A Calm Friday

Rain last night and rain this morning made us decide not to band today. A good decision as creeks had formed along the netlanes. A frequent occurance, so it seems this fall...

Net 12, flooded.

The 'Net 11 Creek'

In the morning we slept in for a bit, did some hanging around and weren't really productive as the weather was still crap! Around 11.30 the weather looked better and as I was getting a bit bored being inside the whole time I went out and took a walk. First I left only with my binoculars, but as I noticed there were some birds around our cabin I decided to grab my camera. Not a bad decision.

First I came across a small flock of birds foraging near our cabin. It existed out of a couple of Towhee's, 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 1 Hairy Woodpecker, some Yellow-rumped Warblers, some Chickadee's and a Blackpoll Warbler.

Eastern Towhee, hatching year female

Blackpoll Warbler, as usual foraging high up in a tree so that only the underparts are visible.

I passed the road and proceeded towards the banding lab, where I met Marcia, working on the glass for the flight tunnel. As the skies still didn't show any signs of rain I made a round through the banding area. The wind was strong, but there were quite a few (banded) birds around. Such as this:

American Goldfinch

Or this banded Song Sparrow

At the banding lab, I noticed that the banded Ovenbird was still lingering around, eating sunflower seeds. We recaptured this birds last week and it is in good condition with a Fat score of 2 out of 3. 

The banded Ovenbird. 

Back at the cabin I noticed another Ovenbird, another individual as it was unbanded:

Ovenbird number two for today. Most of them should be south of us already.

Tammo arrived in the late afternoon, around 5.30. We were happy to see each other again after 1,5 months! He had a safe journey, and was already speechless about the beautiful landscapes (with all the fall colours) here in Pennsylvania. I wish him a good night after being awake for more than 21 hours!