Solid numbers of our expected species came through today, and this NE wind event is proving to not be as dull as feared. Worm-eating warblers and Black & white warblers combined to make up 60% of our captures, but the bird of the day was definitely this young Cooper’s hawk. Our banding station is geared towards catching warblers and other small songbirds, but occasionally a hawk will get in the nets and not escape. We tend to mostly capture Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s hawks, since they prefer to hunt in the woods rather than in the sky overhead. Occasionally we will snag a Broad-winged or Red-shouldered hawk.
The Cooper’s hawk shows adaptations for maneuverability in dense habitat such as rounded wings and a long tail. They often will surprise prey by suddenly coming around a corner or through the trees.
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN | RECAP |
| Cooper’s hawk | 1 | – | – |
| Chuck-will’s widow | 1 | – | 1 |
| Blue-gray gnatcatcher | – | – | 1 |
| Cape May warbler | 2 | – | – |
| American redstart | 9 | – | 1 |
| Black-throated blue warbler | 3 | – | – |
| Black-and-white warbler | 18 | – | 1 |
| Ovenbird | 5 | – | – |
| Worm-eating warbler | 16 | – | – |
| Swainson’s warbler | – | – | 1 |
| Northern waterthrush | 2 | – | 1 |
| Common yellowthroat | 3 | – | – |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| DAILY TOTAL | 60 | 10 | 23 | 179 | 36.31 |
| SEASON TOTAL | 794 | 31 | 23 | 4427.3 | 19.94 |