We also catch Blue-gray gnatcatchers and Red-eyed vireos, and today was the first day to band both as the stream of migrants continued. Winds were calm overnight and we could hear a smattering of birds around while we were opening nets at sunrise. Ovenbirds came in today and beat out American redstarts for the number one capture. The weather continues to be very hot with a few pop-up thunderstorms to cool things down across the bay on the mainland, but at least birds are on the move again!
Blue-gray gnatcatchers are the smallest birds we band, coming in at a whopping 6 grams. These are very common in our area in the winter and are useful for locating flocks of migrants because of their incessant ‘cheee’ call.
This young Red-eyed vireo is more accurately described as a brown-eyed vireo. Also note the blue feet, a characteristic shared by several species of vireos.
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN | RECAP |
| Great-crested flycatcher | 1 | – | – |
| Red-eyed vireo | 1 | – | – |
| Blue-gray gnatcatcher | 2 | – | – |
| Northern parula | 1 | – | – |
| Black-and-white warbler | 3 | – | – |
| American redstart | 8 | – | – |
| Worm-eating warbler | 2 | – | – |
| Ovenbird | 13 | – | 1 |
| Northern waterthrush | 4 | – | – |
| Common grackle | 1 | – | – |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| DAILY TOTAL | 36 | 10 | 23 | 140 | 27.14 |
| SEASON TOTAL | 179 | 17 | 23 | 1693 | 11.99 |