Fall 2009: Week #5 in review

It was another quiet week. There was an influx of migrants on Sep 15, and some obvious large movements of American Robins and Blue Jays beginning on Sep 17. Some new species were recorded this week. Philadelphia Vireos have a very tight fall migration window right around September 15. We saw our first on Sep 12, and banded two on the 15th.

The 16th saw our first White-throated Sparrow of the season, and more were around on Sep 20. Sep 19 we had our first Gray-cheeked Thrush. Cape May Warblers seem to have had a good year. We banded two nice-looking hatching-year males, one of which is shown at the top of the post.
Two older birds were also recaptured this week. The first was a female Northern Cardinal first banded as an adult on April 13, 2003, making her at least 7 years old. We had recaptured her a number of times in 2003 and 2004, but this was the first recapture since then.

Next was a Gray Catbird that had been banded as an adult, in its second year, on May 17, 2005, making this bird at least five years old. We have captured it several times each year, often in breeding condition -- this was a male.
And here's my ID tip of the week (don't get your hopes up that I'll have one weekly!). The bird above is a Chestnut-sided Warbler. Like many (most that I see) individuals of this species in the fall, there isn't any chestnut on the sides. However, the color of the back and top of the head are very distinctive. To me, it's just like the color you get when you use a fluorescent yellow highlighter on newsprint. What do you think?