And then there were eleven.....

Banding has definitely been off to a slow start this year. The first week we caught a total of twenty birds, of which there were eleven different species. The number one species caught was actually a three way tie: Brown Creeper, Song Sparrow, and American Robin. The highlight for me was definitely catching not one but two female Hairy Woodpeckers; it seems that there is a nesting pair at both banding sites. And by the look of both of their brood patches, I would surmise that there is also a nest at both locations. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that we have some southerly winds soon that push the migrants our way!

Banding Summary 4/21/15-4/28/15

Northern Cardinal- 2
Eastern Towhee- 1
Eastern Phoebe- 1
Brown Creeper- 3
Brown Thrasher- 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher- 1
Hairy Woodpecker- 2
White-breasted Nuthatch- 1
American Robin- 3
Song Sparrow- 3
Hermit Thrush- 2

This is a nice example of the moult pattern that you would expect to find in the primary coverts of a woodpecker, in this case a Hairy Woodpecker, that is a Third Year bird. Ie, she was born in 2013.

This is an example of a very vascularised brood patch on a Hairy Woodpecker. With woodpeckers, both the male and the female can develop brood patches but only the female will have one so extensive. It is without a doubt that she has a nest somewhere nearby.