this bird, we would have correctly aged it as an ATY.

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Last Updated on 05/24/05
By Robert S. Mulvihill