The peak days of spring migration in late April featured continuing strong easterly winds, and the majority of migrating birds were blown to the west of us; coming up through Cape Sable and Southwest Florida. We have heard this story a lot in the last two years.
The winds relaxed towards the end of the month, and we were greeted with thunderstorms over our site in the morning of April 30, delaying net opening by a couple of hours. The rain moved away by 1030, and we started seeing birds in the woods! Ovenbirds were especially abundant, and we were herding them in front of us as we walked the trails. 40 of the 79 birds banded this day were Ovenbirds! Cape May Warblers were also common, although they mostly stayed out of reach in the tops of the fruiting strangler figs. Some American Redstarts and Northern Waterthrush arrived late in the afternoon.
Here is a selection of some of the birds banded in the last week. The interesting variety is somewhat making up for the lack of numbers this spring.
These last two species were the most unusual captures on April 30 and added a little spice to the day.
The Phoebes birding group visited the station on Sunday May 1, and they were able to see a few birds in the hand and learn about the data we collect, although most of the birds from the day before had moved on. All those Ovenbirds left the previous night to continue their journey.
April 30 2022
| SPECIES | NEW | RECAP |
| Bicknell’s Thrush | 1 | – |
| Gray Catbird | 1 | – |
| Northern Parula | 1 | – |
| Cape May Warbler | 3 | – |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 11 | – |
| Western Palm Warbler | 1 | – |
| Black & white Warbler | 2 | – |
| American Redstart | 9 | – |
| Worm-eating Warbler | 1 | – |
| Ovenbird | 40 | 1 |
| Northern Waterthrush | 2 | – |
| Common Yellowthroat | 5 | – |
| Northern Cardinal | – | 1 |
| Rose-breasted Grosbeak | 1 | – |
| Indigo Bunting | 1 | – |
| TOTAL | 79 | 2 |
Spring 2022 Totals (from March 15)
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | – |
| Common Ground-dove | 3 | – |
| Chuck-will’s Widow | 4 | – |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | 1 | – |
| Blue-headed Vireo | 1 | – |
| Black-whiskered Vireo | 1 | – |
| Bicknell’s Thrush | 1 | – |
| Wood Thrush | 1 | – |
| Gray Catbird | 71 | 4 |
| Brown Thrasher | 1 | – |
| Northern Parula | 14 | – |
| Magnolia Warbler | 1 | – |
| Cape May Warbler | 14 | – |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 53 | – |
| Prairie Warbler | 71 | – |
| Western Palm Warbler | 9 | – |
| Black & white Warbler | 38 | 3 |
| American Redstart | 47 | 1 |
| Worm-eating Warbler | 40 | – |
| Swainson’s Warbler | 13 | – |
| Ovenbird | 77 | 3 |
| Northern Waterthrush | 33 | – |
| Louisiana Waterthrush | 3 | – |
| Kentucky Warbler | 2 | – |
| Common Yellowthroat | 34 | 1 |
| Hooded Warbler | 2 | – |
| Northern Cardinal | 8 | 12 |
| Rose-breasted Grosbeak | 1 | – |
| Indigo Bunting | 4 | – |
| Painted Bunting | 4 | 1 |
| Common Grackle | 1 | – |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| SEASON TOTAL | 580 | 31 | 25 | 6700.5 | 9.18 |