It’s October, and our numbers are finally (starting) to show that fall migration is happening. In these first two weeks of October, we captured 617 birds of 34 species. We can still expect to see a few more species (last year’s crew had reached 50 by this date, but who’s counting?) before the end of the season. Still, shifting winds at the beginning of this month have started to shift the odds in our favor. Winds are blowing out of the north west more consistently, pushing more birds our way. On October 3rd, we had our biggest day of the season yet with 128 birds of 17 species, including some pretty special guests like our first gray cheeked thrush of the season, and some good challenge birds for the newly converted birders, like this chestnut-sided warbler.
Despite the high numbers of the third, the other days brought some more exciting species to the roster, like a blue-winged warbler, eastern wood-pewee, summer tanager, and rose-breasted grosbeak. All of these are species we won’t see many more of this season, so these crews can consider themselves lucky!
In addition to these once-in-a-season birds, we also started to see some of the first movements of the species that will become much more prevalent in the weeks ahead. Right on cue, our first gray catbird of the season arrived on October 2nd. Common yellowthroats have picked up substantially, with 70 birds banded in this two week period compared to 32 for the rest of the season so far. And right as they’ve started hitting your feeders, the painted buntings have started to arrive at the banding station, too, greeting our volunteers on the outside trail with a flurry of sweet chips and hurried flutters as they alternate between foraging in the grass and hiding in the shrubby understory. Another late fall migrant, the western palm warbler, arrived in larger numbers towards the end of this period, with ten individuals banded on October 15th. Walk along the birding trail and you’re likely to flush a few out of the grass.
We are also reaching peak black-throated blue warbler time, but there is a definite shift. While both males and females migrate together, the hatch year birds making this journey for the first time have largely passed through by now and we are starting to see primarily adults. Their migration pattern in the spring is quite different, with males rushing back to the breeding grounds to establish territories before females start their return journey. It’s fascinating to see these trends that have been scientifically substantiated with large banding data sets in the hand! If you’ve been taking photos this fall migration, you might even be able to verify this yourself by comparing the more greenish wash on the back and wing feathers of hatch year males with the more blue tones of the after hatch year males you’re seeing now.
We’ve had some exciting days in October so far, but the best should still be ahead of us! We can only wait to see what the first cold front of the season will bring us. Here’s hoping we get a repeat of last year!
| SPECIES | NEW 10/1-10/15 | RETURN 10/1-10/15 | SEASON TOTAL (new & return) |
| Merlin | – | – | 1 |
| White-crowned pigeon | 1 | – | 2 |
| Chuck-will’s widow | 2 | – | 7 |
| Red-bellied woodpecker | 1 | – | 2 |
| Eastern Wood-pewee | 1 | – | 1 |
| Traill’s flycatcher | 1 | – | 10 |
| Great crested flycatcher | – | – | 3 |
| Red-eyed vireo | 14 | – | 50 |
| White-eyed Vireo | 14 | – | 19 |
| Veery | 2 | – | 7 |
| Gray-cheeked thrush | 10 | – | 10 |
| Swainson’s Thrush | 15 | – | 25 |
| Gray catbird | 56 | 1 | 57 |
| Blue-gray gnatcatcher | 1 | 1 | 17 |
| Northern parula | 16 | – | 41 |
| Blue-winged warbler | 1 | – | 1 |
| Tennessee warbler | 2 | – | 2 |
| Chestnut-sided warbler | 1 | – | 1 |
| Cape May warbler | 9 | – | 21 |
| Magnolia warbler | 6 | – | 6 |
| Black-throated blue warbler | 100 | – | 154 |
| Prairie warbler | 3 | – | 22 |
| Western Palm Warbler | 14 | – | 16 |
| Bay-breasted warbler | 1 | – | 1 |
| Black & white warbler | 38 | – | 110 |
| American redstart | 99 | – | 247 |
| Prothonotary warbler | – | – | 4 |
| Worm-eating warbler | 26 | – | 141 |
| Swainson’s warbler | 11 | – | 48 |
| Ovenbird | 76 | 1 | 300 |
| Northern waterthrush | 4 | – | 65 |
| Louisiana waterthrush | – | – | 3 |
| Connecticut Warbler | – | – | 1 |
| Common yellowthroat | 70 | – | 102 |
| Hooded warbler | 2 | – | 8 |
| Yellow-breasted Chat | – | – | 1 |
| Summer tanager | 1 | – | 1 |
| Northern cardinal | – | – | 7 |
| Rose-breasted grosbeak | 1 | – | 1 |
| Indigo bunting | 1 | – | 1 |
| Painted bunting | 14 | – | 15 |
| Common grackle | – | – | 1 |
| 614 | 3 | 1532 |
| # BIRDS CAPTURED | # SPECIES | # NETS | NET HOURS | CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH) | |
| TOTAL FROM 10/1-10/15 | 617 | 34 | 25 | 1716.5 | 35.95 |
| TOTAL FROM 9/16-9/30 | 501 | 25 | 25 | 1452.67 | 34.49 |
| TOTAL FROM 8/15-9/15 | 414 | 24 | 25 | 3430.31 | 12.07 |
| SEASON TOTAL | 1532 | 31 | 25 | 6599.48 | 23.21 |
Post by Steffanie Munguia