Sunday April 22. 132 new of 18 species; 4 recaps; new species Northern Flicker, Myrtle Warbler, Pine Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow and American Goldfinch. Erin Karnatz is BIC with (finally!) a good day! Thanks to Marilyn Guenther, Kelly Dockery, and Theresa Wolcott for their much needed assistance!

Monday April 23. 143 new of 20 species; 3 recaps; new species Sharp-shinned Hawk, Blue Jay, House Wren and Swamp Sparrow. It’s an excellent day first day for Betsy Brooks; we welcome Ryan Kayhart back as our Research Assistant. Cindy Marino is BIC with great help from Peggy Keller. Don Cowley rescues us and scribes for several hours, while first-time visitor Francis Scott returns clothespins to the net sites! It’s good to have scribe Judy Engerman back and to see Dick O’Hara back sitting outside in the sun watching the birds.

Tuesday April 24. 15 new of 6 species; 11 recaps. It’s a very slow day.
A Sharp-shinned Hawk (we catch three today) drops it’s mostly-eaten, plucked prey in a net. When we untangle the unidentifiable bird, it has a band on its leg! We report the band number on the internet and get a prompt reply – it was a Starling banded somewhere in New York in May 2005! Dominic Sherony scribes and helps us install a new halogen light over the banding table.

Wednesday April 25. 37 new of 11 species; 8 recaps; new species Yellow Palm Warbler. It’s a cool day but the rain stays south of us so we are able to operate the full six hours. A beautiful Yellow Palm Warbler brightens the day. Ryan Kayhart is BIC with help from Linda Boutwell, Erin Karnatz (with Rowan and Delaney) and Lee Schofield.

Thursday April 26. 20 new of 8 species; 8 recaps; new species Western Palm Warbler. It’s a cold, slow day so we have time to begin training Aggie Windig and Sue Evans how to remove birds from the nets. We welcome back Rachel Muheim from Virginia Tech. Rachel will continue her research on how birds use various clues to reorient their magnetic compass during migration.

Friday April 27. 35 new of 12 species; 10 recaps; new species Blue-headed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Black-and-white Warbler. We have showers at dawn so wait an hour to set up. We begin selective monitoring for Avian Influenza, taking cloacal swabbings of several Hermit Thrushes, which will be sent to UCLA for analysis.

Saturday April 28. 17 new of 9 species. It’s a disappointing day for Bob and Chita McKinney with help from Ryan Kayhart and Rachel Muheim.