Just because we love vireos!
This is possibly a Cassin’s vireo , the western counterpart to the Blue-headed vireo; a common winter visitor to south Florida. The two species were, together with the Plumbeous vireo, once all considered Solitary vireos. This bird is much duller than most Blue-headeds, and it is more than a month early in arriving. Measurements of this bird are in the zone of overlap between the two species.
The guy below with the yellow face is a much more straightforward ID problem. He is a very young White-eyed vireo who still has a completely dark eye. The eyes will gradually lighten over the next few months.
And while we are on the subject of cute…….
This blue-gray gnatcatcher did not want to leave Marty’s finger today and perched there for several minutes.
We added a new net lane recently, to try and capture more open-country birds. Robin Diaz smiles in anticipation of the goodies this net will catch. Your Adopt-a-Net dollars at work!
The first bird the new net caught was an adult male Painted bunting; our first of the season. They are just now arriving for the winter in south Florida so get your feeders ready! Mike Diaz shows off this beauty:
September came and went without any major weather events. No tropical storms, and one front that took forever to get here and fizzled out by the time it did. We had a light but steady stream of birds all month, and the diversity continued to increase although we still have not captured some of the more unusual but regular species for here, such as Canada and Chestnut-sided warblers. The busiest day was Sept 29, with 55 birds banded of 15 species.
Celeste de Palma holds a Gray catbird she got out of a net.
September at a glance: 643 birds captured of 36 species. Days open: 30.
Top ten:
Ovenbird-187
Worm-eating warbler-90
American redstart-69
Northern waterthrush-50
Black-throated blue warbler-49
Black & white warbler-38
Red-eyed vireo-32
Common yellowthroat-19
Blue-gray gnatcatcher-17
Swainson’s warbler-13
Dontcha love those species ID dilemmas? Gives us a good challenge!
Had a great time banding on Sunday. I hope you post some pics of the two subspecies of black-throated blue together. The ‘cairnsi’ bird we observed on was more different ooking than I thought. Of course the vireo is much bigger news! Let us know which it is determined to be.