The uncommon, common warbler

Sometimes things are not what they seem here at the banding station. For instance, Pine Warblers. As most of you know, here in Virginia, Pine Warblers are a pretty common species. And even here at Kiptopeke, they are common within the state park, usually found hanging out in the tall pines that are abundant here. BUT they are not a common capture for the banding station! Crazy I know, but let me give you some more background on why at is. So turn to your favorite bird guide and look at the range map for Pine Warblers. First thing you should see is that they are found year round here on the Delmarva (as well as other parts of VA) and throughout the deep south. Next notice that they breed really no farther than the U.S./Canada border. Ok, so why is all that important? Well, during migration, we really don't have a "bunch" of Pine Warblers migrating through this area. Because of this, we don't catch a lot of them. Also, I mentioned that Pine Warblers like pine trees. Here, within the banding station, we have tried thinning out the pines to allow more deciduous trees to come up (better for more species of migrants). The remaining pines in the banding station are quite tall, so their canopy is way above our nets (again, limiting captures). Therefore, in an average season here, we band roughly 4 per season (which is exactly how many we have so far this season). Obviously, not a very high number.

This sexy hatch year male was caught on the 27th Oct.