A weak dissipating front drifted down the Florida peninsula overnight, and we were greeted to a lot of birds flying over and dropping in. The first net run had 17 birds in it (more than some entire days) including our first-of-season Western Palm Warbler. Many more were in the sky overhead along with dozens of Bobolinks. On the ground we had a Common Yellowthroat and Ovenbird invasion first thing, with American Redstarts picking up the pace later in the morning.
We banded 5 Swainsons’ Warblers today, one away from the record 6 in one day from quite some years back. I love these birds with their huge spike bills and vibrating motion as they toss through leaf litter in search of insects. This lurking species is on a lot of birders’ want list, and South Florida during migration is one of the few places where they can sometimes be common.
Today’s 69 new birds and 5 recaptures are hopefully signs that migration is finally gathering steam; it is late September after all!
Today
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN | RECAP |
| Traill’s Flycatcher | 1 | – | – |
| Veery | 1 | – | – |
| Northern Parula | 3 | – | – |
| Cape May Warbler | 2 | – | – |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 6 | – | – |
| Prairie Warbler | 2 | – | – |
| Western Palm Warbler | 1 | – | – |
| Black-and-white Warbler | 2 | – | – |
| American Redstart | 18 | – | – |
| Worm-eating Warbler | 1 | – | – |
| Swainson’s Warbler | 5 | – | – |
| Ovenbird | 15 | – | 2 |
| Common Yellowthroat | 13 | – | – |
Fall Season Total (from August 15)
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | – |
| Common Ground-dove | 1 | – |
| Chuck-will’s Widow | 4 | – |
| Traill’s Flycatcher | 7 | – |
| Alder Flycatcher | 2 | – |
| Great Crested Flycatcher | 4 | – |
| Yellow-throated Vireo | 1 | – |
| Red-eyed Vireo | 10 | – |
| Veery | 2 | – |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 24 | – |
| Northern Parula | 25 | – |
| Magnolia Warbler | 1 | – |
| Cape May Warbler | 9 | – |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 60 | – |
| Yellow-throated Warbler | 1 | – |
| Prairie Warbler | 21 | – |
| Western Palm Warbler | 1 | – |
| Black-and-white Warbler | 60 | – |
| American Redstart | 122 | – |
| Prothonotary Warbler | 4 | – |
| Worm-eating Warbler | 65 | – |
| Swainson’s Warbler | 18 | – |
| Ovenbird | 167 | 4 |
| Northern Waterthrush | 61 | – |
| Louisiana Waterthrush | 4 | – |
| Common Yellowthroat | 35 | – |
| Hooded Warbler | 1 | – |
| Canada Warbler | 1 | – |
| Northern Cardinal | 9 | – |
| Common Grackle | 1 | – |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| DAILY TOTAL | 69 | 13 | 23 | 150.75 | 49.08 |
| SEASON TOTAL | 726 | 29 | 23 | 5149.75 | 15.48 |
Excellent work!