more excitment!

On the equinox, interesting birds were gracing the station by their presence! Lots of warblers (mainly Yellow-rumped) and red-breasted Nuthatches were flying through and getting caught in our nets. We also got the first Gray-cheeked Thrush of the fall, on its way from its boreal breeding ground to some foothills east of the Andes. We also had a young Wood Thrush, not a common bird in our cedar woods...

But the best bird in our nets (if we can rank birds) was undoubtly a Merlin!! A young male, this Merlin is only the second one ever captured in 6 years of monitoring! What a beautiful bird! Well, I have a soft spot for birds of prey, I admit; but to prove my point, here's another picture!