Nuff said

The photos will speak for themselves..!

So... we caught a Pileated Woodpecker today!! This was the #1 species on my wish list here! While I was doing a round (with zero birds) on Long Lane I entered 'the road' where I saw quite a few birds hanging around. There were 2 Flickers feeding in some low trees plus a Pileated flying overhead.. The Pileated landed and went foraging low to the ground close to the 25's, aka the Road Nets. I thought about chasing it towards the nets but I guess that was not needed.. I watched the Pileated from a distance and suddenly the bird took off again and landed in a small tree just between two nets.. exciting! After a few seconds the Pileated took of again.. and ended up flying in the next net. He took off from the small tree between the two nets and with a small bow he flew into the net. I ran, as fast as I could, towards the bird and grabbed it, wow, what a stunning woodpecker!!! I brought it back to the lab and made everyone happy :D

Today proved itself to be quality above quantity! In addition to the Pileated, we trapped a Sharp-shinned Hawk, 2 Yellow-billed Cuckoo's, a Prairie Warbler, a Palm Warbler and a Warbling Vireo. We trapped 48 new birds, spread over 26 species.

Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 -

Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2 -

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 4 -

Pileated Woodpecker 1 -

Eastern Phoebe 2 -

Warbling Vireo 1 -

Red-eyed Vireo 1 -

Gray-cheeked Thrush 3 -

Swainson's Thrush 9 -

Gray Catbird 3 -

Brown Thrasher 1 -

Tennessee Warbler 1 -

Nashville Warbler 1 -

Magnolia Warbler 1 -

Cape May Warbler 2 -

Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 -

Black-throated Green Warbler 2 -

Prairie Warbler 1 -

Western Palm Warbler 1 -

Ovenbird 1 -

Common Yellowthroat 3 -

Hooded Warbler 1 -

Scarlet Tanager 1 -

Song Sparrow 2 -

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 -

Indigo Bunting 1 -

Total 48, 26 species

Western Palm Warbler, hatching year

Prairie Warbler, hatching year female

Sharp-shinned Hawk, hatching year male

Yellow-billed Cuckoo says hi!

Little Brown Bat, not a really pleasant surprise in the net.

And.. Brandon kind of creeped me out when he acted like this:

So from now on I call him Brandy!