Exciting news! Today marks the kick-off for Give Miami Day’s early giving, and we’re diving into fundraising via our own champion page through Tropical Audubon Society’s portal. All the funds donated through this link will go directly to our project!
Help us soar to new heights in bird research and conservation by sharing this link and/or contributing directly:
https://www.givemiamiday.org/story/L6fx6g
We wrapped up our season on November 2nd, marking the end of a season of funky firsts – our first without Michelle, our first Merlin, and our first Northern Flicker!
The Northern Flicker was an especially exciting first for the station, banded on October 20th. Although similarly adept at scaling trees as other woodpeckers, Flickers are known for spending more of their time foraging on the ground. Here in its eastern range, the flicker has vibrant yellow edging on the flight feathers and tail, whereas its western counterpart flashes red. They were previously considered two separate species!
The station’s first ever Northern Flicker! She is a hatch year female and we were delighted with her presence as she flew into net 4 while having a loud encounter with a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
One of our newer volunteers, Carolina Bello, in action about to release the Northern Flicker. That day they were wearing a shirt with a “Flicker world tour” print from singer Niall Horan. Looks like we are going to have to start wearing more bird shirts to get the birds we desire to band ;). (Photos and text by Nasim Mahomar)
The last two weeks in general were an appropriate end to what had been an unusually slow season. While we had initially intended to close a full week later, migration had slowed so substantially that the extra week was not likely to yield much more data. We landed shy of 2,000 birds (a milestone we had hit last fall by the second to last week of October), with an average capture rate of 19 birds per hundred net hours compared to last fall’s capture rate of 23 birds per hundred net hours.
While most species numbers were declining in these final couple of weeks, we were still able to pick up the bulk of our Catbirds and Painted Buntings for the season (traditionally later-in-the-season migrants), as well as some other less common species. These included an Eastern phoebe, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Philadelphia Vireo and La Sagra’s Flycatcher.
Gallery of Eastern Phoebe, Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Philadelphia Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo (Photo by: Nicole Rita)
Eastern Phoebe (Photo by: Nicole Rita)
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Photo by: Carolina Bello)
Yes, you read that right. Those who have followed the station, or keep a close eye on the rare bird alerts for the county, might remember that we had a La Sagra’s turn up in spring of 2022 and hang around the station for several days (literally flying up to the canopy net several times before bailing out inches away from the net). Despite all of our best efforts at manifestation, we did not manage to band that individual, but the shifting winds of early November gave us another chance and on the last day, we were successful.
This Cuban/Bahamian vagrant is most often distinguished by its call, but captured birds rarely perform their traditional vocalizations. Similar in size to the Great Crested Flycatcher, this species is noticeably more gray-brown overall than its much more colorful weight-class companion. This was a great final gift for the season, especially as we hadn’t banded one since April of 2009!
La Sagra’s Flycatcher banded on November 2nd. (Photo by Nicole Rita)
We also recaptured a spunky White-eyed Vireo that had been banded in Fall of 2020! But the few additional years and extra net run-ins didn’t prevent this bird from expressing its dissatisfaction.
A White-eyed Vireo that is at least 3 years old. (Photo by Miriam Avello)
Guess who? A young green heron who most certainly learned its lesson to be more careful while foraging around the marsh net number 20. (photo by: Nicole Rita)
At the end of the season, our top 10 remained mostly the same as last fall, though ovenbirds won the numbers game this year at a whopping 321 individuals! Swainson’s warblers (soon to be renamed) were narrowly beat out for spot #10 by red-eyed vireos. We saw proportionally fewer Black-throated blue Warblers this season, but Worm-eating Warblers were more prevalent (and even persisted much later in the season than usual – I banded one one November 1st). To get a sense of the impact of these species in our total counts, the top 10 made up 85% of the birds captured, which included 49 species.
The top spots in our books are occupied by the people who helped make it possible to gather these critical data. They include our fearless leaders, Nasim and Nicole; our team of banders-in-charge, Liz, Miriam, and Steffanie; and the whole flock of volunteers who donate their time and energy to the birds. We also thank Robin Diaz for her continued assistance with data entry, and of course, Michelle, for the ongoing support and friendly competition across the flyway. We are incredibly grateful for the incredible community of bird lovers in South Florida who have supported the station for more than two decades, including our Adopt-A-Net sponsors who raised $3,600 this season! Thank you all for making this possible. We’ll see you in Spring 2024!
Post by Steffanie Munguia