A banded BEWR

Bewick's Wren

It turns out that I banded this bird 10 days ago, because though you can't see it here, it is color banded and I was able to look it up. It is one of the parents of the nest in one of the chickadee boxes.

BT

Bushtit




Here is a good example of a molt limit in a bewick's wren wing. You can see a slight color difference between the shafts of the outer three large feathers (the primaries) and the inner ones. The outer feathers have a dark brown color to them, whereas the inner ones have a light brown color. The darker brown indicates newer feathers. When you can see two generations of feathers in a wing at this time of year, it generally means that this is a first year bird because as an adult it would have undergone a complete molt, and would not show any remaining older feathers.

Long day

Yesterday Joe, Diana and I went to Pine Gulch, the offsite by the lagoon, and had a successful day of banding. We got 21 birds and 11 species, one of which was a swamp sparrow, something that's only caught around here about once a year. This was the last of the banding until Sunday, but luckily I'm here, so it can happen! Kidding, I'd rather be home.

Wrentit




A hermit thrush in the net before extraction.


Bewick's wren.