A weak stalling front worked its way into the area overnight and hundreds of birds were riding it down. The sky over Cape Florida was full of migrants at sunrise; thrushes, warblers, herons and Bobolinks. The warblers settled into the woods while the Bobolinks streamed overhead all morning. We banded the typical Caribbean migrants and a few other species were seen but not captured such as Blackburnian warbler, Summer tanager, Yellow-throated vireo, Veery and Swainson’s thrush. Ovenbird was the bird of the day, and they were doing their chicken walk along all the paths today.
‘You looking at me?’ Left: adult female Black & white warbler. Right: adult male Black-throated blue warbler.
This is an adult red-eyed vireo. Hatching year birds have brown eyes through their first fall. Red-eyed vireos have a long migration to northern South America so they put on huge amounts of fat to fuel the trip. We banded 3 adults today, which is a little unusual since we mostly band hatch-year birds at Cape Florida.
Totals: 87 new 1 return (Ovenbird) from Fall 2013
Ovenbird: 31
American redstart: 13
Northern waterthrush: 11
Worm-eating warbler: 9
Black-and-white warbler: 6
Black-throated blue warbler: 6
Red-eyed vireo: 3
Swainson’s warbler: 3
Common yellowthroat: 3
Northern parula: 2
Prairie warbler: 1
We’re hoping for another good day tomorrow since the stalled front is still in the area.
I knew it was a good omen this week when I saw the “Neglected 88” butterfly here in Ecuador … it was a sign you guys would catch 88 birds! Nice red-eyed vireo pic! We have been seeing a lot of them down here in the tropics, but I think the birds here, at least the ones we’ve seen, are probably residents. Have fun and keep up the good work!