Sharp-shinned Hawk and Common Yellowthroat first for the year!

With lighter winds than the past few days, we were greeted with the sweet songs of White-throated Sparrows as we set up the nets this morning in the marsh. I left Mark with the great volunteers so that I could assist Education Director, Ken Keffer with school programs for 5th and 8th graders at the Observatory. We had a grand time catching Blue Jays while the banding station caught a Sharp-shinned Hawk! I hear it was a noisy one and by the looks of this photo it definitely had an attitude!

Five warblers were seen or heard today in the marsh including: Black-and-white, Yellow, Myrtle, Western Palm, and Common Yellowthroat. Another highlight were three Eastern Towhees that stayed in our nets long enough for us to remove them and put a band on them. Normally with their long tails and short wings they are able to flip themselves out of the net before someone is there to extract them. Forty-three new birds and 15 recaptures were the catch of the day in 138.0 net hours.

Top 4 species were:

White-throated Sparrow-22

Eastern Towhee-3

Hermit Thrush-3

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher-3

Tomorrow and Friday look to be increasingly better each day. The winds are to shift to the south. Enjoy the early spring!