Greetings,

It’s that time of year again! That time when many young birds depart their nests and their natal territories and head on out to explore the larger world. Today was apparently a great day to be a Hatch Year bird. We not only caught more birds today at Palo than before this whole season, but a good deal of them were Hatch Year birds. American Robins, Brown Creepers, Dark-eyed “Oregon” Juncos, Wilson’s Warblers, etc. When conducting today’s area search I came across a VERY large mixed flock, which not only made me dream of fall warblers back in NY this fall (I can’t wait), but it was also very impressive to see that many youngsters of different species together. Lots of Wilson’s Warblers and Golden-crowned Kinglets. On the day we caught 31 birds, of which 16 were caught within a single 30 minute period.
Until next time.

~Chad (07/13/2006)