WEWA at Palo

Worm-eating Warbler, PRBO Palomarin Field Station, Bolinas, CA 6/10/12 [Photo by Mike Krzywicki]

On June 10, the banding interns at the Palomarin field station caught this awesome Worm-eating Warbler!  Just thought I should share it.  There has also been a Black-and-white Warbler hanging around.  Wish I was still there to experience this rare vagrant.  The last time this species was captured at Palo was in 1979.  Thanks, Mike and Laura for banding and sharing this cool bird!

Birds in Hand: A Couple of Recent Favorites

I want to share with you all my two favorite birds caught in the last week! 

First is the Black Phoebe. This is a species that we see at Palomarin every single day, but this is the first time I have seen one in the hand.  So, when I heard over the radio that French was bringing a Black Phoebe to the banding station, I was pretty excited and here is what I got to see.

Black Phoebe, a good photo to compare against the Eastern Phoebe in previous posts [Photo by Cory Ritter]

The other highlight was this second year, male Sharp-shinned Hawk.  I saw a lot of these at Hawk Ridge this fall, but it is a nice treat for Palomarin.  Also, a majority of sharpies caught are hatch year males, so it was nice to have a second year bird in the hand!

Luke attempting to make this SSHA look at the camera [Photo by Cory Ritter]

Here is a good look at the orange/red iris of a male second year Sharp-shinned Hawk [Photo by Cory Ritter]

Note the dark cap and nape, and the rufous (horizontal) barring on this second year SSHA, as well as the orange/red iris as seen before [Photo by Cory Ritter]

Here you can see the blue back and upperwing coverts on this second year Sharp-shinned Hawk [Photo by Cory Ritter]

Another look at the orange/red iris, rufous barring on the chest, and overall 'buggy-eyed,' or large eye-size to head-size ratio, appearance of the Sharp-shinned Hawk [Photo by Cory Ritter]

That's all for now, but check back soon for more updates!

By Cory Ritter