The front technically kind of passed today, but you wouldn’t know it by the temperatures. It is still hot and muggy, maybe even worse than normal because of the light westerly flow. Captures were down, too. Humidity levels are forecast to be lower tomorrow, and hopefully some new birds will enter the region tonight in time for tomorrow’s banding.
Fall female Cape May warblers are great identification challenges. The most distinctive characteristic is that they are probably chasing every other bird they see, while most other warbler species can generally tolerate each other. They are on the small side, although not as small as Northern parulas, and they are chunky with a slight curve to the thin bill. Nearly all Cape May warblers show streaking over the entire breast, although it can be pretty blurry as in this bird. The best way to learn dull fall warblers is to become familiar with brighter individuals and notice more than just the plumage characteristics. Note the behavior, calls, size, bill shape, overall ‘jizz’, etc. This will help a LOT when trying to sort out the fall plumages. Blackpoll, Cape May and Myrtle warblers are all quite different in structure once you know what to look for.
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN | RECAP |
| Red-eyed vireo | 1 | – | – |
| Gray catbird | 1 | – | – |
| Swainson’s thrush | 1 | – | – |
| Gray-cheeked thrush | – | – | 1 |
| Northern parula | 1 | – | 1 |
| Chestnut-sided warbler | – | – | 1 |
| Magnolia warbler | 1 | – | – |
| American redstart | 3 | – | – |
| Black-throated blue warbler | 2 | – | – |
| Cape May warbler | 1 | – | – |
| Ovenbird | 5 | – | 1 |
| Worm-eating warbler | 1 | – | 1 |
| Common yellowthroat | 4 | – | – |
| Northern waterthrush | 1 | – | – |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| DAILY TOTAL | 22 | 12 | 23 | 122.75 | 21.99 |
| SEASON TOTAL | 1675 | 47 | 23 | 7182.8 | 26.73 |