The diversity was back today! The radar returns across the entire continental Southeast have been bright green with the density of migration for the past couple of nights, and the daytime radar has shown a strong flight across the Gulf. Each day new birds are coming through, and today was more diverse as the catbirds came in second to the Black-throated blues. This is the species that can truly swarm our site, and the middle to end of October is the prime time for days with over 50% Black-throated blue captures.
Left: adult female (photo by Miriam Avello ) Right: hatching-year male (photo by Alex Sharp)
We captured our first Yellow-throated warbler of the fall. Although this species is common in the winter, we usually only catch one or two a season. It is rare to see flocks of Yellow-throated warblers at all, as they usually are seen hanging out by themselves in palms. This is the true Palm warbler, and Palm warblers should be renamed Lawn warblers. The touch of yellow in the supercilium above the eye indicates that this bird belongs to the population that breeds to the east of the Appalachians.
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN | RECAP |
| Eastern wood-pewee | 1 | – | – |
| Red-eyed vireo | 1 | – | – |
| White-eyed vireo | 4 | – | – |
| Gray catbird | 14 | – | – |
| Northern parula | 5 | – | – |
| Magnolia warbler | – | – | 1 |
| Chestnut-sided warbler | – | – | 1 |
| Cape May warbler | 2 | – | – |
| Yellow-throated warbler | 1 | – | – |
| American redstart | 11 | – | 1 |
| Blackpoll warbler | – | – | 1 |
| Black & white warbler | 8 | – | – |
| Black-throated blue warbler | 19 | – | – |
| Swainson’s warbler | 1 | – | – |
| Ovenbird | 5 | – | 1 |
| Worm-eating warbler | – | – | 1 |
| Western palm warbler | 3 | – | – |
| Common yellowthroat | 8 | – | – |
| Painted bunting | 3 | – | – |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| DAILY TOTAL | 86 | 15 | 23 | 173.25 | 53.10 |
| SEASON TOTAL | 1854 | 48 | 23 | 7624.8 | 27.84 |