The total number of migrants captured during the last week went back down but we had some highlights that added some interesting diversity. The most notable bird is this male Mourning warbler banded today; a very rare species in South Florida. We see them occasionally in the Fall but there are very few spring records. Mourning warblers almost entirely migrate around the Western Gulf up through Texas on their way to and from breeding grounds in Canada, so this guy is pretty far off course. They are somewhat similar to Common yellowthroats and also hang out in dense understory, but Mourning warblers are brighter yellow underneath and the adult male has a distinctive dark gray head with a black bib.
Here are some of the other new species to come through in recent days:
Winds are forecast to be out of the south for the rest of this week with little rain, so we don’t expect any big numbers of migrants to settle in as the tailwind will likely carry them over us each night.
TOTALS TO MAY 2 2021
| SPECIES | NEW | RETURN |
| Yellow-billed cuckoo | 1 | – |
| Chuck-will’s widow | 3 | – |
| Blue-headed vireo | 1 | – |
| Black-whiskered vireo | 1 | – |
| Gray catbird | 94 | 4 |
| Gray-cheeked thrush | 1 | – |
| Hermit thrush | 1 | – |
| Golden-winged warbler | 1 | – |
| Northern parula | 14 | – |
| Magnolia warbler | 1 | – |
| Cape May warbler | 2 | – |
| Black-throated blue warbler | 121 | – |
| Western palm warbler | 7 | – |
| Blackpoll warbler | 2 | – |
| Black and white warbler | 54 | 4 |
| American redstart | 103 | – |
| Prothonotary warbler | 1 | – |
| Prairie warbler | 44 | 2 |
| Worm-eating warbler | 36 | – |
| Swainson’s warbler | 4 | – |
| Ovenbird | 40 | 4 |
| Louisiana waterthrush | 2 | – |
| Northern waterthrush | 34 | – |
| Mourning warbler | 1 | – |
| Common yellowthroat | 86 | 1 |
| Hooded warbler | 1 | – |
| Summer tanager | 1 | – |
| Northern cardinal | 2 | 11 |
| Indigo bunting | 3 | – |
| Painted bunting | 5 | – |
| Common grackle | 1 | – |
| TOTAL | 668 | 26 |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| SEASON TOTAL | 694 | 31 | 23 | 6010 | 12.33 |