Nice diversity!

The number of birds banded has dropped off since the big push after the front on Oct 5, but the variety of birds captured has remained high. We caught quite a few ‘first of seasons’ this week, including this young male Blue-winged warbler.

Gray-cheeked thrushes have arrived; they are one of 5 possible species of Catharus thrushes to see in south Florida during migration, and are the second most common after Swainson’s thrush. They can be separated from Swainson’s (with a good enough look) by their colder grayish-brown tones and lack of an eye-ring. The thrushes have been gobbling the Virginia creeper fruit that is up in the canopy.

A rare species is this Philadelphia vireo that was banded on Oct 9. They only pass through our area as migrants and in very low numbers. I find them to be especially ‘cute’ due to their small size, large rounded head and short bill. They superficially resemble the much more common Red eyed vireo but the size and proportions are quite different. A Philly vireo is more likely to be confused with a female Black-throated blue warbler; here is a post from Oct 2013 describing the differences.

We just really like vireos! We banded two Yellow-throated vireos this week. This species is an uncommon migrant and winter visitor to south Florida hardwood hammocks, and is quite beautiful up close when in fresh plumage.

The ultimate eyeball candy has to be the adult male Painted bunting. The colors are ridiculously brilliant when the bird is in the open, but they provide a form of camouflage by breaking up the shape of the bird when it is dense cover.

Rafael Galvez of the Florida Keys Hawkwatch  brought a group by from the Hawk Migration Association of North America on their tour of south Florida. They enjoyed a Yellow-throated vireo among other birds, in spite of a thunderstorm that shut the station down for awhile.

All these manly men around sporting epic beards this week.