The weather held out at banding today! We had 37 birds - 33 newly banded and 4 retraps. A couple of notable retraps were a female Downy Woodpecker who had been banded at Lowry as a HY (Hatch Year) bird in October of 2005. There was also a female Hairy Woodpecker who was originally banded as a SY (Second Year) bird in April 2007.Oddly, we had more Juncos today than we had all year. And this is about the time we start to see fat stores on the birds, indicating their preparation for return to northern breeding grounds.
This first bird (two photos) had a very dark hood around the head. It also had brown feathers just on the back, in the scapular area. Makes one wonder a bit if there might be Dark-eyed Junco in the bird's family tree a generation or so back.
This last photo shows one of the toes on this Junco had frostbite damage - see the pink skin and light nail?
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