Bizzare 'Bama: Week #7 in review

Mary headed back up to Oberlin Monday to get back to teaching, but we offered to continue collecting samples for her if we get a big catbird day. Mary wants to compare the uropygial gland secretions of adult and hatch year catbirds, but it has been difficult for her to get samples from adult birds because they migrate so early. We're hoping that on a day when we catch a lot of catbirds, a few of them will be after hatch year birds that we can sample for her. Then we'll send the samples on ice via same day FedEx up to Ohio.

We've had some bad weather and even had to delay opening the nets twice this week because of the rain. It was nice for a chance to sleep in, though! We've also had some crazy winds. Ideally, we'd like some North winds to bring us birds from the North flying South. Lately we've been getting some REALLY strong (15- 20 mph) North winds. This causes two problems: birds don't stop at our site because they have the right wind to fly across the Gulf and we can't open all of our nets in that strong wind.

We did have some bizarre happenings at the site this week. The indigo bunting below has a crazy bill deformity- and she is missing her left eye! She was in good condition; e.g. her fat score on a scale of 5 was a 3, so she's obviously figured out how to work around her disabilities.




I caught my favorite insect, a weevil, in one of our nets. This guy was about half the size of my thumb!



We caught our first hawk on the 13th. This male Cooper's Hawk was hatched this summer, and had been banded down the road at another station closer to Fort Morgan. He's been making rounds at both of the stations- he was recaptured three times in two days! I've never held a hawk before, so this was pretty exciting for me. Nikita extracted him from the net, and the trick is to keep the feet restrained. Everyone tells me the beaks are a smaller problem, but I'm still pretty afraid of that hooked bill! As my dad would say, "Once again, Jenn doing dangerous things . . ." (Other photos in this category include me holding bats and a 3' land monitor lizard).



We also caught our first Painted Bunting this week, adding yet another species to my life list. Here's Jaci holding this hatch-year male.



We had our first two Yellow-Throated Warblers of the season, too. These are both hatch-year males.



Today has been fabulous so far. We had some strong North winds but we were able to open 17 of our 30 nets this morning, and we're going out again in a few minutes. What has been more incredible is the raptor migration. We've seen Broad-Winged Hawks, Cooper Hawks, a Swainson Hawk, an immature Bald Eagle, American Kestrels and Turkey Vultures, among others. I'll try to figure out posting videos so you can see what it was like at the site.



Another highlight of today was a scissor-tailed flycatcher! (not my photo)

1000th bird and a notable visitor from the North

Thursday we captured our 1000th bird, a Blue Grosbeak that hatched this summer:

It's impossible to tell whether this bird is male or female at this age, so we simply write "unknown" in our band summary. In contrast, the adult male Blue Grosbeaks look like this in the fall:

This guy wasn't thrilled to be photographed, but he is the bluest Blue Grosbeak I've seen all fall (or ever, since I hadn't seen species before coming down to Alabama!). Hitting quadruple digits at this point in the season puts us ahead of the team last year at this time. Granted, they had two hurricanes to deal with and they managed to band about 1700 new birds, so I am hopeful we will band more than that by the time we close on Halloween.

Today we captured a White-eyed Vireo with a bill deformity. It always amazes me how animals can survive (and thrive) with physical challenges like deformities or injuries. This guy had middle scores for fat and muscle, so he's doing just fine finding food. Interestingly enough, his uropygial (preen) gland was huge! This glad is located on the dorsal side of the bird at the base of the tail and is a reservoir for the oil birds use to waterproof their feathers. With this bill deformity, this vireo can't preen the way other birds would.



We also captured our first Brown-headed Nuthatch today, too. These resident birds forage high in the pine trees around the site, so they are notoriously difficult to capture in ground-level nets. I think nuthatches have a lot of character, especially the Red-breasted ones I would see in Maine while I was capturing Black-capped Chickadees for an independent project in the spring of 2008. Brown-headed Nuthatches are smaller than the White- and Red-breasted species of the north; this one was only 9.1 grams.



Our "notable visitor from the North" came Thursday via airplane versus feathered wings. We are currently hosting Mary Garvin, a professor from Oberlin College (and long-time friend of Julie from Black Swamp. Small world, right?). Mary studies relationships between avian hosts and arthropod vectors of disease. Right now she is working on a project that concerns the volatile compounds in preen oil from the uropygial gland. She wants to see if these compounds act like an insect repellent, so she has come down to the site to sample Gray Catbirds.

Here's Mary spreading the feathers around a catbird's uropygial gland.


Then she takes a sample of the oil using a capillary tube. The sample will be weighed and then stored on dry ice until it is analyzed by a chemist back in Ohio.

It's a busy weekend down here at Fort Morgan- nearby Gulf Shores is throwing its annual Shrimp Fest, three of Jaci's sisters have come to visit, and another banding station is opening just down the road from ours, so there is plenty to do.

Happy holiday weekend- get out and enjoy the weather!

The week in review

I've been a little lax with the posts lately so sorry if you've been counting on daily communication! We've had some busy, nice days and some slow, rainy days (off! Imagine that!).

We've banded 983 birds of 63 species since August 31. Recently, our captures have been dominated by American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, White-eyed Vireo, and Blue Grosbeaks. The grosbeaks are a lot of fun- being seed eaters they bite rather hard and so are always entertaining to get out of the net. I think Rose-breasted Grosbeaks bite harder, though, and we have yet to capture any of those. Cardinals are also up there on the list of biggest biters; they have such strong bills we band them with stainless steel bands vs the aluminum ones we put on everyone else because the cardinals tend to destroy/pull off aluminum bands. Vireos are smaller and have weaker bills, but with a hooked tip they can still pinch pretty bad. The White-eyed Vireos remind me of chickadees: they are small but feisty and have a lot of attitude! When asked to name my favorite bird for a recent job application I chose Black-capped Chickadee, so I'm enjoying these vireos (we get Carolina Chickadees down here instead of Black-capped).

One highlight this week was another Worm-eating Warbler. They have beautiful coloration on their heads that has to be witnessed in the hand; I haven't seen any photo that does them justice. This one was unusual because it had a white secondary feather on its right wing (below).


We also captured a banded Rufous Hummingbird. It is rare to recapture any banded bird, much less a hummingbird! This was a new species for us this season (we usually get Ruby-throated), and it is unusual for us to capture any of them. What is most curious is that the local hummingbird bander who works at a site down the road just during the two peak weeks of migration in the fall has yet to arrive, so this bird was banded either last year or not at the local site. Even more exciting . . .


Our weather has been variable lately, from cool and dry to thunderstorms to foggy this morning. But this is the view from our porch when the sun is shining and the ocean is calm:

Living on the beach does have its perks!

I've seen dolphins while sitting at our kitchen table several days since I last posted as well. Tom's been enjoying fishing in the surf and has brought home several dinner options, including tarpon. ("The tarpon are hungry!")

Brrr! (it's 70F)

We had our first "cold" morning today- only about 70F when we left the house. For the first time this season, we were able to keep the nets open as long as we wanted because the morning temperature didn't reach 90F. The last few days have been windy and our catch yesterday was nothing to brag about, but the weekend was crazy busy (finally!). Here's a brief summary of our net results since I last posted.

Friday afternoon we had low abundance but great diversity. Highlights included our first Blue-winged Warbler and our only Golden-winged Warbler. I think Blue-winged (below) look like they are wearing Zorro masks.



Mason with the Golden-winged Warbler.

In total, we banded 52 birds of 28 species. We had 17! warbler species: Yellow, Tennessee, Prothonotary, Prairie, Northern Waterthrush, Ovenbird, Northern Parula, Magnolia, Hooded, Golden-winged, Chestnut-sided, Common Yellowthroat, Blue-winged, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Black and White, and American Redstart.


Saturday was a little slower with 42 birds banded of 18 species. Our top species were Northern Waterthrush (8), Common Yellowthroat (5), Black and White Warbler (4),and Red-eyed Vireo (4).


An adult Red-eyed Vireo, who is less than thrilled to be photographed.


We had a good-looking adult male "Cheeto head" Blackburnian Warbler at the end of the day.


Sunday was a big, big day. We finished with over 100 birds! The 105 birds we captured represented 33 species. New species for the site this season included Yellow-throated Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo, Nashville Warbler, and Indigo Bunting. Our most common species were Red-eyed Vireos (16, Common Yellowthroat (10), and Northern Waterthrush (10). Zoli has reached his quota for Northern Waterthrushes, so we stopped collecting them for him.

Monday was much slower. With high winds, we could only open between 18 and 20 of our 30 nets, which hurt our totals. By midmorning we had only caught 13 birds of 7 species, so we didn't go out in the afternoon. We did catch a few White-eyed Vireo (below)- a small but feisty bird.



Today we broke Sunday's record with over 150 birds banded, and we'll be going out again in a few hours to catch some more. The North winds are helping us out a lot- not only do they bring migrants heading south but they also bring relief from the heat and humidity! We had many American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, White-eyed Vireo, and Gray Catbirds. We are putting radiotransmitters on catbirds for researchers at USM and others who work on the Yucatan Peninsula, so it was a good day to radiotag some birds.

Joanna with one of today's highlights, a Worm-eating Warbler.

I don't know what the afternoon will bring but I think it will be good. Today I noticed more birds at our site than I have seen there all season. Not only are they in the nets, but they are all over the vegetation too. The Fort Morgan/Gulf Shores area was hit head on by hurricane Ivan in 2004, and those who have worked at our site say that the landscape is very different than before that storm. As a result, it is a less-ideal place for birds to stop on their way south, but it is nice to see that they will still use the site before they cross the Gulf.

Bird Bonanza!

We've had our biggest day so far and are going out again this afternoon for a second shot at all the birds at the site. We've been seeing night hawks and owls regularly but have yet to catch any of these. A light northern wind helped us out a lot last night. Finally, the abundance is creeping up toward the diversity!

Here is today's count so far:

Least Flycatcher- 1
Prarie Warbler- 2
Yellow Warbler- 3
Common Yellowthroat- 2
Black and White Warbler- 1
Eastern Wood Peewee- 1
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher- 1
*White-eyed Vireo- 1
*Chesnut-sided Warbler- 1
American Redstart- 1
*Black-throated Blue Warbler- 1
*Black-throated Green Warbler- 1
Tennessee Warbler- 1
*Magnolia Warbler- 1
*Northern Parula- 1
Hooded Warbler- 2
Northern Waterthrush- 9
Swainson's Thrush- 2
Red-eyed Vireo- 2
Ovenbird- 1
Prothonotary Warbler- 2
Scarlet Tanager- 1
Summer Tanager- 1
*Blue Grosbeak- 1
Gray Catbird- 1
Northern Mockingbird- 1

*New species for this season

41 individuals, 26 species
We also recaptured a (resident) Brown Thrasher banded here last year. They're one of my favorites.


A brown thrasher caught at BSBO this spring.

The waterthrushes are particularly nice because a PhD from Frank's lab is using Northern Waterthrushes, Magnolia Warblers, and Indigo Buntings for some orientation experiments. Whenever we get at least two individuals from these species, we save them for Zoli. Because we had so many this morning, he drove down from USM immediately to pick them up. He's hoping to test them next week with another four waterthrushes we've caught previously.

Our first Swainson's!

As much fun as it is to catch lots of birds and band them, that's not really the reason Jaci (my boss) is here. Her Master's research is looking at movement of Swainson's Thrushes in terms of fat and age classes. Running a banding station is (theoretically) a great way to get access to "volunteers" for her study, and today we caught and radiotagged the first Swainson's Thrush of the season. The Swainson's Thrush will carry its radiotransmitter for a week or two before it falls off. Between now and then, we're hoping to pick up its signal via three fixed towers near the study site, tracking the bird by hand (in a car), and/or tracking the bird from a low-flying aircraft.

Here are the basic steps of this study:
1. Catch thrushes.
2. Attach radiotransmitters.
3. Listen for the radio signal and the figure out which way the bird flew!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera today but here's a REVI we put a transmitter on last week (more reasons why we are putting transmitters on REVIs is coming in a later post).


The transmitters are sewn to a small piece of fabric and then glued directly to the bird. Our method uses both eyelash glue and superglue. Eyelash glue is applied to the center of the bird's back over the spine after the feathers have been cut away, and also applied to the fabric directly under the transmitter. We use superglue to hold down the edges of the fabric and has the advantages of extra strength and short drying time. (Eyelash glue is more flexible, but less strong.)
Jaci will go out this afternoon and program the radio towers to "listen" for the particular frequency of the radiotag on the thrush. The towers have 8 different receiving antennae, and by plotting the strength of the signal from each of these, we can tell which way the bird flies when it leaves the area. The underlying assumption is that certain birds will fly south across the Gulf to the Yucatan penninsula (where there are other towers that will listen for our birds), and other birds won't fly south.

Let's see if you can guess which birds we assume would fly south . . .

Birds, bugs and . . . bats?

The birds have been few, the bugs have been many, and today I found a bat roosting about four feet above the ground in a Wax Myrtle tree. My best guess is an eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis). Here' what Bat Conservation International's website has to say about them:
"Eastern red bats are North America's most abundant “tree bats.” They are found wherever there are trees east of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to as far south as central Florida. Eastern red bats roost right out in the foliage of deciduous or sometimes evergreen trees. Despite their bright red color, these bats are actually rather cryptic, looking like dead leaves or pine cones. They are perfectly camouflaged as they hang curled-up in their furry tail membranes, suspended from a single foot, twisting slightly in the breeze."

Enjoy the photos!