The number of birds captured each morning has tapered off from the high of 69 birds on Sept 24 to 13 new birds on Sept 29. A handful of individuals have been recaptured during the last week as birds wait for better winds to depart. The rain has diminished and the humidity is lower, making for nice mornings at the banding station, but the wind direction has swung around to the Northeast. This is the least productive wind direction to bring migrants to Cape Florida, and the forecast of at least another week of these winds (with them getting stronger tomorrow and Saturday) is discouraging, to say the least. This time period around Oct 1 can be some of our most diverse banding days of the whole season. Still, even though numbers are low, we are seeing some new species in the nets and hearing others that remain uncaptured.
Here is a gallery of some of the species we have been banding this week:
The 848 birds banded so far by the end of September are not too far off of the average in spite of everything. Not much we can do about the weather except wait for a wind shift!
Sept 29 2021
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN | RECAP |
| White-eyed Vireo | 1 | – | – |
| Red-eyed Vireo | 3 | – | – |
| Swainson’s Thrush | 1 | – | – |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | – | – | 2 |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 1 | – | – |
| Black-and-white Warbler | 1 | – | – |
| Worm-eating Warbler | 1 | – | – |
| Swainson’s Warbler | 1 | – | – |
| Northern Waterthrush | 1 | – | – |
| Common Yellowthroat | 3 | – | – |
Fall Season Total (from August 15)
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | – |
| Common Ground-dove | 1 | – |
| Chuck-will’s Widow | 6 | – |
| Traill’s Flycatcher | 7 | – |
| Alder Flycatcher | 3 | – |
| Great Crested Flycatcher | 5 | – |
| White-eyed Vireo | 5 | – |
| Yellow-throated Vireo | 1 | – |
| Red-eyed Vireo | 19 | – |
| Veery | 2 | – |
| Swainson’s Thrush | 2 | – |
| Gray Catbird | 2 | – |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 29 | – |
| Northern Parula | 27 | – |
| Magnolia Warbler | 1 | – |
| Cape May Warbler | 9 | – |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 72 | – |
| Yellow-throated Warbler | 1 | – |
| Prairie Warbler | 21 | – |
| Western Palm Warbler | 2 | – |
| Black-and-white Warbler | 65 | – |
| American Redstart | 140 | – |
| Prothonotary Warbler | 4 | – |
| Worm-eating Warbler | 80 | – |
| Swainson’s Warbler | 20 | – |
| Ovenbird | 189 | 4 |
| Northern Waterthrush | 66 | – |
| Louisiana Waterthrush | 4 | – |
| Common Yellowthroat | 49 | – |
| Hooded Warbler | 2 | – |
| Canada Warbler | 1 | – |
| Northern Cardinal | 10 | – |
| Blue Grosbeak | 1 | – |
| Common Grackle | 1 | – |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| DAILY TOTAL | 13 | 9 | 23 | 134 | 11.19 |
| SEASON TOTAL | 848 | 33 | 23 | 5837.50 | 15.98 |