Yikes! 30 days in!

And here we go!

We did it! Over 1000 birds banded as of August 19th. We reached 48 species today as well, banding our first Hammond's Flycatcher. New species since last time also include Steller's Jay and an "official" Oregon Junco.  We actually managed to catch 2 Steller's Jays in net 5, letting Brian and I both band one for the first time. We had a small influx of American Goldfinches in nets 1 and 2, increasing the banding totals for that species. We are only getting a Swainson's Thrush and Pacific-slope Flycatchers every other day now. Quite different from when we banded 25 PSFL in one day a few weeks back! It's been quite slow for the warblers lately, we only got TWO Wilson's warblers today. TWO. Here are some pictures:

Hammond's Flycatcher - August 19

Hammond's Flycatcher action shot!

Steller's Jay - August 16

Yesterday, (August 18) we had some California Quail hanging out right by the banding station after net opening. Sure enough as soon as we headed to check the nets they all got flushed out including four into net 6. Although we don't band them, we took a few pictures:

California Quail - August 18

And now a few interesting birds we've got in the last little while.

Wilson's Warbler - Originally banded 4 years ago!

Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow with one white tail feather

We also got a few of these Orange-Crowned Warblers today:

This is either the orestera or celeta subspecies. Any ideas? Here is the lutescens subspecies for comparison.

There has been a Great Horned Owl hanging around the area for at least a week. Yesterday it sat on the net 1 poles as we opened the nets! As well a Barred Owl has been present for the last two days in the same spot during the first net round. Today it perched right a top a dead tree about 5 feet from the path. Of course I didn't have my camera with me. Here is the best picture I have of the Great Horned:

Well that's all for now! We're hoping things start to pick up soon. After a dismal week of 30 birds or less per day we had over 50 today. At least the weather has been holding out!

Till next time,

Jessie