Philadelphia helps a slow day get better!

The 22nd Sept. was a very slow day at the banding station. In fact we only caught 8 birds the whole morning, but one of them was this beautiful Philadelphia Vireo! We normally don't catch many Philly's here with only an average of 1.6 per season since 1994. And the single season high during that time is only 4, so it is always a real treat to band one of these. This individual was the first for the season, and could quite possible be the last for the season as well. But, I hope not! With a overall brighter yellow color and slightly different head pattern and head shape, these medium sized vireos can be separated from their large kin, Red-eyed Vireos.