Our last day of banding for the season was another quiet day. Only 12 birds were caught with 2 of them being recaptures. There were a few highlights from the day. First, we added a new species to our list (bringing us up to 39 species so far). On the last net run of the day and while we were closing down the nets we caught a nice female Cape May Warbler. There have been a fair number of them seen this season by bird watchers but none had found our nets until this morning. A few of the other bird highlights were a female Black-throated Blue Warbler and a male Common Ground Dove. Second, we added a new volunteer to our banding crew. Katie Serba is a recent graduate from the University of Tampa and looking to gain experience in avian monitoring techniques before pursuing a Master’s degree in environmental science. Hopefully, the no-see-ums did not scare her off and we will see her again in the fall season.
We have now completed 2 1/2 years of migration banding out on Caladesi Island. This season’s total of 58 birds is not the best season (that was 95 birds last fall) but it wasn’t the worst either. It appears that we do better during the fall seasons. As is usually the case, the weather dictates how well/poorly we do. This season we had mostly winds out of the south which just pushed the birds past us. The news from the birders in the midwestern states was that there were a lot of migrants. So, they came through but were in a hurry to get up to breed.
