Miriam, Michelle and Rangel enjoy this spectacular Summer Tanager on the 20th 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 20th 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 56th 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)
