Meanwhile, Back in the Woods

We're about to take Daniel Boone (my Chessie) on his first trip across the Delaware Bay since I picked him up from Eastern Waters Kennel a little over a year ago, for a bit of camping, but figured I'd offer a final update on Bear Swamp, Cumberland County, from our MAPS (Mapping Avian Productivity and Surviorship) banding station last weekend, the last banding session of 2011.

It's quiet, but not empty.

 [Red-eyed Vireo, second year (i.e. hatched last summer), Bear Swamp on Sunday.]

The Red-eyed Vireos continue to do what vireos do: sing, sing, sing, "Here I am," "Where are you?" "Over here!" "Higher!" We heard a few songs from both tanagers, several from Yellow-billed Cuckoos, one or two from the Blue Grosbeak along 555 near the tracks. Of Ovenbirds, we heard none - but we caught five, hatch-years all, so in terms of productivity, Bear Swamp had a good year.

[Any flycatcher with wing chord over 80mm is no Empid. . . if we catch flycatchers in Bear Swamp, they are universally Acadian's, so this bird was a surprise, note the very long primaries. This Eastern Wood-pewee, another hatch year (note the buffy wing bars) was a first capture for us. They're always there, but stay above the level of normal mist nets. That's actually a field mark - if it's lower than 10 feet, it's not a wood-pewee.]