Sunday September 23. 75 new of 23 species; 23 recaps. Erin Karnatz is BIC with welcome help from Barb Wagner, Leanna Twohig, Mike Palermo, Marilyn Guenther, and Jennifer Cumbo. Bird of the day is White-throated Sparrow with 16 banded but we also band a nice variety of warblers including Northern Parula, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Blackpoll, American Redstart, Ovenbird and Common Yellowthroat.

Monday September 24. 109 new of 24 species; 16 recaps. White-throated Sparrows are still the bird of the day with 45 banded. Glenn Wagner does well at the nets and we enjoy a visit from Don Cowley.

Tuesday September 25. 55 new of 18 species; 27 recaps; new species White-breasted Nuthatch. It’s a record-breaking day with 90dg heat at the airport. We have to close nets in late morning because of the heat. Last spring’s Field Assistant Karen Velas phones from California where she’s working on the California Condor Restoration project. Kelly rescues a baby Snapping Turtle from the net lanes, and we hear coyotes singing in the full-moon evening!

Wednesday September 26. 86 new of 14 species; 22 recaps. We have rain during the night and it brings in a fair number of birds including 64 White-throated Sparrows!

Thursday September 27. 124 new of 27 species; 28 recaps. The wind comes out of the north for part of the night, and there is light rain at dawn, but we are able to gradually open nets as it clears. Mike Gerringer, a grad student heading for Costa Rica for six months to do research with birds and sea turtles, sharpens up his banding skills at the banding station for the rest of the week. We enjoy having Gary Herbert back as scribe, and Sue Evans again mends nets for us in the afternoon. We band 54 White-throated Sparrows but also 16 warblers of nine species.

Friday September 28. 119 new of 25 species; 12 recaps. It’s a wild day, with serious thunderstorms moving in. We keep radar on and manage to keep the nets open until early afternoon when strong winds dump leaves in all our nets at once. The RIT Bander Training Class students earn 10 bonus points on their final exam by doing a fantastic job of removing hundreds of wet leaves from our nets! But the morning brings a good variety of birds and just before the big storm blew in we had a minor fallout of White-throated Sparrows.

Saturday September 29. 132 new of 23 species. Bob McKinney, with help from Pat Lovallo, Chita, Rachel and Ryan, band a nice variety of mid-season fall birds including 41 White-throated Sparrows and the first big influx of Ruby-crowned Kinglets – 21 in all. The chickadees are building … with 30 banded this past week.

Note: BIC = "bander-in-charge"