While in the late-summer complete molt birds can look pretty scruffy, especially when they lose most of their head feathers at once. Notice the pin feathers on the skull of this Common grackle. Cardinals and Blue jays can also look pretty bad this time of the year. It’s only for a short time, and this young male already has the glossy purple fresh adult feathers covering most of his wings.
A flock of 6 Common grackles was the excitement of the morning, all in the same net at the same time. Some escaped out of the net but 3 were banded. A Prairie warbler and first American redstart rounded out the morning as the hot still weather continues. We are closing nets a little earlier than normal due to the heat. The heat index has been in the triple digits all week.
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN | RECAP |
| Prairie warbler | 1 | – | – |
| American redstart | 1 | – | – |
| Common grackle | 3 | – | – |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| DAILY TOTAL | 5 | 4 | 23 | 102 | 4.90 |
| SEASON TOTAL | 15 | 7 | 23 | 283.5 | 5.29 |