Strong northeast winds have been in place for nearly the entire month of October, and the forecast shows no signs of them abating before we close. We have had mostly single-digit daily captures for the past three weeks, when usually we should have a few 100 plus days mixed in. Persistent high pressure to the north of us has combined with low pressure in the Caribbean to increase the wind speeds to 25-30 mph over the last few days, so the station has had to shut down for now. The Saturday crew tried to band today, opening only the most protected nets in the forest, and were rewarded with one gray catbird for their efforts.
A few interesting birds did trickle in during the past few days. Here is a portrait of a female Sharp-shinned hawk. We banded three Sharpies on Oct 21, and hawk migration during those days was phenomenal! Every time we looked up into the sky while doing net runs we saw raptors; mostly Sharp-shins, Cooper’s hawks, Merlins, Kestrels, Broad-wings and a few Northern harriers and Short-tailed hawks.
A dry front passed that night, but few birds landed at Cape Florida. Several wintering species did arrive following the front, such as this Myrtle warbler.
This very cute Philadelphia vireo was banded on Oct 19.
Ive been involved with banding but how do ya’ll net hawks?