South winds all last night combined with a very heavy layer of fog this morning made for a fairly slow day of bird banding, but we still had quite a bit of fun. Twenty-seven individual birds were captured of 11 species. Two Ovenbirds were banded, one of which was incredibly fat (with a bulging area of fat on its upper … Read More
Mourning Warbler – PSU Fall Banding
We had another great morning of bird banding in the PSU Arboretum today, with 4 warbler species captured including a stunning juvenile female Mourning Warbler. Other species captured this morning were 1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, 1 Ovenbird, 1 Common Yellowthroat, 1 Magnolia Warbler, 2 Blue Jays, 2 Wood Thrushes, 12 Gray Catbirds, 1 Brown Thrasher, 4 Eastern Towhees, and 1 House … Read More
Black-and-white Warbler – PSU Fall Banding
This morning was the PSU Forest Fest in the Botanic Gardens, so to make access for visitors easier, we moved the banding station up from Big Hollow. With two nets around bird feeders and the rest down along the forest edge, we were ready to catch a nice collection of birds to show the public. The highlight today was this … Read More
Yellow-bellied Invasion – PSU Fall Banding
After a week’s worth of warm weather, the cold front moving through also brought an incredible push of migrants across the Northeast. I was very excited to get out this morning and try to catch some birds, hoping Big Hollow would be full of migrants. As I was walking to the banding site I could hear (and sometimes see) warblers … Read More
Connecticut Warbler! – PSU Fall Banding
Today was the kick-off to our 2013 fall banding season at Penn State University’s Big Hollow site, located within the 370 acre arboretum. We will be banding multiple mornings per week, usually Tuesday and Thursday, and the public is welcome to attend. Today’s highlight was a juvenile Connecticut Warbler, and I pretty much went nuts when I saw another bander … Read More
Delaware’s 1st Anna’s Hummingbird!
Read some newer info about the identification of this bird. Each winter, as word gets out to more and more people to keep their hummingbird feeders out and ready throughout the late fall and winter months, increasing reports of rare western hummingbirds have been surfacing across the eastern states. Literally hundreds of Rufous Hummingbirds were found at feeders along the … Read More
Rufous Hummingbird continues in Juniata County
An immature female Rufous Hummingbird that was banded and officially IDed as such back in November by Wayne Laubscher is continuing at the same location into the new year. I posted about this bird back on November 21st with a few photos of the bird (including some from Wayne from when he banded it), but I stopped by again today and … Read More
Banding an Allen’s Hummingbird
Recently author, bird bander and one of Nemesis Bird’s favorite people, Scott Weidensaul, had the chance to band Pennsylvania’s 4th record of an Allen’s Hummingbird. Audubon at Home recorded the banding, and as always, Scott pals a lot of great educational info into a small bit of video. Are you still seeing hummingbirds at your feeder?
Calliope Hummingbird – PA’s 2nd State Record!
On October 21st, Joe Flood spotted a hummingbird coming to the feeders in his backyard in Devon, PA. Joe thought it may just be a late moving Ruby-throated Hummingbird but had had a Rufous Hummingbird visit his yard the year before, so he posted photos on the PA Birders Facebook page looking for another opinion. While looking at the PA … Read More
When a Bird Becomes an Individual: the One-legged Great Egret
Books can be (and are) written about the ornithological knowledge gained through studies that involve the practice known as “bird banding” (or “ringing” overseas). To put it simply, banding involves the capture and marking of a wild bird with a unique serial number. In the USA and Canada, those numbers are generated by the US Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory. … Read More