Powdermill on Sea

This is what Powdermill and its surroundings looked like last night

And Tammo had just arrived, so we made a short walk through the banding area.

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Strong western winds with gusts up to 40 miles an hour today made it a challenging banding morning! For a moment it was as if we were living along the shore! I guess Powdermill on Sea would have been a fitting description.. These winds reminded me of Holland, the country where the wind is always blowing.. Despite the weather conditions we had a good catch of birds today. We had 125 birds of which 92 were new. Remarkable were quite a few late warbler species we still trapped today: Tennessee Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Northern Parula, Blackpoll Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson's Warbler, Palm Warbler and an Ovenbird. This was nice for Tammo as it is getting really late for a good variety of warblers!

The totals:

Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 -
Red-eyed Vireo 1 -
Winter Wren 1 -
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 -
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8 -
Gray-cheeked Thrush 2 -
Swainson's Thrush 5 -
Hermit Thrush 3 -
Gray Catbird 4 -
Tennessee Warbler 1 -
Nashville Warbler 1 -
Northern Parula 1 -
Magnolia Warbler 1 -
Yellow-rumped Warbler 37 -
Palm Warbler (Western) 6 -
Blackpoll Warbler 2 -
Ovenbird 1 -
Common Yellowthroat 1 -
Eastern Towhee 2 -
Swamp Sparrow 2 -
White-throated Sparrow 3 -
Dark-eyed Junco 1 - (and 4 orso more seen near the nets..)
Indigo Bunting 2 - starting to get late for these too
Common Grackle 1 -

Total 92, 25 species

The banding crew in the early morning (© Tammo Meijer)

Common Grackle, male

Red-bellied Woodpecker, hatching year male

Northern Parula, hatching year female

After the banding me and Tammo went to a Golf Course for Red-headed Woodpeckers with Chris. Red-headed Woodpeckers are the most uncommon woodpeckers here and therefore are hard to find. We didn't have luck this time, probably due to the blazing wind. We did find 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and a very confiding male Pine Warbler (both new birds for Tammo!). On our way back to Powdermill again Chris spotted a Ruffed Grouse just foraging next to the road, and that while he was driving!

Below a few photos from Tammo (amazing quality..! But what else do you expect from a Canon 7D with a 400mm lens?)

The fine Pine Warbler

Ruffed Grouse. Seeing a Ruffed Grouse like this is highly expectional, so we were really pleased with this view!

It is Pumpkin season:

Pumpkins!

The view on top of the hill on the Stoneylonesome Road is still amazing: