Bird Banding 9-24-10

Friday morning, I joined Emily Thomas for some bird banding once again at Sunset Park in State College. We had a great morning and caught 31 individual birds. There were many amazing suprises today. The first was that we caught a Song Sparrow and a Swamp Sparrow. Both of these birds are in the Melospiza genus. In North America, there is only one other species in this genus and I joked to the others that I hoped we would catch the third; the Lincoln's Sparrow. Sure enough, later in the morning a Lincoln's Sparrow flew into one of the mist nets. This was a year bird for me and it was an excellent chance for us to see the three, very closely related species up close and personal. The second suprise was a Gray-cheecked Thrush that was captured in one of the mist nets. I didnt see the bird till it was brought back from the nets and someone mentioned it was a thrush but they didnt know what kind. I figured it was a Swainson's Thrush since tons are migrating over right now, and I have heard hundreds passing over during the night whenever I go outside. But passed on certain plumage characteristics, it was for sure a Gray-cheeked Thrush, another year bird for me!

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Common Yellowthroat

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Me and a Blue Jay

Tufted Titmouse

Eastern Towhee

Magnolia Warbler

Black-capped Chickadees

White-throated Sparrows

Here is a complete list of the birds we captured and banded:

10 gray catbirds
4 black-capped chickadees
3 white-throated sparrows
2 song sparrows
2 common yellowthroats
1 swamp sparrow
1 house wren
1 gray-cheeked thrush
1 blue jay
1 Northern cardinal
1 tufted titmouse
1 Eastern towhee
1 magnolia warbler
1 Lincoln's sparrow
1 Northern mockingbird

For more photos from today and other banding days at Sunset Park, visit my Picasa Web Album at this link.