It’s that time of year again folks!  The goldenrod at Rushton is ablaze, which means that fall migration songbird banding is well underway and we’ve been busy!  83 birds in the nets yesterday including 44 Gray Catbirds.  A nice assortment of warblers graced our nets last week including Nashvilles, Magnolias, Canadas, Redstarts, Yellowthroats, Chestnut sided, a Worm-eating and our very first ever Bay-breasted!

Another first for Rushton was a shockingly beautiful and equally as boisterous Yellow-throated Vireo (pictured above).  Northern Waterthrush, Wood Thrush, Veery,  Swainson’s Thrush, lots of American Goldfinches, Indigo Buntings, woodpeckers, a Brown Thrasher, Song Sparrows, Field Sparrows, Titmouse, wrens and even a Screech Owl have been banded thus far in what is already shaping out to be a fantastic fall banding season.  Last fall, our catch numbered about 1500 birds of about 56 species.  Let’s see if we can beat it this year!
We have an open house at the banding station THIS SATURDAY the 13th, so anyone of any age is welcome to stop on by to get your fill of our fabulous fall feathers between the hours of 6am and 10am.  Get out of bed and come in your pajamas if you have to- you don’t want to miss this! (The station is also open to public observation every Tuesday and Thursday morning until the end of October).

There’s a lot going on in the woods and in the fields,
Blake