Day 10: Bird banding is a lot of fungus

Some days our catch numbers are low- especially in the middle of summer when birds wise up to what the nets are. Fungus remains abundant in the forest loop of the ecological station. 

The day wasn't entirely absent of  birds. We caught a male grackle which equates to a good banding day in my book. He was especially vibrant with tinges of purple. 

Cardinal beaks are as effective at cracking nuts and denting skin as ever.

Female cardinal dubbed "Bloody Mary"

Intriguing insects were crawling all about us today.

There was an abundance of robins today. Below is a comparison between the breast of a juvenile and adult.

Adult

Juvenile 

Gooseberries and false Solomon's seal continue to ripen, some blueberries are ready, Indian pipe and other plants are sprouting.

False Solomon's Seal berries

Indian Pipe- a plant with no chlorophyll, parasitic like a fungus. 

Gooseberries

The day ended with this toad perching oddly and near a mist net. 

Day 9: I like to wear orange pants, I wear them when I bird band

I wore my orange pants and banded in the field loop of the ecological station today. They were a gift from my best friend's mom stemming back to a song about orange pants. 

Today's major lesson was that it is okay if grackle wings look like they're halfway to becoming a skeleton- they're probably just molting.

Male grackle mid-molt

Female grackle

A few weeks ago I tracked an indigo bunting up and down a road to get small glimpses of his brilliant plumage. Today we caught one and I got to be awed from a very close range.

The day began with a plethora of wood thrushes and slow nets- variety and quantity picked up later on and we got a first of the summer:

Male chestnut-sided warbler

Some more pretty birds

Oven bird

White-breasted nuthatch

Juvenile catbird

July's nature

Bee on milkweed patch 

Honeysuckle

Low-hop clover

Nursery web spider

Tree root with chipped away bark and a daddy long leg

Sumac

Robber fly

Little wood satyr