Sunday May 20. 50 new of 19 species; 8 recaps. We have a good crowd for our morning Open House for Genesee Land Trust members and other visitors, including Bill Kaiser, who get to see nine warbler species banded. At noon, during off-and-on showers, we welcome friends and family of Rob van der Stricht and Paul Weld, both of whom are honored in our annual Memorial Garden Remembrance ceremony. A beautiful Serviceberry bush is planted in honor of Paul and we have a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the Rob van der Stricht trail.

Monday May 21. 34 new of 18 species; 18 recaps. John Boettcher installs our newly cleaned and refurbished PC (thanks, John!!!). It’s a slow day, but four Baltimore Orioles brighten the day!

Tuesday May 22. 235 new of 38 species; 15 recaps; new species Eastern Kingbird, Cedar Waxwing and Blackpoll Warbler. We have an excellent day … starting off with the arrival of science teacher Rodney Olsen and seven of his students from the Diversified Occupations school in Middlebury, VT. We band an astonishing twenty species of warblers. We band 35 Magnolia Warblers but Dick O’Hara especially enjoys the beautiful Cape May Warbler. But the Eastern Kingbird is the bird of the day (a very hard to catch bird at K-MB). Mark Deutschlander and Rachel Muheim confer on their migration orientation cues research. Members of the Shorewood Garden Club visit.

Wednesday May 23. 199 new of 36 species; 7 recaps. Another spectacular day with 19 American Redstarts, 18 Magnolia Warblers, 17 Wilson’s Warblers, and 16 each of Black-throated Blue Warbler and Common Yellowthroat! We get word that a Gray Catbird we banded on May 16 was recaptured and released by Jerry Farrell on May 21 at his banding station in Lewiston, NY! We know for sure that this bird moved west along the lakeshore, whether all in one night or at a leisurely pace spread out over several days.

Thursday May 24. 328 new of 38 species; 10 recaps; new species Bicknell’s Thrush. This may be the best day of the 2007 spring season! We band more Blackpoll Warblers today (37) than we have banded in several entire springs! Other high numbers today are 40 Gray Catbird, 31 American Redstarts, 29 Swainson’s Thrush, and 27 Magnolia Warblers. Thanks to the amazing team of Rodney Olsen and students, Gary Herbert, Ryan Kayhart, Rachel Muheim, Karen Velas, Ruth Stork, Jon Dombrowski, Jeanne Skelly, Marian Klik, Pat Lovallo,. Betsy Brooks, and Marilyn Guenther. We say goodbye to Ryan Kayhart and thank him for his hard work, expert photography and superior banding. Rodney and the DO students also leave for Vermont … having picked three of our best banding days of the spring to visit! .

Friday May 25. 202 new of 36 species, 5 recaps; new species Acadian Flycatcher. This is the warmest morning of the spring so far, so we call Jeanne Skelly to help. Bird of the day is American Redstart with 27 banded but two Acadian Flycatchers are a treat. We say goodbye to Field Assistant Karen Velas and thank her for all her hard work, data entry and excellent banding skills. And Betsy Brooks ends her five weeks of banding and heads home to Alfred.

Saturday May 26. 67 new of 23 species. Cindy Marino is BIC and we have quite a few visitors, and a nice variety of birds to show them.