Sunday April 29. 77 new of 15 species; 12 recaps; new species Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, and Yellow Warbler. Erin Karnatz is BIC with help from Ryan Kayhart, Rachel Muheim, Marilyn Guenther and Scott Wolcott. Bird of the day is Ruby-crowned Kinglet with 53 banded! Just before dusk, there is a Whip-poor-will singing in the woods behind the banding area.

Monday April 30. 47 new of 21 species; 5 recaps; new species Great Crested Flycatcher, White-breasted Nuthatch, Blue-winged Warbler, and Nashville Warbler. Karen Velas begins work as our Field Assistant. There is a flock of seven Wild Turkeys in the field! Lucky for us, they fly over our nets! The garden committee meets at noon to plan the memorial plantings and the new Rob van der Stricht trail. Bird of the day is still Ruby-crowned Kinglet with 21 banded. Peggy Keller bands her first birds of the season.

Tuesday May 1. 100 new of 15 species; 20 recaps. We band 77 Ruby-crowned Kinglets with help from a big crew including Kevin Griffith. Doug Smith and Jesse Roberts do much-needed habitat maintenance.

Wednesday May 2. 17 new of 9 species; 8 recaps; new species 1 House Sparrow. It’s a cool day with winds from the wrong direction for spring. Kevin and Kelly Dockery begin work on replacing the over-hang of the roof.

Thursday May 3. 31 new of 10 species; 3 recaps. It’s a fairly slow day again. Sue Evans tenderly mends two nets for us – one of which has a hole suspiciously big enough for a Wood Duck to go through. Doug Smith and Dave Tetlow help remove old shingles on the old roof all afternoon.

Friday May 4. 89 new of 19 species; 5 recaps; new species Least Flycatcher, Black-throated Blue Warber, and Ovenbird. It’s bedlam at dawn, with 59 Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a nice variety of warblers.

Saturday May 5. 163 new of 22 species; 5 recaps; new species Wood Thrush and Common Yellowthroat. It is a very hectic day, with many visitors from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Spring Field Ornithology class enjoying the great variety of birds banded. David Bonter is BIC with help from Marilyn Guenther, Ryan Kayhart, Rachel Muheim, Jeanne Skelly and Karen Velas. Bird of the day is White-throated Sparrow with 63 banded but we also band six species of warbler including Nashville, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Pine, Northern Waterthrush, and Common Yellowthroat. After the nets are closed, David Mathiason and Gay Mills help create the van der Stricht birding trail. Six nest boxes are installed along the trail, with the first box claimed by Tree Swallows within minutes of installation!