Leucistic American redstart

We banded a very unusual bird yesterday; a leucistic adult male American redstart.

I saw this guy foraging in the ‘Redstart tree’ (a Ficus that always has one or two American redstarts foraging in it most days, hence the creative and outlandish name) early in the morning and he got my attention. Later we mistnetted him and were able to inspect him closely. Leucism is a condition where pigment is missing from feathers and a bird has white feathers mixed in with regular plumage, or can be entirely pale or white. Albinism is when a bird has no pigment at all, and is recognizable by pink eyes. We see the occasional white feather here and there on birds that are almost always adults. This bird had a mottled white head, symmetrical innermost secondaries and asymmetrical alulae and outer primary. The flight feathers were a mix of white and orange, so the mutation only affected the black color.

All redstarts have rictal bristles, but perhaps due to the unusual facial color of this bird, these were especially prominent. Rictal bristles are more developed in birds that catch insects on the wing, but their exact purpose is debated. They may act as a ‘scoop’ to help direct insects into the mouth, or they may deflect flying insects from hitting the eyes if the bird misses its prey. American redstarts are wood warblers, but the bill shape closely resembles that of the flycatchers. Below is the underside of an Acadian flycatcher; note the wide bill and prominent rictal bristles, features shared by the American redstart.

Meanwhile, our new batch of volunteers continue to learn how to extract birds under the close supervision of the experienced banders.

Kelley Erickson with her first solo extraction and a war wound caused by a branch near a net.

Mike Bush with a Worm-eating warbler. You would think that is all we catch around here!

Donna Molfetto and Jim King with an Ovenbird.

Vera Jarrett with new best friend, a Northern waterthrush.

Martina and Michelle both had birthdays on Sept 16. In contention for Birthday Bird was this female Magnolia warbler.

A few new species came in this week, in spite of the complete lack of discernible weather. We banded Veery and Swainson’s thrush for the first time today, and Common yellowthroats are starting to appear. Birds seen but not banded include Rose-breasted grosbeak and Palm warbler. We have been banding around 25 to 30 new birds a day, with a good number of recaptures. We see more birds onsite than we catch; Ovenbirds and Northern waterthrush have been hopping around everywhere the last couple of days and the canopy is filled with Northern parulas and Red-eyed vireos, among others. Cooper’s hawks are in the air over Cape Florida; possibly local birds or some of the first signs of hawk migration starting to really get going? Our partner the Florida Keys Hawkwatch is open now; they are conducting songbird surveys in the morning on Long Key and hawk migration monitoring the rest of the day on Curry Hammock.