Sunday May 13. 29 new of 15 species; 5 recaps; new species Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Common Grackle. Ann Adams and Erin Karnatz, both licensed hummingbird banders, band our first Ruby-throats of the spring!

Monday May 14. 132 new of 32 species; 7 recaps; new species Mourning Warbler. David Alexander, friend of Frank Nicoletti from Duluth, joins us for a week and assembles a drop net designed by Peter Doherty. The garden committee works hard spreading wood chips in the Memorial Garden. Sandy, Bill and Lisa Podulka from Ithaca help. Dr. Kristi Hannam from SUNY Geneseo gives us workshop on the technique of taking blood samples from birds. Bird of the day is Black-throated Blue Warbler with 17 banded!

Tuesday May 15. 164 new of 40 species; 4 recaps; new species Black-billed Cuckoo, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Red-eyed Vireo, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, and Eastern Bluebird. It is an exciting day as we dodge thunderstorms. The SW winds bring us great variety. Quality-wise, the bird of the day is a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole captured by Ryan in a Potter trap baited with an orange!! Quantity-wise, the bird of the day is again Black-throated Blue Warbler with 30 banded!

Wednesday May 16. 247 new of 40 species; 5 recaps; new species Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Philadelphia Vireo, Gray-cheeked Thrush and Golden-winged Warbler. Ryan Kayhart is BIC for a really GREAT day! We have drizzle at dawn but when it subsides we cautiously open one 6-meter net, and promptly catch nine birds all of different species! It is classic ‘fall-out’ conditions! There are so many birds, we are only able to open half of our usual nets but still catch 247 birds! It’s a cheesecake day as Linda Boutwell brings us her latest ‘Snickers’ flavor specialty! Bird of the day is Magnolia Warbler with 60 banded; we also band 20 Ovenbirds!

Thursday May 17. 147 new of 28 species; 37 recaps. The Bander Training Course students run the station today. Radar is ‘down’ at dawn, so they start slow with just five nets but eventually open everything. We enjoy a visit from Lois Smith; and our Field Assistant for several seasons, Charley Eiseman, joins us for the day. Bird of the day is again Magnolia Warbler with 21 banded.

Friday May 18. 101 new of 29 species; 36 recaps; new species European Starling. We have guests from Holland who enjoy several of the 14 species of warblers banded. Bird of the day is Gray Catbird, with 20 banded.

Saturday May 19. 112 new of 28 species; new species Intergrade Flicker. Bob McKinney finally has a good day and bands the first Intergrade Flicker of the season. We band a beautiful male Cape May Warbler.