Spring 2023 Wrap-Up

We ended the season on May 15 with 1,310 birds of 32 species banded or recaptured. This is slightly more birds overall than in 2022, and this year followed a similar pattern where we banded as many birds in the first two weeks of May as we did in the previous 6 weeks.  The top 5 species were 225 Common Yellowthroats, 200 American Redstarts, 172 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 129 Ovenbirds, and 109 Northern Waterthrush. Nothing weird turned up in our nets and we were teased by Black-whiskered Vireos, Scarlet Tanagers and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks that remained unbanded. We did encounter a record 10 Veery and 21 Swainson’s Warblers, with 3 of the latter overwintering birds banded during Fall 2022!

Last bird on last day, a female Black-throated Blue Warbler. With famous background tree whose bark has been featured in hundreds of photos over the years. (photo by Jackie Guzy)

After the huge push of birds the first week of May, we settled into a steady stream of mostly female or young male American Redstarts and female Common Yellowthroats, with a smattering of other species sprinkled in. A female Blackpoll Warbler graced us with her presence on the final day. The weather was already hot and summer-like, but at least the late April mosquito outbreak has died down. Redstarts quietly foraged around us in small groups as we took down the nets for the season. We ended with our mascot, the Black-throated Blue Warbler.

Female Blackpoll Warbler (photo by Bob Warren)

Male Common Yellowthroat (Photo by Jackie Guzy)

One last Connecticut Warbler was mixed in with all the Common Yellowthroats on May 12. Here is a good comparison of the two, as over-eager birders sometimes confuse them. First of all, Common Yellowthroats should be called Extremely Abundant Yellowthroats, as they can be everywhere on some days during migration. There are a lot of them, and they have a long migration period, plus some winter here and others breed here, at least out in the Everglades. Connecticut Warblers are much rarer, and generally are only seen here in spring during the first two weeks in May.

Connecticut Warbler (left) and Common Yellowthroat females (photo by Nasim Mahomar)

Both these birds are females with similar plumage; the males are easy to distinguish from each other. The Connecticut Warbler is a larger, bulkier bird who walks rather than hops, and has a brighter, even-colored lemon yellow on her underparts. The grayish breast and throat is distinctive, and the complete eye-ring gives her away. Female Common Yellowthroats can be an assortment of colors, with some individuals very dull and others brighter yellow underneath. They almost always have more of an egg-yolk yellow throat, a buffy or whitish belly, and the yellow resumes on the under-tail coverts. They also generally only have a hint of an eye ring, although this can be variable. The Yellowthroat in the photo has a trace of the face pattern one would expect to see in a female Black-throated Blue Warbler.

Eddy, Steffanie, Michelle, Sierra, Nahuel, Karlisa and a Prairie Warbler (Photo by Karlisa Callwood)

And finally, we end with some photos of some of our volunteers and guests over the spring. Our volunteers are the heart and soul of the Cape Florida Banding Station, and without you this 21-year dataset involving over 46,000 birds would not have been possible. Along the way we have built a great community and established some life-long friendships.  It is hard to find the words to convey how much I thank y’all for helping allow this dream I had a long time ago to become such a solid reality!

-Michelle Davis

Gus, Yvette, Eddy, Danny and Miriam (photo by Eliana Ardila)

Our classic guys!

American Redstart (left) and Black-throated Blue Warbler males (Photo by Steffanie Munguía)

Spring 2023 Totals

SPECIES	NEW	RETURN
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	–
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	–
Chuck-will’s Widow	3	–
Great Crested Flycatcher	1	–
Veery	10	–
Gray-cheeked Thrush	2	–
Bicknell’s Thrush	2	–
Swainson’s Thrush	2	–
Wood Thrush	1	–
Gray Catbird	85	7
Northern Parula	30	–
Magnolia Warbler	4	2
Cape May Warbler	5	–
Black-throated Blue Warbler	172	–
Myrtle Warbler	5	–
Prairie Warbler	69	–
Western Palm Warbler	3	–
Blackpoll Warbler	23	–
Black & White Warbler	103	4
American Redstart	198	2
Worm-eating Warbler	55	–
Swainson’s Warbler	18	3
Ovenbird	122	7
Northern Waterthrush	109	–
Louisiana Waterthrush	5	–
Connecticut Warbler	2	–
Common Yellowthroat	225	–
Hooded Warbler	1	–
Northern Cardinal	5	8
Indigo Bunting	8	–
Painted Bunting	6	–
Common Grackle	1	–

	# BIRDS CAPTURED	# SPECIES	# NETS	NET HOURS	CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH)
SEASON TOTAL	1310	32	24	6908.25	20.06

Warblerpallooza!

April was a busy month for people at the Banding Station as we hosted Outdoor Afro, Tropical Audubon, and Boy Scout Troop 314, as well as independent visitors from as far away as Poland. We showed birds in the hand to dozens of local Key Biscayne residents and potential new birders at the inaugural Marius Robinson Bird Festival, held on April 23 in Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. Visitors braved the nasty mosquito outbreak to see a nice selection of catbirds, warblers and buntings.

Miriam and Rachel show a Worm-eating Warbler to bird walk participants at the Marius Robinson Bird Festival on April 23. (Photo by Eliana Ardila)

The east winds continued all through April, and bird migration was very sparse through Cape Florida during the last week of the month. We were entertained by several Indigo Buntings that were molting into their gorgeous spring colors, and thrushes started to appear, especially Veery. A male Scarlet Tanager remained frustratingly out of reach above one of the nets for an afternoon. Mosquitos were awful as a result of the flooding rains that occurred on April 11 and 12. And it was hot.

Indigo Bunting male (photo by Nasim Mahomar)

A dramatic squall line blew through South Florida on April 30, and we woke up to a new world on Monday, May 1. The wind was blowing strong out of the west, the humidity was lower, and mostly there were birds around!

Black-throated Blue Warbler female (photo by Miriam Avello)

The west winds held for the next 5 days, and the number of birds passing through Cape Florida kept increasing every day, peaking on May 3 and 4. All of the common species that winter in the Greater Antilles were well represented, and we banded our first Connecticut Warbler of the season on May 3! Hopefully we will see a few more in the next week before we close on May 15.

American Redstart second-season male (photo by Miriam Avello)

There were a lot of male American Redstarts around, including the splotchy second-year males that sometimes remind us of acne-riddled teenagers. The American Redstart is the only warbler that takes two years to reach the adult black-and-orange plumage, although the second-years can hold territories and breed. Black-throated Blue Warblers were also on the move, with a majority of them females. Some other less common species were sprinkled in, too, such as this Magnolia Warbler and two Swainson’s Thrushes; a rare spring migrant on the Atlantic coast in South Florida. Both Gray-Cheeked Thrush and the closely-related Bicknell’s Thrush were also banded.

Magnolia Warbler male (photo by Michelle Davis)

Blackpoll Warbler male (photo by Michelle Davis)

The species diversity in spring is much lower than in the fall at our location, as the majority of neotropical migrating birds are moving north across the Gulf or up through southern Texas to then spread out across eastern North America. Birds moving through the Florida peninsula are almost all coming from the Greater Antilles or northern South America, and the Central American wintering species that add exciting diversity to our days were mostly seen in Key West or points further west. However, sometimes we see more individuals during the big spring fallouts. It is rare that we have to close nets due to a high volume of birds in the fall, but we closed all the nets on May 3 and reopened only a section of them after we caught up banding. We only opened 11 nets on May 4 and still banded plenty of birds.

West winds were driving the northbound birds out over the Atlantic, and some friends on a boat offshore saw flocks of hundreds of warblers heading north. We had a mix of physical conditions and some birds were very skinny while others of the same species were very fat. One of the reasons we have larger waves of birds in spring is that their migration period is more compressed than in fall, with the bulk of migrants moving through our area in a two to three week period around the end of April and beginning of May. Fall migration is more drawn-out, with the adult birds moving quickly south and the young of the year finding their way down for the first time. Spring birds are on a mission: get that nice territory and get that nest built and eggs laid!

Julie, Michelle and Liz banding on May 3. (photo by David Die)

Total banded (May 3/May 4) 230/148

Veery- 1/0

Gray-cheeked Thrush- 1/0

Swainson’s Thrush- 1/0

Gray Catbird- 1/0

Northern Parula- 3/0

Magnolia Warbler- 1/0

Cape May Warbler- 2/1

Black-throated Blue Warbler- 37/56

Blackpoll Warbler- 4/2

Black & White Warbler- 40/7

American Redstart- 30/6

Worm-eating Warbler- 3 /4

Ovenbird- 19/20

Northern Waterthrush- 18/17

Connecticut Warbler- 1/0

Common Yellowthroat- 68/35

Spring 2023 Totals (from March 14)      

SPECIES	NEW	RETURN
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	–
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1	–
Chuck-will’s Widow	3	–
Great Crested Flycatcher	1	–
Veery	8	–
Gray-cheeked Thrush	2	–
Bicknell’s Thrush	1	–
Swainson’s Thrush	2	–
Gray Catbird	83	7
Northern Parula	26	–
Magnolia Warbler	4	2
Cape May Warbler	5	–
Black-throated Blue Warbler	138	–
Myrtle Warbler	5	–
Prairie Warbler	69	–
Western Palm Warbler	3	–
Blackpoll Warbler	18	–
Black & White Warbler	98	4
American Redstart	90	2
Worm-eating Warbler	55	–
Swainson’s Warbler	18	3
Ovenbird	102	7
Northern Waterthrush	85	–
Louisiana Waterthrush	5	–
Connecticut Warbler	1	–
Common Yellowthroat	153	–
Hooded Warbler	1	–
Northern Cardinal	3	8
Indigo Bunting	6	–
Painted Bunting	6	–
Common Grackle	1	–

	# BIRDS CAPTURED	# SPECIES	# NETS	NET HOURS	CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH)
SEASON TOTAL	1027	31	24	5547	19.54

Spring molts

Migration slowed down to a trickle after an auspicious first week of banding. We banded or recaptured only 0 to 6 birds a day almost every day for the last two weeks. Some were migrants, but many were the birds still hanging around Cape Florida prior to starting their trip north. Gray Catbirds and Ovenbirds make up most of these birds, and they will be gone by the end of April. Still, now they remain and this week many of the catbirds were starting to sing a lot.

The two Magnolia Warblers that are spending the winter at Cape Florida are also still here, but the one we recaptured yesterday is starting to molt into its spring plumage.

Magnolia Warbler on March 19 (photo by Miriam Avello)

This is what the Maggie looked like in March; still in the fall and winter plumage. This bird is a second-year, meaning it hatched last summer. It can be hard to distinguish male from female at this stage, so we considered this bird unknown sex.

Magnolia Warbler on April 10 (photo by Michelle Davis)

Here is the same bird recaptured yesterday. Note the mask and the white around the eyes, and the black collar starting to form. The scruffy appearance of this bird is due to the heavy molt of the body feathers prior to spring migration. The larger wing and tail feathers will remain until the end of summer, when most songbirds undergo a complete molt of all feathers. This spring body feather molt is how birds such as Indigo Buntings, Scarlet Tanagers and Blackpoll Warblers change into completely different colors for breeding. Other species that look similar year-round also go through this molt, but it is not so obvious. The contrast between the new and old feathers is more extreme for birds hatched the year before (called second-year by banders) than for adult birds and is the main way we can tell the age in spring.

The photo below is of a Magnolia Warbler banded last spring who is most of the way through his spring molt. That bird is a male. I am not entirely sure of the sex of our wintering bird yet, but there are some indications that she is a female and will molt into a slightly subdued version of the male.

Magnolia Warbler on April 26, 2022 (Photo by Michelle Davis)

After a very dry winter, some rain moved into the area last weekend along with a dissipating frontal boundary. The persistent south or southeast winds switched abruptly to the north during the afternoon of April 9, and many birds landed at Cape Florida later that day and overnight. We banded 59 birds on April 10, including 40 Prairie Warblers! The first few Black-throated Blue Warblers and American Redstarts of the season were mixed in, making for an exciting and busy morning of banding before we had to close because of more rain.

Male Prairie Warbler (photo by Steffanie Munguía)

Spring 2023 Totals (from March 14)

SPECIES	NEW	RETURN
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	–
Chuck-will’s Widow	3	–
Great Crested Flycatcher	1	–
Gray Catbird	41	6
Northern Parula	11	–
Magnolia Warbler	1	1
Cape May Warbler	1	–
Black-throated Blue Warbler	3	–
Myrtle Warbler	5	–
Prairie Warbler	51	–
Western Palm Warbler	2	–
Black & White Warbler	24	3
American Redstart	7	1
Worm-eating Warbler	15	–
Swainson’s Warbler	13	3
Ovenbird	1	7
Northern Waterthrush	6	–
Louisiana Waterthrush	5	–
Common Yellowthroat	10	–
Northern Cardinal	2	4
Painted Bunting	1	–
Common Grackle	1	–

	# BIRDS CAPTURED	# SPECIES	# NETS	NET HOURS	CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH)
SEASON TOTAL	230	22	24	2943	8.90

East winds lead to warm quiet days

The pace of migration through Cape Florida has slowed down this week, as easterly winds have pushed the migrating birds to the west side of the peninsula. A few wintering birds are still around while some, such as Myrtle Warblers and Eastern Phoebes, seem to have moved on to the north. We recaptured two more Swainson’s Warblers banded in Fall of 2022, for a total of three that probably spent the winter at Cape Florida.

The week started with interesting weather. A band of heavy rain kept us from opening until 9AM on Monday March 20, so we only were able to band 3 birds that day. The next day we were rewarded with our busiest day so far, with 16 new banded birds and one return from another season. The winds were still out of the north, and Black-and-White Warblers were the bird of the day. They were calling throughout the woods and working the branches and trunks around the nets. Eight of them were banded, including this lovely female.

Female Black-and-white Warbler (photo by Miriam Avello)

By Wednesday the wind direction had swung around to the east and the wind speed had picked up. As a result, we banded between 0 and 4 new birds a day for the rest of the week. The wind is shifting more and more to the south as the days go by, with no relief until the middle of next week.  South winds give the birds an express ride to the north. We still are weeks away from the peak of migration, however.

This adult male Sharp-shinned Hawk provided our entertainment for the rest of the week. The males of most diurnal raptors are smaller than the females, with the male Sharpie the smallest of them all. He is the size of a Blue Jay, but has a big personality. This guy was very high-strung, and was glad to be rid of us after we banded him.

Adult male Sharp-shinned Hawk (Photo by Julie Bracken)

Spring 2023 Totals (from March 14)

SPECIES	NEW	RETURN
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	–
Chuck-will’s Widow	2	–
Gray Catbird	24	5
Northern Parula	8	–
Magnolia Warbler	1	1
Myrtle Warbler	5	–
Prairie Warbler	3	–
Black & white Warbler	18	2
American Redstart	1	–
Worm-eating Warbler	1	–
Swainson’s Warbler	4	3
Ovenbird	–	6
Northern Waterthrush	3	–
Louisiana Waterthrush	2	–
Common Yellowthroat	9	–
Northern Cardinal	1	3

	# BIRDS CAPTURED	# SPECIES	# NETS	NET HOURS	CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH)
SEASON TOTAL	103	16	23	1244	9.57

Spring banding at Cape Florida off to a good start

Migration is already well underway as we opened for the Spring season last week. We were greeted by west winds, warm temperatures, and a diversity of warblers at the site. Northern Parulas have been on the move since February, gathering in the flowering oaks that they love. Purple Martins and Swallow-tailed Kites have also arrived. Some of our wintering birds are on their way out. The first to leave seem to be Blue-gray Gnatcatchers; we never get to band any in spring and see the eyebrow the males sport in breeding season. We are getting to look at some Myrtle warblers, though. They are just beginning to molt into their breeding plumage, and this bird has black patches of feathers just starting to come in on the cheeks. They will leave our area before completing their molt, so we don’t get to see them at their finest.

Myrtle Warbler (photo by Michelle Davis)

The weather has been active the last week, with several weak fronts moving all the way down past the Keys and taking the humidity out of the air a little bit. The same wind directions that bring us birds in the fall also bring us birds in the spring; the west winds get them out to Cape Florida and the north winds make them want to land as soon as they get across the open water. A lot of birds are still wintering on the site, so we are recapturing these birds along with the migrants. Common Yellowthroats such as this male below can be either wintering or migrating right now, but all the Ovenbirds so far are wintering individuals banded in other seasons. The oldest bird so far is a female Northern Cardinal banded in 2018!

Male Common Yellowthroat (photo by Michelle Davis)

We have already banded three Swainson’s Warblers and recaptured a fourth banded in 2022. Several of these birds are over-wintering. This species was considered to leave North America completely during the winter, but records in the last few years (banding data and birder observations) show that a few are staying in Florida. We banded a record 62 Swainson’s Warblers in Fall 2022, so it is not too surprising that we are seeing a lot already coming back this spring.

Gray Catbirds are another common wintering species in Florida, and their mews are a familiar sound. The males will begin singing before they leave; a complex pretty song that incorporates other bird songs, but not as blatantly as their close relative the Northern Mockingbird.

Gray Catbird (photo by Miriam Avello)

Spring 2023 Totals (from March 14)

SPECIES	NEW	RETURN
Chuck-will’s Widow	1	–
Gray Catbird	15	3
Northern Parula	7	–
Magnolia Warbler	1	1
Myrtle Warbler	5	–
Prairie Warbler	2	–
Black & white Warbler	9	1
Worm-eating Warbler	1	–
Swainson’s Warbler	4	1
Ovenbird	–	6
Northern Waterthrush	3	–
Louisiana Waterthrush	1	–
Common Yellowthroat	7	–
Northern Cardinal	–	2

	# BIRDS CAPTURED	# SPECIES	# NETS	NET HOURS	CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH)
SEASON TOTAL	70	14	22	627.5	11.79

Last day for Fall 2022

We are in the tail end of fall migration, and most of the birds we banded this week were probably snowbirds settling in for a winter in South Florida. We added several returning birds to the roster; most of these were banded in Fall 2021 or Spring 2022 but two Ovenbirds were from 2019. A weak dissipating ‘cold’ front passed mid-week and brought with it some late Neotropical migrants such as another Bay-breasted Warbler. Flocks of Myrtle Warblers and Tree Swallows filled the sky on Friday, but no luck with any new species for the season in the nets. The majority of wintering birds can take until December to get down this far, so we close the station now after the long-distance migrants are mostly through.

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are rare these days in deep South Florida, so we were delighted to band a second of these tiny birds. (photo by Michelle Davis)

Each season has its own distinctive qualities, and Fall 2022 was notable for the second highest overall total of birds with 2365 individuals. However, it took 11,385.25 net hours to get there, which is the highest ever. We also measure how active a season is by looking at how many birds are captured per 100 net hours (B/100NH), and 2022 was the second lowest (23 B/100NH) since 2017. This year followed the pattern seen in 2020 of more individual birds but fewer species, although not quite as extreme.

Painted Buntings are returning to their winter haunts in South Florida. Here is a spectacular adult male. (photo by Rangel Diaz)

We had a huge year for American Redstarts, and banded 464 of them with one returning from spring. This is almost a hundred more than the previous record of 368 banded in 2020. Black-throated Blue warblers and Ovenbirds also had strong years in 2022. Swainson’s Warblers had their best year ever, and made the top ten with 61 new birds and one return! Weather is the biggest driver of variability between years, but with a 20-year dataset we are hoping that with the proper analysis we can detect changes over time. Long-term changes in bird numbers at Cape Florida are likely influenced by a combination of changes in weather patterns, habitat structure and populations.

Portrait of a Wood Thrush (photo by Miriam Avello)      

Once again we need to thank our fantastic team of volunteers that enable us to operate every day during migration season. Running a bird banding station is a huge effort and thanks go out to Liz, Miriam, Brian, Mario, Cinthia, Lucas, Bianca, Bob, Nasim, Mary, Steffanie, Nicole, Joe, Jessie, Callie, Rebecca, David, Rachel, Fabio, Eddy, Madison, Nahuel, Rangel, Paola, Pam, Isabella, Nico and the mysterious Andres 😉 . If I forgot you, feel free to yell at me the next time you see me around town.

Another huge thanks goes out to our 2022 Adopt-a-Net sponsors who raised $6,575 towards replacing worn nets and other operational costs.

Thank you all, and we will see you in Spring 2023!

-Michelle Davis

Fall 2022 Final Totals

SPECIES	NEW	RETURN	RECOVERY
Green Heron	1	–	–
Cooper’s Hawk	1	–	–
Broad-winged Hawk	1	–	–
Common Ground-dove	2	–	–
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	4	–	–
Black-billed Cuckoo	1	–	–
Chuck-will’s Widow	21	–	–
Red-bellied Woodpecker	3	–	–
Eastern Wood-pewee	4	–	–
Acadian Flycatcher	4	–	–
Least Flycatcher	1	–	–
Traill’s Flycatcher	14	–	–
Great Crested Flycatcher	4	–	–
Bell’s Vireo	1	–	–
White-eyed Vireo	24	1	–
Philadelphia Vireo	2	–	–
Yellow-throated Vireo	1	–	–
Red-eyed Vireo	36	–	–
Veery	14	–	–
Gray-cheeked Thrush	12	–	–
Swainson’s Thrush	38	–	–
Wood Thrush	4	–	–
Gray Catbird	191	3	–
House Wren	1	–	–
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	35	2	–
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	–	–
Blue-winged Warbler	1	–	–
Tennessee Warbler	4	–	–
Northern Parula	93	–	–
Chestnut-sided Warbler	2	–	–
Magnolia Warbler	24	–	–
Cape May Warbler	15	–	–
Black-throated Blue Warbler	363	–	–
Prairie Warbler	41	–	–
Western Palm Warbler	21	–	–
Bay-breasted Warbler	4	–	–
Black & white Warbler	135	2	–
American Redstart	464	1	–
Prothonotary Warbler	4	–	–
Worm-eating Warbler	127	–	1
Swainson’s Warbler	61	1	–
Ovenbird	305	10	–
Northern Waterthrush	95	–	–
Louisiana Waterthrush	2	–	–
Connecticut Warbler	1	–	–
Common Yellowthroat	107	–	1
Hooded Warbler	3	–	–
Canada Warbler	1	–	–
Yellow-breasted Chat	1	–	–
Seaside Sparrow	1	–	–
Summer Tanager	3	–	–
Northern Cardinal	4	1	–
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	1	–	–
Indigo Bunting	1	–	–
Painted Bunting	34	1	–
Bobolink	1	–	–

	# BIRDS CAPTURED	# SPECIES	# NETS	NET HOURS	CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH)
SEASON TOTAL	2365	56	25	11385.25	23.21

Season winding down

Nothing lasts forever, and the Fall 2022 banding season is coming to a close. Bird activity has slowed down a lot since the peak on October 19. We recaptured a lot of birds from that wave that were staying at the site to put on fat for the next leg of their migration, and the numbers of these have been slowly dwindling as a few more are ready to depart every night. Meanwhile winter stalwarts like Gray Catbirds and Painted Buntings continue to arrive. A few winter species have teased us without getting banded, especially Eastern Phoebes and Myrtle Warblers. We have one more week to add a species or two to the total!

Bell’s Vireo (Photo by Miriam Avello)

The most exciting bird of the week was this Bell’s Vireo, banded on Oct 23. This is only the second one we have banded in 20 years (the first was back in 2007), although this petite Western vireo turns up annually somewhere in South Florida.

House Wren (Photo by Miriam Avello) 

We also banded a House Wren, a locally common bird in the winter down here, but rarely captured at CFBS. The heavy black striping on the wings and tails is a beautiful detail that is hard to see in the wild. We call wrens ‘squirmys’ because of their behavior when you are trying to handle them.

The weather for the previous week has been less than optimal for getting birds out to Cape Florida, as high pressure and northeast winds have set in and may remain for the rest of the upcoming week. It is still nice to enjoy cooler, less humid mornings and see the avian snowbirds arrive. Painted Buntings are arriving at backyard feeders now, so get your millet out!

Painted Bunting (photo by Miriam Avello)

Fall 2022 Totals (since August 14)       

SPECIES	NEW	RETURN	RECOVERY
Green Heron	1	–	–
Cooper’s Hawk	1	–	–
Broad-winged Hawk	1	–	–
Common Ground-dove	2	–	–
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	4	–	–
Black-billed Cuckoo	1	–	–
Chuck-will’s Widow	21	–	–
Red-bellied Woodpecker	3	–	–
Eastern Wood-pewee	4	–	–
Acadian Flycatcher	4	–	–
Least Flycatcher	1	–	–
Traill’s Flycatcher	14	–	–
Great Crested Flycatcher	4	–	–
Bell’s Vireo	1	–	–
White-eyed Vireo	24	–	–
Philadelphia Vireo	2	–	–
Yellow-throated Vireo	1	–	–
Red-eyed Vireo	36	–	–
Veery	14	–	–
Gray-cheeked Thrush	12	–	–
Swainson’s Thrush	37	–	–
Wood Thrush	4	–	–
Gray Catbird	164	3	–
House Wren	1	–	–
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	35	2	–
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	–	–
Blue-winged Warbler	1	–	–
Tennessee Warbler	4	–	–
Northern Parula	92	–	–
Chestnut-sided Warbler	2	–	–
Magnolia Warbler	23	–	–
Cape May Warbler	15	–	–
Black-throated Blue Warbler	357	–	–
Prairie Warbler	40	–	–
Western Palm Warbler	21	–	–
Bay-breasted Warbler	3	–	–
Black & white Warbler	133	1	–
American Redstart	462	1	–
Prothonotary Warbler	4	–	–
Worm-eating Warbler	127	–	1
Swainson’s Warbler	60	1	–
Ovenbird	310	10	–
Northern Waterthrush	95	–	–
Louisiana Waterthrush	2	–	–
Connecticut Warbler	1	–	–
Common Yellowthroat	107	–	1
Hooded Warbler	3	–	–
Canada Warbler	1	–	–
Yellow-breasted Chat	1	–	–
Seaside Sparrow	1	–	–
Summer Tanager	3	–	–
Northern Cardinal	4	1	–
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	1	–	–
Indigo Bunting	1	–	–
Painted Bunting	31	1	–
Bobolink	1	–	–

	# BIRDS CAPTURED	# SPECIES	# NETS	NET HOURS	CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH)
SEASON TOTAL	2313	56	25	10687.5	24.07

Huge day banding!

This last front delivered as promised. It was passing all day on October 19, and the day actually got cooler as it wore on, dropping down to a bone-chilling 63 degrees by the afternoon. Thick cloud cover and a light intermittent rain accompanied WNW winds, and the birds came in strong.

Ho boy!!!! Get to banding (photo by Brian Cammarano)  

    We heard a lot of warbler flight calls at sunrise, and the first couple of hours were diverse with mostly warbler species, but Veery, Swainson’s and Gray-Cheeked Thrushes were also in the mix. Sometime around 1100 a huge wave of mostly American Redstarts and Black-throated Blue Warblers descended upon us and we closed all the nets after catching about 50 or 60 birds in one net run. This is to keep the birds from having to wait too long in the bags to be banded. We powered through the mass of warblers and then re-opened a section of nets once we were caught up. The day featured lots of individuals of some of our scarcer species such as Magnolia, Tennessee and Bay-breasted Warblers. The whole Florida peninsula participated in this migration extravaganza, and we were hearing reports of high numbers of these species all over.

By the end of the day we banded or recaptured 210 birds of 24 species, including a male Common yellowthroat originally banded on 5/11/2020 in Vermont. Here’s the day’s total:

• Chuck-will’s widow -2
• Eastern wood-pewee -1
• Acadian flycatcher -1
• Great crested flycatcher -1
• White-eyed vireo -3
• Veery -1
• Gray-cheeked thrush -1
• Swainson’s thrush -6
• Gray catbird -13
• Blue-gray gnatcatcher -1 (return from Fall 2021)
• Tennessee warbler -3
• Northern parula -13
• Chestnut-sided warbler -1
• Magnolia warbler -11
• Cape May warbler -3
• Black-throated blue warbler -66
• Western palm warbler -6
• Bay-breasted warbler -2
• Black & white warbler -2
• American redstart -58
• Swainson’s warbler -1
• Ovenbird -4
• Common yellowthroat -9 (including the guy from Vermont)
• Hooded warbler -1

Passed out afterwards (photo by David Die)

Bird # 2000! Bay-breasted warbler (photo by Michelle Davis)

Tennessee Warbler (photo by Michelle Davis)

We encountered several warblers that were missing tail feathers and had marks on their backs from close escapes from hawks. Raptors were everywhere this week, rising up out of the canopy at dawn where they were sleeping overnight, or blasting through the tops of the trees and angering the squirrels and Gray Catbirds. This gorgeous adult Broad-winged Hawk was banded on Monday.

Broad-winged Hawk from Oct 17 (photo by Mare Martin)

The radar Wednesday night lit up with birds departing the area, and Bird Cast estimated 5 to 6 million birds crossed Miami airspace that night. These were the healthy birds continuing on south. Fewer birds were still to the north of us, and migration has quieted down a lot across the Eastern seaboard since then. As a consequence, we banded only 77 new birds on Thursday and 40 today. Today did feature an additional 20 recaptures; a pretty big proportion for our site! These are the individuals that came in with low or no fat reserves on the big wave Wednesday, so they are staying here to put on weight to continue the migration. Places such as Cape Florida are life-savers for these birds. They are consuming all the fruit and insects they can find so that they can pick up their travels.

Fall 2022 Totals (since August 14)       

SPECIES	NEW	RETURN	RECOVERY
Green Heron	1	–	–
Cooper’s Hawk	1	–	–
Broad-winged Hawk	1	–	–
Common Ground-dove	2	–	–
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	4	–	–
Black-billed Cuckoo	1	–	–
Chuck-will’s Widow	20	–	–
Red-bellied Woodpecker	3	–	–
Eastern Wood-pewee	4	–	–
Acadian Flycatcher	4	–	–
Least Flycatcher	1	–	–
Traill’s Flycatcher	14	–	–
Great Crested Flycatcher	4	–	–
White-eyed Vireo	22	–	–
Philadelphia Vireo	2	–	–
Yellow-throated Vireo	1	–	–
Red-eyed Vireo	36	–	–
Veery	14	–	–
Gray-cheeked Thrush	9	–	–
Swainson’s Thrush	33	–	–
Wood Thrush	4	–	–
Gray Catbird	104	1	–
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	34	2	–
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	–	–
Blue-winged Warbler	1	–	–
Tennessee Warbler	4	–	–
Northern Parula	90	–	–
Chestnut-sided Warbler	2	–	–
Magnolia Warbler	23	–	–
Cape May Warbler	15	–	–
Black-throated Blue Warbler	344	–	–
Prairie Warbler	40	–	–
Western Palm Warbler	21	–	–
Bay-breasted Warbler	3	–	–
Black & white Warbler	131	1	–
American Redstart	457	–	–
Prothonotary Warbler	4	–	–
Worm-eating Warbler	127	–	1
Swainson’s Warbler	60	1	–
Ovenbird	294	10	–
Northern Waterthrush	94	–	–
Louisiana Waterthrush	2	–	–
Connecticut Warbler	1	–	–
Common Yellowthroat	101	–	1
Hooded Warbler	3	–	–
Canada Warbler	1	–	–
Yellow-breasted Chat	1	–	–
Seaside Sparrow	1	–	–
Summer Tanager	3	–	–
Northern Cardinal	4	1	–
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	1	–	–
Indigo Bunting	1	–	–
Painted Bunting	22	–	–
Bobolink	1	–	–

	# BIRDS CAPTURED	# SPECIES	# NETS	NET HOURS	CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH)
SEASON TOTAL	2190	54	25	9552.75	25.22

20th Anniversary Day and some species records broken!

Miriam, Michelle and Rangel enjoy this spectacular Summer Tanager on the 20^th Anniversary Day of the CFBS. (Photo by Miriam Avello)

The Cape Florida Banding Station’s inaugural day was on October 5, 2002, and we banded 23 birds of 9 species. We usually like to start in the middle of August, but we were waiting on one final permit to be issued before we could start the first season. We marked the exact 20^th Anniversary on October 5, 2022, with 10 birds of 7 species (but one was this gorgeous Summer Tanager), and a few more gray hairs on my head.

Portrait of adult male Summer Tanager. Unlike Scarlet Tanagers, Summer males keep their red color year-round. (Photo by Miriam Avello)

Lost in the shuffle of everything else going on in the last three weeks was this leucistic Worm-eating Warbler banded on Sept 29. If you just saw this bird flash by in a flock of foraging warblers, you would think “Whaaaa….” We band a bird with this sort of plumage aberration every couple of years or so, but this guy was one of the more interesting-looking individuals we’ve seen.

Leucistic Worm-eating Warbler (Photo by Eddy Ibarra)

Back view, giving off a Bald Eagle vibe (photo by Brian Cammarano)

The 8 American Redstarts banded today put the season total to 375 birds, breaking the high of 368 captured in 2020. They have a long window of migration and can be banded the entire time we are open, although they tend to swarm in September and early October. In fact, American Redstart has been outnumbering our original dependable top species, Black-throated Blue Warbler, 3 out of the last 6 years. The blues really come through in October, though, so there is a chance they can overtake the redstarts before we close in early November. American Redstarts are common wintering birds in South Florida, although winter records of Black-throated Blue Warblers seem to be on the upswing.

Swainson’s Warbler number 56!! (Photo by Miriam Avello)

Swainson’s Warblers have also been very abundant this fall, and we banded our 56^th of the season today! The previous high was 41 banded in 2016, but we also had 40 in 2020. One of these birds was banded in Fall 2021, so it is likely returning to spend the winter onsite. Swainson’s Warbler winter records also seem to be increasing in the last decade.

Right on schedule since it is mid-October after all, we were teased with a cold front or at least a humidity-reducing front, but this front was described as ‘nebulous’ by the National Weather Service in their forecast discussion so now they are promising it will cool off by NEXT weekend…Still, Black-throated Blue Warblers made up 36 of 68 birds banded today. This year is proving to be steady; our biggest day has only been 124 banded on September 16, but most days we catch at least 30.

Female Black-throated Blue Warbler (photo by Miriam Avello)

Male Black-throated Blue Warbler (photo by Miriam Avello)

This young Green-backed Heron delighted the Friday crew on October 14. He was caught in our one net that is in different habitat from all of the others; a freshwater swale in the dunes. This net lane can be very wet, and after being bone-dry for weeks, the rain from the edge of Hurricane Ian filled the area with a foot of water. It is fun to inspect a bird like this, after catching so many songbirds. Not that there is anything wrong with songbirds.

Green-backed Heron (Photo by Steffanie Munguía)

Fall 2022 Totals (since August 14)       

SPECIES	NEW	RETURN	RECOVERY
Green Heron	1	–	–
Cooper’s Hawk	1	–	–
Common Ground-dove	2	–	–
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	3	–	–
Black-billed Cuckoo	1	–	–
Chuck-will’s Widow	17	–	–
Red-bellied Woodpecker	3	–	–
Eastern Wood-pewee	3	–	–
Acadian Flycatcher	3	–	–
Least Flycatcher	1	–	–
Traill’s Flycatcher	14	–	–
Great Crested Flycatcher	3	–	–
White-eyed Vireo	14	–	–
Philadelphia Vireo	2	–	–
Yellow-throated Vireo	1	–	–
Red-eyed Vireo	36	–	–
Veery	13	–	–
Gray-cheeked Thrush	4	–	–
Swainson’s Thrush	19	–	–
Wood Thrush	1	–	–
Gray Catbird	40	–	–
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	34	1	–
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	–	–
Blue-winged Warbler	1	–	–
Northern Parula	70	–	–
Chestnut-sided Warbler	1	–	–
Magnolia Warbler	8	–	–
Cape May Warbler	10	–	–
Black-throated Blue Warbler	225	–	–
Prairie Warbler	40	–	–
Western Palm Warbler	13	–	–
Black & white Warbler	125	1	–
American Redstart	375	–	–
Prothonotary Warbler	4	–	–
Worm-eating Warbler	126	–	1
Swainson’s Warbler	55	1	–
Ovenbird	277	9	–
Northern Waterthrush	93	–	–
Louisiana Waterthrush	2	–	–
Connecticut Warbler	1	–	–
Common Yellowthroat	85	–	–
Hooded Warbler	2	–	–
Canada Warbler	1	–	–
Yellow-breasted Chat	1	–	–
Seaside Sparrow	1	–	–
Summer Tanager	3	–	–
Northern Cardinal	4	1	–
Indigo Bunting	1	–	–
Painted Bunting	16	–	–
Bobolink	1	–	–

	# BIRDS CAPTURED	# SPECIES	# NETS	NET HOURS	CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH)
SEASON TOTAL	1771	50	25	8683.25	22.22

Brotherly Love Greenlet!

Brotherly Love Greenlet, AKA Philadelphia Vireo (Photo by Nasim Mahomar)

The edge of Hurricane Ian tread lightly on the CFBS and we were back open on September 29, with only a few branches to pick up across some of the net lanes. The birds around appeared to have ridden out the storm onsite, as we caught a good percentage of recaptures and the species composition was similar to what we had before Ian. Winds ahead of the storm were unfavorable for departure as they were out of the southeast. The backside of Ian was dry and featured winds out of the north and northwest; excellent conditions for bird migration. Overnight radar on the nights of Sept 29 and 30 showed a mass of birds moving down the peninsula that were probably blocked by the heavy rain from Ian across north-central Florida, and could finally resume their flight under clear skies once the storm passed. This bulge of migrants reached us by October 1, and we banded 105 birds of 16 species!

American Redstart; our top capture at this point with 310 banded as of Oct 3 (photo by Miriam Avello)

The physical condition of the birds was variable; most had excellent fat loads and clearly had ridden out the storm hunkered down somewhere safe on land, while others were very emaciated and may have been caught out at sea. A Connecticut Warbler was especially lean; these normally migrate from the mid-Atlantic offshore down to South America without stopping in Florida, but she may have had to bail out because of the storm. She used up all her fat reserves and was burning up her own flight muscles to stay alive and flying, but she made it to land with food and good cover. We recaptured her the next day and she had already gained one gram of weight. High-quality stopover habitat such as found at BBCFSP will make the difference between life and death for a bird such as this.

New species for the season that have come in on the cooler dryer air include these guys:

Connecticut Warbler; an uncommon but regular spring migrant but very rare in fall (photo by Miriam Avello)

Another view of the Philadelphia Vireo, banded Oct 3 (photo by Bob Warren)

Gray Catbird, a sure sign of winter coming in South Florida. (photo by Bob Warren)

Western Palm Warbler, another sign of winter in South Florida (photo by Miriam Avello)

Bobolink; a common migrant but only the second one we have banded in 20 years. They fly overhead and prefer to land in large open fields, but a falcon may have scared this young bird down into the woods (photo by Nasim Mahomar)

Fall 2022 Totals (since August 14)

SPECIES	NEW	RETURN	RECOVERY
Common Ground-dove	2	–	–
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	2	–	–
Black-billed Cuckoo	1	–	–
Chuck-will’s Widow	13	–	–
Red-bellied Woodpecker	3	–	–
Acadian Flycatcher	1	–	–
Least Flycatcher	1	–	–
Traill’s Flycatcher	12	–	–
Great Crested Flycatcher	3	–	–
White-eyed Vireo	6	–	–
Philadelphia Vireo	1	–	–
Yellow-throated Vireo	1	–	–
Red-eyed Vireo	33	–	–
Veery	13	–	–
Gray-cheeked Thrush	3	–	–
Swainson’s Thrush	9	–	–
Gray Catbird	1	–	–
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	31	–	–
Blue-winged Warbler	1	–	–
Northern Parula	41	–	–
Chestnut-sided Warbler	1	–	–
Magnolia Warbler	6	–	–
Cape May Warbler	3	–	–
Black-throated Blue Warbler	105	–	–
Prairie Warbler	40	–	–
Western Palm Warbler	9	–	–
Black & white Warbler	103	–	–
American Redstart	310	–	–
Prothonotary Warbler	4	–	–
Worm-eating Warbler	115	–	1
Swainson’s Warbler	45	–	–
Ovenbird	240	7	–
Northern Waterthrush	86	–	–
Louisiana Waterthrush	2	–	–
Connecticut Warbler	1	–	–
Common Yellowthroat	60	–	–
Hooded Warbler	2	–	–
Canada Warbler	1	–	–
Yellow-breasted Chat	1	–	–
Seaside Sparrow	1	–	–
Summer Tanager	2	–	–
Northern Cardinal	4	1	–
Painted Bunting	1	–	–
Bobolink	1	–	–

	# BIRDS CAPTURED	# SPECIES	# NETS	NET HOURS	CAPTURE RATE (BIRDS/100NH)
SEASON TOTAL	1330	44	25	6919.25	20.67